Kumar Shahani is an avant-garde director whose films are characterized by the use of complex visual metaphors. Kumar Shahani belongs to the select few who are uncompromising in their treatment of the medium as an art form. Many of his films are inspired by the art traditions of India.

Born in 1940 in Larkana, Sind (now in Pakistan), Shahani studied at the University of Bombay and the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), at which time the legendary filmmaker Ritwik Ghatak was the director of the institute. During 1967-68 he pursued further study on films in France, and worked as an intern on the director Robert Bresson`s film Une Femme Douce (1969).

After returning to India, Kumar Shahani made his debut with Maya Darpan. This film was funded by the National Film Development Corporation (NFDC). Based on a short story by the Hindi writer Nirmal Verma, the film`s remarkable screenplay and photography depicted the tensions underlying a feudal landscape in the process of being changed by industrialization and its implied modernity. After Maya Darpan, Shahani received no further funding for another twelve years.

His next feature, Tarang, came in 1984. More melodramatic than Maya Darpan, the film dealt with the theme of conflict between industrial profiteers and the working class. It featured a remarkable performance by actress Smita Patil. Shahani`s next feature film, Khayal Gatha, was an ambitious and visually dramatic film with its theme and form inspired by the khayal, an integral part of North Indian classical music. His next work, Kasha, was based on a short story by Anton Chekov. It was a gripping melodrama about a small village`s social politics. His most recent work was the Oriya film, Bhavantarana, a partly fiction documentary on the Odissi dance form.

Kumar Shahani has won several awards - the Filmfare Critics` Award in 1972, 1989, and 1990, for Maya Darpan, Khayal Gatha, and Kasha respectively; and the National Films Award for Best Regional Film for Maya Darpan in 1972.