Devashish Makhija is a filmmaker, artist, writer and poet whose first foray into cinema was as researcher and assistant on Anurag Kashyap’s Black Friday. He has written numerous screenplays, notably Doga that was also directed by Kashyap. He has had solo art shows, written bestselling children’s books When Ali became Bajrangbali and Why Paploo was perplexed, a Harper-Collins collection of short stories Forgetting and the forthcoming book of poems Disengaged. He also wrote the short story By Two for the omnibus novel Mumbai Noir that is being adapted into a feature length film to be directed by Makhika next year. He has written and directed the multiple award winning short films including Taandav, El’ayichi, And then they came for me, Don’t cry for Rahim LeCock and Absent. He moved into feature films by writing and directing Ajji in 2017 and Bhonsle in 2019 for which he received an APSA nomination.
The Asia Pacific Screen Academy expresses its respect for and acknowledgement of the South East Queensland Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. We pay our respects to the Traditional Owners of country, including the custodial communities on whose land works are created and celebrated by the Asia Pacific Screen Awards. We acknowledge the continuing connection to land, waters and communities. We also pay our respects to Elders, past and emerging. We recognise the integral role Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and First Nations peoples continue to play in storytelling and celebration spaces.
