Karkhanisanchi Waari, produced by Archana Borhade and co-produced by ABP Studios won 4 awards at the prestigious 59th Maharashtra State Film Awards for Best Film, Best Director, Best Background Score and Best Story.
Archana, being the producer and a writer on the film, took home two trophies - Best Film and Best Story. In 2018, she had become the first female cinematographer to win the Maharastra State Award for Best Cinematography for the film 'Idak'.
Read MoreBhopal Diaries 2012, a short film by Mumbai-based filmmaker, is a poignant yet chilling fictional account of the illegal drug trials that were conducted in Bhopal in 2008.
Bhopal Diaries 2012 won the best short film, best actress, best script and best director awards at Talenthouse Film Festival (India) in June this year. It won a Special Mention award at Manhattan Shorts Global Festival and has most recently been chosen for China Women’s Film Festival and Colors International Film Festival, Australia. Pocketfilms, that owns its rights, will release it online after the festival screenings.
Read MoreAn exciting panel discussion at Broadcast India 2023 featuring some of the most brilliant ISC cinematographers in the industry such as Sudeep Chatterjee, Anay Goswamy, Neha Parti Matiyani, Prateek Shah, Manu Anand and Archana Borhade, deep diving into the world of film, technology, to explore the art of visual storytelling, and discuss the latest advancements in cinematography.
Read MoreBorhade became the first Indian woman cinematographer to be featured in American Cinematographer magazine’s list of rising cinematographers.
Read MoreWriting as well as shooting this last year, Borhade’s screenplay Purjey was chosen for the Global Media Makers Program by Film Independent in Los Angeles. Her latest cinematographic endeavor, the feature Karkhanisanchi Waari, premiered at the Tokyo International Film Festival and was selected by the Maharashtra Government as one of the three feature films to represent Marathi Cinema at the Marche Du Films at Cannes 2022. Borhade is currently finalizing the screenplay of her directorial debut, which she will shoot this year.
Read MoreThe short films include Archana Borhade‘s “Inner Camera” (India), where, Borhade, a cinematographer, self-reflects on visiting one of the beauty capitals of the world, turns the camera towards herself and finds self-acceptance; Sriram Raja‘s “To L.A. with Love” (India), where Raja travels to locations where “La La Land” was filmed and reflects on how nostalgic the city feels in his still 35mm photographs, yet modern when captured on his iPhone; and Anup Poudel‘s “Birds in L.A.” (Nepal), where, while exploring Los Angeles, a paper swan meets others of different colors and sizes, embracing the friendship and freedom the city has to offer;
Read MoreIndia
Inner Camera
Directed by Archana Borhade
As Archana, a Cinematographer, self-reflects on visiting one of the beauty capitals of the world, she turns the camera towards herself and finds self-acceptance.
Read MoreArchana Borhade is an Indian cinematographer, director and writer, who won the Maharashtra State Award for Best Cinematography 2018 for the Marathi feature film ‘Idak’; an idyllic fable of a village simpleton whose life changes as he embarks on a road trip with a goat. Archana used to be a SAP consultant at Wipro Technologies before she made a tectonic career shift to filmmaking in late 2007. Since 2012, she has shot several commercials, corporate films, shorts and music videos as an independent Director of Photography. She has also shot and directed several short documentaries for PepsiCo and CARE, India, The Akhandjyoti Project, Singapore International Foundation (SIF), Our Better World (OBW), Ashoka – Innovators for the Public, Voice4Girls and Cochlear, Australia. As and when the idea strikes and the resources permit her, she writes, produces and directs short films and commercials. Her first short film, In Denial (2010) was much appreciated while her second short, The Essay(2011) won the Jury award at Gorbatschow Vodka Shorts Festival.
In 2014, she started her own independent production house, Nine Archers Picture Company. The company’s first production – Bhopal Diaries 2012, a short film chronicling the illegal drug trials conducted in Bhopal won numerous awards for Best Director, Best Story, Best Screenplay and was chosen for film festival screenings in Australia, China, US and Germany.
She was the Director of Photography on the Marathi feature film ‘Phuntroo’, released in March 2016, which won her rave reviews for her cinematographic skills. Next she shot the cineplay ‘Baaki Itihaas’ directed by Nikhil Mahajan followed by ‘Idak’ by Deepak Gawade and ‘Ek Nirnay’ by Shrirang Deshmukh.
Read MoreA Maharashtra delegation led by Maharashtra Cultural Affairs Minister Amit Deshmukh is reaching in Cannes today to participate in the ongoing Cannes Film Festival in France.
Mr Deshmukh said that it is a proud movement for Marathi film world that three Marathi films ‘Potra’, ‘Karkhanisanchi Wari’ and ‘Ticha Shahar Hona’ have been selected for the Cannes International Festival.
He further said that the delegation is attending this festival with the aim of attracting international film audiences towards Marathi films, increasing the importance of filming and tourist destinations in the country and attracting international film producers to invest in Indian cinema.
The delegation includes Secretary of Cultural Affairs Saurabh Vijay, General Manager of Dadasaheb Phalke Chitranagari Vivek Bhimanwar, Coordinator Ashok Rane, Manoj Kadam, film producers, Director Archana Borhade, Mangesh Joshi, Shankar Dhotre, Sameer Thorat, Siddharth Mishra and Rasika Agashe. The representatives of selected Marathi films are also participating in this festival. The International Film Festival will be held in Cannes (France) till 28th of this month.
Marathi films - Potra' (Potra), 'Karkhanisanchi Wari' and 'Ticha Shahar Hona' (Ticha Shahar Hona), 'Godavari' (Godavari) have won an honorable place in the Cannes Film Festival. Deepika Padukone has been selected among the 8-member jury for the 75th Cannes Film Festival. Deepika is currently working as a jury in the film festival. At the same time, Satyajit Ray's film 'Pratidwandi' will be screened at the Cannes Film Festival this year.
Read MoreThe filmmakers and projects chosen are Sumon Delwar (My Cousin), Ali El Arabi and Ahmed El Zoghby (The Legend of Zeinab and Noah), Prantik Basu (Dengue), Archana Borhade and Mangesh Joshi (Purjey (Parts)), Sriram Raja and Deyali Mukherjee (New Sweetness), Kushal Batunge (They Call Her Mafia), Gaby Zarazir and Michael Zarazir (The Fifteen, w/t), Lamia Chraibi and Hicham Lasri (Meskoun), Anup Poudel and Abinash Bikram Shah (Elephants in the Fog), Rajan Kathet and Sunir Pandey (No Winter Holidays), Fizza Ali Meerza and Nabeel Qureshi (There Was a Boy), Suzannah Mirghani (Cotton Queen), Amjad Abu Alala and Mohamed Kordofani (Goodbye Julia), Lotfi Achour and Anissa Daoud (Red Path), Rashid Abdelhamid and Ismahane Lahmar (A Respectable Family), Sezen Kayhan and Beste Yamalıoğlu (Women with Purple Violets), and Lubna Bagsair and Bader El Ketbi (Banana).
Read MoreWhat is lacking is the voice of women cinematographers, perhaps because there were barely any in the Hindi film industry in the period that Chaturvedi zooms in on. B R Vijayalakshmi is regarded the first Indian woman cinematographer who worked in Tamil films of the 80s and the 90s. Fowzia Fathima, Savita Singh, Anjali Shukla, Deepti Gupta, Priya Seth, Archana Borhade have gained ground in filmdom more recently. It’s for actor Waheeda Rehman then, with a great deal of interest in photography herself, to provide a unique perspective from the front of the camera.
Read MoreArchana Borhade becomes the first Indian female cinematographer to be featured in prestigious ASC magazine’s 2021 Rising Stars of Cinematography in its August 2021 issue.
Read MoreArchana Borhade says:
"Many perceived cinematography as supposedly manly and impossible for a woman to do. They thought I wouldn't last long in the industry; that eventually I'd get married, have kids and wouldn't be able to continue camerawork. Occasionally I'm still asked, 'It is very heavy equipment, are you sure you can manage?' So far I've have shot numerous short films, commercials and three feature films. I can certainly wield a camera!"
Read MoreArchana has been the cinematographer for the 2016 Marathi sci-fi film Phuntroo. Idak, her second film as a cinematographer has been selected for the Mumbai and Goa International Film Festivals. She has also been part of the camera department for several mainstream Hindi films, including My Name Is Khan and Gulaab Gang.
Read MoreThen Borhade moves on, without catching her breath, talking about her idol Roger Deakins. Squeezing a slice of lemon into her tea, she recounts hooting excitedly when he bagged the Oscar for Blade Runner 2049 in 2017 – his 14th nomination. In contrast, she is much more restrained and modest about her own award win for Idak: The Goat (2017) about a young man’s journey to fulfil his mother’s dreams. The film’s trailer was also launched at the India Pavilion at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival. “I didn’t even know we were in the running for the State awards,” says the former engineer with Wipro who quit the corporate life to pursue films. The cinematographer partnered with first-time feature director Deepak Gawade (who liked her work in the Marathi sci-fi romance Phuntroo, 2016) on Idak. Gawade laughingly admits Borhade asked “too many questions” that “at times also irritated me.” He relents, “But those questions were very important. She wouldn’t let me do [anything without] logic.” This thorough process and relentless questioning has been the springboard of her 11-year-long career.
Read MoreIn her second feature, Idak, cinematographer Archana Borhade had to shoot on the tough terrains of Solapur and Bhimashankar in Maharashtra with unpredictable weather and in available light. Adding to challenges was the fact that one of the film’s leading characters is a goat. “We had two similar goats — Somya and Gomya — who were both incredibly playful and fun to be with on location, but it was quite a task for our trainer Shankar Anna to get them to perform for the camera,” said Borhade who made her debut with Phuntroo (2016), the first sci-fi film in Marathi.
“The goat would often take its own path and we would have to follow it wherever it went. From the focus pulling perspective, it was quite a feat to keep the goat in constant focus,” she said.
Borhade’s patience and perseverance have paid off after she was awarded the Maharashtra State Award for her work in the Marathi film. Produced by actor Sharad Kelkar and Baishakhi Banerjee, the film is also nominated for best film and best story. The Deepak Gawade-directed drama follows a 30-something man’s journey to a religious fair where he is assured of divine redemption once he sacrifices the “idak”, goat in colloquial Marathi.
Read MoreArchana has been an integral part of the camera department for several Hindi films like My Name Is Khan and Gulaab Gang. She recently won the Maharashtra State Award for Best Cinematographer. This was for the film Idak. She has even worked as the cinematographer for the Marathi sci-fi film Phuntroo.
“Attitudes are changing. Most of the industry has gotten used to women cinematographers thanks to our burgeoning numbers,” Archana said in an interview.
Read more at: https://www.shethepeople.tv/news/five-female-bollywood-cinematographers-know/
Read MoreIn this century, many young women are coming forward to opt for professions, which were till now male dominated. Talking about film industry, we find young women into direction, music composing, editing, costume designing, special effects and so on. Now, young women have also opted for cinematography. A latest addition to this list is Archana Borhade.
Archana was passionate about photography since childhood. But she became a software engineer and worked with WIPRO. However, when her interest in cinematography increased, she went to Chennai to pursue a course in cinematography. She was the first female admitted to the course. It was here, Archana mastered details of different camera handling, lighting and other aspects of cinematography.
Archana is now making her debut as an independent cinematographer, through Sujay Dahake’s much talked about Marathi film ‘Phuntroo’, which is a science fiction. “It was a challenging job, but I have worked very hard. Hope the audience will appreciate my work,” said the young artiste, when Zeetalkies spoke to her.
Finally, when asked about her intention of directing a Marathi film, she said, “It is too early to say anything about it. Let me first prove myself as a good cinematographer.”
“The aim of the collective is to encourage and mentor upcoming women cinematographers, and at the same time celebrate each others’ work,” says Archana Borhade, the cinematographer for Phuntroo (2016), a science-fiction movie in Marathi.
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