Kanu Behl


Kanu Behl is a multiple award-winning writer and director. He previously assisted director Dibaker Banerjee on the cult hit Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye! and also co-wrote LSD: Love Sex aur Dhokha.
Titli, his directorial debut, has excelled and been honoured at several prestigious international film festivals, including Melbourne, Rio de Janeiro, Zurich, Filmfest Hamburg, and BFI London, among several others. 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, the only Indian feature film in Cannes that year, and was awarded at multiple international film festivals. He is currently developing his next feature, Agra, as well a series for a leading platform.

Early life and education

Kanu Behl spent his early years in Patiala, Punjab before moving to Delhi in 1990. Both his parents, Navnindra and Lalit Behl are writer-actor-directors and also directed telefilms for the state-run Doordarshan channel.
He studied at Apeejay School, Noida and sought a bachelor's degree in Business from Shaheed Sukhdev College of Business Studies, Delhi University. In 2003, he joined the Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute and pursued a PG Diploma in Cinema. While at the Institute, he attended the Berlinale Talent Campus 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 2007, a documentary film festival in France.
He is son of indian actor, director Lalit Behl. in January 2019 Behl married to the music composer Sneha Khanwalkar.

Career

After graduating from SRFTI, he produced and directed documentaries for international channels like NHK, Japan and ZDF/Arte. He worked with Dibakar Banerjee on the feature film Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye! as an Assistant director. In 2010, he co-wrote the critically acclaimed Love Sex aur Dhokha with Banerjee and was the 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, his directorial debut, has excelled and been honoured at several prestigious international film festivals since its completion, including the 2014 Cannes Film Festival, Melbourne International Film Festival, Rio de Janeiro International, Zurich Film Festival, Filmfest Hamburg, BFI London Film Festival & Chicago International Film Festival among several others. Written and directed by Behl and co-produced by Dibakar Banerjee Productions and Yash Raj Films, Titli was selected to take part in the Un Certain Regard section of the 2014 Cannes Film Festival, the only Indian Feature Film in Cannes that year.

Filmography

Awards and nominations