INDIAN FILM INSTITUTE

Alaka Sahani is a Senior Editor with The Indian Express, Mumbai. She received the National Film Award for Best Film Critic, 2013. Her Swarna Kamal citation states that the jury recommended her for “highlighting facets of cinema beyond glamour and gossip by delving deeper into the contemporary relevance of iconic filmmakers”. In her articles, she goes beyond the tried-and-tested templates to offer insights into the workings of Indian cinema

Saibal Chatterjee is a national award-winning film critic, screenwriter & editor. His film reviews appear on ndtv.com and he has covered several international film festivals including Cannes, Toronto, Los Angeles, London and Abu Dhabi. He has scripted three award-winning documentaries – Dream of a Dark Night, Harvest of Grief and Dil Ki Basti Mein. He was on the editorial board of Britannica’s Encyclopaedia of Hindi Cinema, published in 2003. He has authored Echoes and Eloquences, on Gulzar.

MK Raghavendra received National Award for Best Film Critic, 1997 and awarded a Homi Bhabha Fellowship in 2000. He has authored 3 volumes of academic film criticism – Seduced by the Familiar: Narration and Meaning in Indian Popular Cinema; Bipolar Identity: Region, Nation and the Kannada Language Film and The Politics of Hindi Cinema in the New Millennium: Bollywood and the Anglophone Indian Nation. He has also written 50 Indian Film Classics and Director’s Cut: 50 Filmmakers of the Modern Era.

Namrata Joshi is Cinema Editor / Associate Editor and film critic with The Hindu, Mumbai. Winner of India's National Award for Best Film Critic, 2004, Namrata has been a member of the critics juries at international film festivals in Toronto, Cluj, Cairo, Moscow and Thiruvananthapuram. Winner of the Charles Wallace India Trust-Iqbal Sarin memorial fellowship in 2004 as part of which, she was associated with the Department of Journalism, Media and Cultural Studies, Cardiff University, UK

Ajay Brahmatmaj is a veteran film critic, journalist and blogger. He has worked as a critic for Dainik Jagran, and maintains a popular Hindi blog, Chavanni Chhap

KNT Sastry is a film critic turned filmmaker. He has won 6 National awards, including Best Director for his debut film ‘Tiladaanam’, which also won New Currents Award at Busan Film Festival. Other films include ‘Kamli’ a Nandita Das starrer which won an award in Kazhakstan’s Eurasian International Film Festival. His documentary Surabhi, won the National Award for Best Anthropological film. He has also received 6 state awards from Andhra Pradesh Govt., including a children's Film ‘Shaanu’

Gautaman Bhaskaran is an author and movie critic, columnist Hindustan Times, News 18, Daily O and Gulf Times. He is also the South Asia Editor for The Seoul Times. Gautaman has served on various national and international film juries and penned a biography on the renowned filmmaker Adoor Gopalakrishnan – Adoor Gopalakrishnan: A Life in Cinema

Swapan Mullick was the first recipient of the National Award for Best Film Critic. He is former Director of the Satyajit Ray Film & Television Institute, Kolkata. He has served on national awards, festival and Panorama juries on several occasions. He teaches in the film departments of several universities and institutions like IIMs. He contributes to several newspapers and his last book was a critical study of the Bengali thespian Uttam Kumar

Sachin Chate has been writing on cinema for 24 years. A Computer Technology graduate, he started writing for The Hitavada in Nagpur and after moving to Goa, he has been writing a weekly column for The Navhind Times, Goa. He has contributed to various magazines and national dailies and served on the Indian Panorama Jury at IFFI, 2017. He also teaches Film Appreciation in Goa. Sachin is also a radio jockey with All India Radio’s FM Rainbow since 1998

Dalton L is a film critic/essayist, and co-author of the book, Indian Film Culture: Indian Cinema; the founder of the DIY Film Academy; and the president of the Cinema Society of India. He began his career writing for The Hindu. He has also written for Rediff.com, The Film Street Journal, Dear Cinema, Upper Stall, the Deccan Chronicle, and The Asian Age

Arnab Banerjee is a post-graduate in English Literature from Meerut University, and is a keen arts, music and film enthusiast. He writes on cinema, music and human interest stories and has worked with leading national dailies like The Times of India, the Asian Age, Hindustan Times and Mail Today. In addition to film reviews, he also covers art exhibitions, and does book reviews, music album reviews and other stories. He also writes on social issues occasionally

1. Ratnottama Sengupta, the daughter of scriptwriter Nabendu Ghosh, is a film journalist, festival curator/ organizer and author. A recipient of the National Film Award, she has served on several international film juries. Ratnottama has worked with leading newspapers like the Indian Express, The Telegraph and The Times of India where she was the Arts Editor till 2015. She has written on all the forms of art, with special emphasis on cinema and visual art

Prof. Siraj Syed is an actor, broadcaster, film critic and lecturer. He is also a member of FIPRESCI the International Federation of Film Critics, Germany and pens his blog http://www.filmfestivals.com/blog/siraj_syed

Chandi Mukherjee has been a film critic with the National daily Vartaman, for over 30 years and has also served on the National Film Awards Jury, 2006.