Aashish Chanana, Director
A native of Mumbai, India, a Canadian resident, now living in Los Angeles. Labeled a child prodigy at an early age, the young Ashish had won the President’s Gold Medal” for Inventing and Designing India’s First Electric Car while still in high school. That brilliance and innovation in engineering earned him an invitation to a scholarship to Columbia University, Loughborough London, and Toyota in Japan.
After Columbia University where he pursued Automobile Engineering only for a short time, Aashish returned to his native India. His good looks paired with an intensely creative mind earned him fame as a lead actor in many Bollywood movies such as Aag Aur Shola, Tasveer, Dreams Deewane, Mehndi ban gayi khoon, and a few others.
Motivated by movies, he produced and directed films such as Tasveer, Majnoon & Dreams which won multiple awards and acclaim. Technology being in his DNA, Ashish soon earned a reputation throughout Bollywood as a master animator and a VFX (Visual Effects) Supervisor.
He was fortunate to get an opportunity to be involved with projects for Oscar winner Russian film director, Nikita Mikhalkov, where Ashish and his company handled Visual Effects. He also did the VFX for India’s biggest Bollywood blockbuster movies, like, “Lage Raho Munnabhai”, “Bhootnath.” Hollywood’s “Ironman”, “Highlander” and “Alien” and a UK feature film, “Pinochio” and of course some more VFX along with producing and directing numerous Music Videos and Ad Commercials.
In an industry where animators and visual effects professionals are all too often isolated in a microcosm of computer programs and data sheets, Aashish is a rare phenomenon where he not only worked but excelled in every conceivable facet of the entertainment industry from the technical to acting, directing and producing movies. From that certain facial expression on an animated character lasting no more than a second to the feature-length direction to time constraints and technical considerations, Ashish commands a unique understanding of the synergy between various elements of production that is absolutely crucial for a production’s success.
From Photography to VFX, from Color grading to Editing, he not only mastered the techniques but the hardware to every software which gives him a special handle on all his team who call him, GURU.
His recent film, AFREEN on Religious Terrorism has won overwhelmingly positive responses with over 60 Awards and Nominations for Best Film and Best Director from literally all over the world.
His next feature, EMILY (in pre-production) is another hard-hitting and topical film about Human Trafficking.
Director, Aashish Chanana works passionately and believes that powerful films can bring awareness in our world and contribute towards a positive change.