Swastik Choudhury

Swastik Choudhury grew up in Rourkela, a mini cosmopolitan city in the eastern state of Odisha in India. After completing his formal education from St. Paul's School he moved out of hometown to pursue a degree in engineering and then later took up a job as a software professional. Initially a bit introvert and shy, he looked forward to every opportunity to express himself to come out of his shell. Right from school to college days, he had an interest in exploring the unconventional paths. He was instrumental in starting up two college magazines - one literary and the other technical and served in the editorial board of both. He also took part in multiple cultural shows and sports so that his engagement with various kind of people will provide a platform to learn more. After a couple of years into his job and trying out various avenues (as a teacher in an orphanage to marketing) he found his heart's calling after founding a film club in his organization. But it was not so from day one. Like many wannabes the doors to the artistic world were yet to be opened. Initially looking forward to only making some typical films, he got a chance to discover what is the difference between movies and cinema. His friend - Amartya Bhattacharyya has greatly influenced him and together they started making independent films with Swastik handling the production ropes and also as an actor - enacting some important characters as per the script. Later he found Swastik Arthouse. So far their films have traveled to various International film festivals across the globe including International Film Festival of India (IFFI), International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK), Kolkata International Film Festival (KIFF), Dhaka International Film Festival, Bangladesh and many others.