2010-2013: Career beginnings After completing his graduation, Ghaywan worked as an engineer in UTV New Media,
Hindustan Times and
Tech Mahindra. Dissatisfied with his career in the corporate world, he started writing as a film critic for the now defunct web portal Passionforcinema.com. According to him, that interest grew into passion that was eventually encouraged by director
Anurag Kashyap. He made his first short film,
Independence that was shortlisted for the
In Competition section of PFCOne, an online one-minute film festival, in 2010. Ghaywan then assisted Kashyap in the making of
Gangs of Wasseypur (2012) and
Ugly (2013), directing two short films in the meanwhile,
Shor and
Epiphany.
2014-2019: Masaan and critical acclaim '';
Richa Chadda,
Shweta Tripathi and
Vicky Kaushal at the
2015 Cannes Film Festival In January 2014, a screenplay he co-wrote with
Varun Grover called
Fly Away Solo was awarded the Sundance Institute/Mahindra Global Filmmaking Award. He then made a motion picture based on it,
Masaan in 2015. The film received overwhelming acclaim from critics, the mainstream media and audience alike. On the
review aggregator website
Rotten Tomatoes, it holds an approval rating of 92% based on 13 reviews.
The New York Times considered it to be a leading example of increased realism in Indian cinema. The film was screened in the
Un Certain Regard segment at the
2015 Cannes Film Festival, where it won two awards, including the
FIPRESCI Prize and has since gone on to achieve a
cult status. Ghaywan received the Indira Gandhi Award for the Best Debut Film of a director at the 63rd
National Film Awards. He made his first commercial in 2016 for
British Airways. Ghaywan wrote and directed his third short film
Juice on gender politics of middle class Indian households starring
Shefali Shah in 2017. The film received the
Filmfare Award for Best Short Film-Fiction that year. In 2019, Ghaywan replaced
Vikramaditya Motwane as co-director alongside
Anurag Kashyap for the second season of
Netflix's highly acclaimed series
Sacred Games.
2020-present Ajeeb Daastaans, an anthology film, was his next directorial venture. It consisted of four short films made by four directors. In a review for
Hindustan Times, Rohan Nahar wrote, "Ghaywan addresses caste and gender politics; patriarchy and privilege. And he does this with an intense empathy for his characters, both of whom display morally questionable behaviour." The series, which has found major success with streaming audiences and critics, had its season 2 debut in August 2023. The show is a departure from the stylistic themes of his previous work, with a lavish look and feel set against the backdrop of big Indian weddings. ==Filmography==