Writer, Director, Animator
Many of my sketchbooks come from trips to India. And Televisnu is a short film I made in India. When I look at frames from Televisnu I realize the aesthetic comes straight from my sketchbooks — the jewel tones, the intricate patterns connecting two cultures, Indian and the United States. Both these worlds live in me, and living between two cultural expectations has been a huge part of my life and growth.
Televisnu is a short film about how technology gave middle-class women in India a new kind of freedom: the choice of whom to marry, rather than an arranged marriage. The film is a surreal, Alice in Wonderland take on the intersection of Hindu mythology and technology. I wrote, directed, and animated it, building the gods out of motherboards and keyboards.
Official Selection, South by Southwest. Screened at 25+ festivals worldwide, most recently in 2024. National Board of Review Grant, 2011 · Audience Award, Best Short, South Asian International Film Festival, NYC, 2010 · Linda Mabalot New Directors/New Visions Award, LA Asian Pacific Film Festival, 2010 · Wasserman Finalist, NYU First Run Film Festival, 2011
Reviews:
“Televisnu is delightfully bizarre, and was easily my favorite of the category.” - Film Wonk
“My favorite shows were the ones so nuanced they felt like mini features… Televisnu is an inventive fantasy that feels like an Indian Alice and Wonderland.” -Slant Magazine