Kanu Behl (born 1980) is an Indian film director and screenwriter. He is known for his work in Hindi cinema. He assisted director Dibaker Banerjee on the cult hit ''

Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye! ''Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye! '' is a 2008 Indian comedy film starring Abhay Deol, Paresh Rawal, Neetu Chandra, Manu Rishi, Manjot Singh and Archana Puran Singh. It was directed by Dibakar Banerjee. The film won the National Film Award for Best Pop ...

'' and co-wrote ''LSD: Love Sex aur Dhokha''. His directorial debut, ''Titli'', appeared at several international film festivals, including Melbourne, Rio de Janeiro, Zurich, Filmfest Hamburg, and BFI London. The script of ''Titli'' was selected by NFDC for the Screenwriters' Lab 2012, later winning the Post Production Award at Film Bazaar's Work-In-Progress Lab. ''Titli'' was nominated for Caméra d'Or at 2014 Cannes Film Festival.

Early life and education

Kanu Behl spent his early years in

Patiala Patiala () is a city in southeastern Punjab, India, Punjab, northwestern India. It is the fourth largest city in the state and is the administrative capital of Patiala district. Patiala is located around the ''Qila Mubarak, Patiala, Qila Mubarak ...

, Punjab before moving to

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...

in 1990. Both his parents, Navnindra and Lalit Behl are writer-actor-directors and also directed telefilms for the state-run

Doordarshan Doordarshan (abbreviated as DD; Hindi: , ) is an Indian public service broadcaster founded by the Government of India, owned by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and one of Prasar Bharati's two divisions. One of India's largest bro ...

channel. He studied at Apeejay School, Noida and sought a bachelor's degree in Business from

Shaheed Sukhdev College of Business Studies Shaheed Sukhdev College of Business Studies (SSCBS), previously known as College of Business Studies, is a premier institute for management studies under Delhi University, India. It is named after Sukhdev Thapar, who was a prominent freedom fight ...

, Delhi University. In 2003, he joined the

Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute (SRFTI) is a film and television institute located in Kolkata, West Bengal, India. Named after Indian filmmaker Satyajit Ray, the institute provides higher and professional education and technical expe ...

and pursued a PG Diploma in Cinema. While at the Institute, he attended the

Berlinale Talent Campus The Berlin International Film Festival (german: Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin), usually called the Berlinale (), is a major international film festival held annually in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1951 and originally run in June, the festi ...

2007 and made his documentary 'An Actor Prepares', about a struggling actor, who after seven years decides to give himself 15 days to make it in the film industry or return home. The documentary entered competitively at

Cinéma du Réel Cinéma du Réel (Cinema of the Real) is an international documentary film festival organized by the BPI-Bibliothèque publique d'information (Public Information Library) in Paris and was founded in 1978. The festival presents about 200 films per ye ...

2007, a documentary film festival in France. In January 2019 Behl married music composer

Sneha Khanwalkar Sneha Khanwalkar is an Indian music director who works in Hindi films. She is best known for her score for the film, ''Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!'', and also for ''Gangs of Wasseypur Part 1, Part 2''. She had been nominated in Best Music Director ...

Career

After graduating from SRFTI, he produced and directed documentaries for the international channels

NHK , also known as NHK, is a Japanese public broadcaster. NHK, which has always been known by this romanized initialism in Japanese, is a statutory corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television license fee. NHK operates two terrestr ...

, Japan and

ZDF ZDF (, short for Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen; ; "Second German Television") is a German public-service television broadcaster based in Mainz, Rhineland-Palatinate. It is run as an independent nonprofit institution, which was founded by all fe ...

Arte Arte (; (), sometimes stylized in lowercase or uppercase in its logo) is a European public service channel dedicated to culture. It is made up of three separate companies: the Strasbourg-based European Economic Interest Grouping ARTE, plus ...

. He worked with

Dibakar Banerjee Dibakar Banerjee (born 21 June 1969) is an Indian film director, screenwriter, producer and advertisement-filmmaker known for his work in Hindi films. Banerjee started his career in advertising, being a feature filmmaker, he still continues t ...

on the feature film ''

'' as an

Assistant director The role of an assistant director on a film includes tracking daily progress against the filming production schedule, arranging logistics, preparing daily call sheets, checking cast and crew, and maintaining order on the set. They also have to tak ...

. In 2010, he co-wrote the critically acclaimed '' Love Sex aur Dhokha'' with Banerjee and was chief assistant director on the project. In 2012, the script of his first independent feature film '' Titli'', was selected by NFDC for the Screenwriters' Lab 2012, which later won the 'Post-Production Award' at Film Bazaar's ''Work-In-Progress Lab'' in 2013. ''Titli'', appeared at several international film festivals, including the

2014 Cannes Film Festival The 67th Cannes Film Festival was held from 14 to 25 May 2014. New Zealand film director Jane Campion was the head of the jury for the main competition section. The Palme d'Or was awarded to the Turkish film '' Winter Sleep'' directed by Nuri Bi ...

Melbourne International Film Festival The Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) is an annual film festival held over three weeks in Melbourne, Australia. It was founded in 1952 and is one of the oldest film festivals in the world following the founding of the Venice Film Fest ...

, Rio de Janeiro International,

Zurich Film Festival Zurich Film Festival (ZFF) is an annual film festival that has been held in Zürich, Switzerland, since 2005. The festival's main focus is to promote emerging filmmakers from all over the world. In three competition categories only first, second ...

Filmfest Hamburg FILMFEST HAMBURG is an international film festival in Hamburg, the third-largest of its kind in Germany (after Berlin and Munich). It shows national and international feature and documentary films in eleven sections. The range of the program stret ...

BFI London Film Festival The BFI London Film Festival is an annual film festival founded in 1957 and held in the United Kingdom, running for two weeks in October with co-operation from the British Film Institute. It screens more than 300 films, documentaries and shor ...

and the

Chicago International Film Festival The Chicago International Film Festival is an annual film festival held every fall. Founded in 1964 by Michael Kutza, it is the longest-running competitive film festival in North America. Its logo is a stark, black and white close up of the comp ...

. Written and directed by Behl and co-produced by ''Dibakar Banerjee Productions'' and

Yash Raj Films Yash Raj Films (YRF) is an Indian film production and distribution company founded by veteran filmmaker Yash Chopra in 1970. It mainly produces and distributes Hindi and Punjabi films. The company has grown to be one of the largest film studios ...

, ''Titli'' was selected to take part in the

Un Certain Regard (, meaning 'a certain glance') is a section of the Cannes Film Festival's official selection. It is run at the Debussy, parallel to the competition for the . This section was introduced in 1978 by Gilles Jacob. The section presents 20 films w ...

section of the 2014 Cannes Film Festival.

Filmography

Awards and nominations

* Nominated for 56th Filmfare Awards in Best Screenplay Category for film ''Love, Sex Aur Dhoka''. * Nominated for

Apsara Awards The Producers Guild Film Awards, previously known as the Apsara Awards, is an award event hosted by the Producers Guild of India to recognize excellence in Hindi film and television. Originated by filmmaker and scholar Amit Khanna in 2004, the ...

in Best Screenplay Category for film ''Love, Sex Aur Dhoka''. * Nominated for

Caméra d'Or The Caméra d'Or ("''Golden Camera''") is an award of the Cannes Film Festival for the best first feature film presented in one of the Cannes' selections (Official Selection, Directors' Fortnight The Directors' Fortnight (french: Quinzaine des ...

* ''Critics Prize'' at FIFIB, Bordeaux * ''Best Film'' at Seattle South Asian Film Festival * ''NETPAC Award'' at

Hawaii International Film Festival The Hawai'i International Film Festival (HIFF) is an annual film festival held in the United States state of Hawaii. HIFF has a focus on Asian-Pacific cinema, education, and the work of new and emerging filmmakers. HIFF’s primary festival is ...

* ''Best Film'' at SAIFF, New York * ''Best International Film'' at Malatya International, Turkey * ''Best Actress'' and ''Best Film'',

Gijón International Film Festival The Gijón International Film Festival ( ast, Festival Internacional de Cine de Xixón or ''FICXixón'') is an annual film festival held in Gijón, a city in northwest Spain. History The festival's origins date back to 1963. In the beginning i ...

, Spain *''Best Foreign First Film'' (Critics Award) at

French Syndicate of Cinema Critics The French Syndicate of Cinema Critics (french: Syndicat français de la critique de cinéma et des films de télévision) has, each year since 1946, awarded a prize (" Prix de la critique", English: "Critics Prize"), the Prix Méliès, to the be ...

2016

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Behl, Kanu Film directors from Punjab, India Living people 1980 births Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute alumni Indian male screenwriters Delhi University alumni People from Delhi Hindi-language film directors Apeejay School alumni