Biography

Avani Deshpande is an Indian Filmmaker and Screenwriter currently based in Mumbai, India. An alumnus of the Post-Graduate Documentary Film Programme at the prestigious London College of Communication under University of Arts London.

She made her directorial debut with an episode in the critically acclaimed Netflix limited series 'Trial by Fire' (2023) which opened to great reviews, with Mike McCahill at Variety calling it "Searing.. one of Netflix India's best yet." and Shubhra Gupta from Indian Express calling it "Poignant". It also has a 100% critical and audience score on Rotten Tomatoes. Nominated in multiple categories at various awards, it won the 'Best Series - Critics' at Filmfare OTT awards (2024). She was also nominated for the Best Director(s) (Series) at the Filmfare OTT as well as the Critic's Choice Awards 2024. She is also credited for writing dialogue on the entire series.

Born to doctor parents in Nagpur, India. She briefly worked as a journalist with publications such as The Times of India (Nagpur) and The Indian Express (Pune). She began her fiction film career as a Script Supervisor and a Second Unit / Assistant Director working on films such as Yash Raj Films', 'Meri Pyaari Bindu' (2017), 'Hichki' (2018) and Netflix India original 'Bulbul' (2020) among others. Her student documentary short - 'The Others', based on the life of Hijiras in Mumbai is available on You Tube.

Her creative work is rooted in investigating the human condition in an intimate and visceral way in the styles of expressionism & magical realism. Via stories that explore rich inner life, childhood memories, deep desires, messy beliefs & emotions; she strives to deal with themes of identity, mental health, self-realization and individuation. Remaining form agnostic, she is interested in working in fiction as well as non-fiction, firmly believing that the 'story' should dictate the way it wants to be told.

Currently, she is developing and mounting her debut feature.
- IMDb mini biography by: Anonymous