Creative Head & Film Director
Aastha Verma is a seasoned Director and Producer based in Los Angeles, with roots from India and the Middle East. Because of her multi-cultural background, she surrounds herself with stories that are built on ground reality and is a keen storyteller with female protagonists.
Her vision is to bring out hidden realities of any given society, to tell stories which are entertaining yet heartfelt and produce films that the viewers can enjoy as well as learn from.
Additionally, she is a graduate with her Master’s in Filmmaking from the acclaimed film school New York Film Academy, Los Angeles.
Striving to stand-out in an ever-growing new generation of filmmakers, Aastha works as a Film Director and Producer in Los Angeles. She is the Creative Director and Production Head at Saadhvish Films, operating offline out of Mumbai and Dubai (soon in Los Angeles).
Screenwriter and Producer
David is an accomplished Screenwriter and Producer. He has worked on scripts from all around the world. He brings a can-do attitude and great communication to the team, keeping the efforts flowing well. David specializes in problem-solving and operates primarily as Producer and script doctor.
He often collaborates with filmmakers with concepts which he transforms into completed ready-to-shoot screenplays. As a Producer, David combines strong coordination skills with artistic vision to give any project that he is a part of both entertainment and marketing value.
Chief Executive Officer
Anil comes as the most experienced member of Saadhvish Films. His role as a Chief Executive Officer is backed by 23 years in the fields of Business and Commerce, 6 years of involvement in the Film industry, as well as his service in the Indian Air Force.
Anil guides Saadvish Films’ projects to the finishing line and represents the company in its quest of making films that impact communities and support change in society while giving opportunities to young filmmakers who are keen on telling their stories.
PRODUCTION ASSISTANT & ART DEPARTMENT
Briana is based in Los Angeles and has worked as a Production Assistant and an Art Department Assistant. She is most passionate about creating, because when she is a part of creating new stories and content, she feels good about herself and the work she is putting in to make a story come to life. Briana has notably worked in Family Reunion on Netflix and All American on CW. She has also worked briefly at the Warner Brothers Studios in Hollywood. She believes in bringing great energy on set with a smile. Briana is an advocate for women of color in film. She aspires to create and star in her own TV series in the future.
Screenwriter
Inés hails from Santo Domingo, in the Dominican Republic. She has worked as a Screenwriter for over 3 years and innovates her storytelling skills with each new project. In addition to this, Inés is a Script Supervisor on film sets, as well as an adept journalist and film critic.
After working on a variety of award-winning films and shows, Inés has created a series of her own. When asked what the favourite part of her job is, she explains: “The fact that I can portray my vision and ideas through images and pages of script. I’ve always loved movies and books, and it’s always been my dream to be able to create as other people do.”
She specialises in writing dark comedies, thrillers, horror movies and high-concept fantasy.
DIRECTOR OF PHYSICAL PRODUCTIONS
Indu is a concept writer and developer based in India who works on social content. She specializes in story conceptualization and overlooking physical productions. With her expertise based on human behaviours, she has a keen eye for perfection. Being a creative herself, she makes sure everything is in order in all aspects of our company.
FILM COMPOSER
Gabrielle has worked as a film composer in Seattle, Los Angeles, and New York. She has worked with many filmmakers on short films, features, podcasts, and web series. She has written for and conducted musicians from the Seattle Symphony, the Susanville Symphony and the Seattle Collaborative Orchestra. Some of her notable work includes a Netflix film in the works and scored an indie film which received an accolade as the Billboard Women in Music Special Mention Award.
Gabrielle loves the idea of scoring a wide variety of films aspiring to always challenge herself. In the next five years, Gabrielle sees working with the people she started out with and making art with people that have been there since the beginning of this beautiful journey. She believes that there is no greater feeling than telling stories with a team that feels like a family. She hopes that her music inspires other young artists to follow their own dreams of film composing.
SOUND RECORDIST & DESIGNER AND MUSIC COMPOSER
A graduate from the prestigious Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), Priyabrata Panigrahi, nicknamed ‘Pani’, has a proven competence working as a Sound Recordist, Sound Designer and Music Composer on various projects ranging from films and web-series, to advertisements (TVC and radio jingles). Trained in both Indian & Western classical music, he has scored music for various mediums.
Priyabrata’s sound recording and design works include short films like “Java Sparrows” (Official selection at the Seoul Film Festival 2018) and “Odh”, a British children’s film. Recently he completed two major feature films as a Sound Recordist. His music works include “The Last Color” (Hindi feature film), “PFA: Love Mom and Dad” (Short Film) and composed a variety of advertising jingles.
DIRECTOR AND ASSISTANT DIRECTOR
Jeet is a polished Assistant Director and has worked on several feature and short films. An accomplished filmmaker in his own right, what really passionates him about the Film industry is the fact that it is a team-based field of work; every cog in the machine is important and necessary to turn a simple concept into a fully fledged film.
FILMMAKER
Sukrut is a filmmaker based in Mumbai. As an individual, he aims to always try to find similarities between himself and the characters, so that the emotion and the conflict feels real to the viewers. Because of his work as a Director and as an Assistant Director, he has several short films accredited to him. He currently works as a Director’s assistant on John Abraham’s next film.
When asked about the duties of a filmmaker, he says: “A writer and a Director should be organised and planned. So, when the time comes to roll the camera, you can improvise, without changing the emotion and the intention of the scene.”
CINEMATOGRAPHER
Wara Pornkulwat is an award-winning Cinematographer based in Bangkok, Thailand. He worked as a freelancer for 4 years before he graduated from New York Film Academy’s Cinematography program. After getting his degree, he worked an additional year in the US on Hollywood indie films. He is currently working on commercials for famous brands and short films in Bangkok, after a successful year in Los Angeles.
Due to his vast repertoire, Wara’s signature style of lighting and composing the shot is always recognizable on any project he works on.
Film Director and Post-Production Supervisor
Pavitra Verma is a writer, director and editor from India, currently based in Los Angeles. He is a summa-cum-laude graduate from the New York Film Academy with a Bachelor’s Degree in Filmmaking, and an alumni of the prestigious Academy Gold Rising program, hosted by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences. Inspired by his own heritage as an Indian, he strives to tell culturally authentic South Asian stories that are universally accessible, character-driven and visually expressive. His recent works as a filmmaker include ‘Ipsa’ (2023), ‘Those Seven Steps’
(2022) and the award-winning short ‘Sandalwood’ (2020).
ASSISTANT DIRECTOR
Anukriti is a Director, Assistant Director and Production Designer. She has worked passionately on Television and Film in India and specifically on films, both short and long format films in Los Angeles and Georgia.
Some of her renowned work includes working with many TV and Film celebrities in India like – Pankaj Tripathi, Sunita Rajwar, Rubina Dilaik, `Gracy Singh and many more. Anukriti aspires to be a part of films to ultimately be a film Director in genres such as drama, comedy, and movies based on real life/incident and period pieces. She thrives to be the spirit of a film set at any given point and is driven by positivity, inspiring many more aspiring filmmakers to have the same energy as her.
PRODUCTION DESIGNER AND ART DIRECTOR
Rohini comes from an architectural background, having learned how every little detail in a room is perceived by the viewer. Her skill in the fields of production design and art direction are vast, as she immerses the actors – and by extension, the audience – in the world that the film’s characters experience. She achieves this by inserting small elements and details on sets, which tell us a lot about the characters, like what their favorite book is, or the poster in their bedroom, the cushion they grab when they are sad.
She completed her undergraduate degree in Architecture (B.Arch degree from Pune University) and post-graduate degree in a world-building program at SCI-Arc (M.A. in Fiction and Entertainment from Southern California Institute of Architecture). Rohini is currently a trainee at the Art Directors Guild of America (ADGA).
Website: https://www.rohinijadhav.com
GRAPHIC AND PRODUCTION DESIGN
Rashmin is a unique Graphic Designer and Production Designer based in the heart of Bollywood, Mumbai. His passion for films is driven by the fascinations and experience of seeing a new character each day and building perspectives of those characters. May it be from a Drug Dealer to a Religious Godman or from a Homemaker to a Business Tycoon. His expertise has been showcased in Netflix’s Sacred Game (Season 2), popular Bollywood films such Student of the Year-2 (Dharma Productions), Malaal (Sanjay leela Bhansali Production), Angrezi Medium (Madock Films). Along with this, he has worked on several independent films and TV shows in India. Rashmin is a part of a project based on how grounded to reality they are with a refreshing school of thought.
CINEMATOGRAPHER
Deep is an award-winning Cinematographer who has shot over 120 short films, commercials, documentaries and music videos, and who finds himself lucky to have collaborated with several storytellers from different cultural backgrounds. Holding degrees in Fine Arts and in Cinematography, Deep has received accolades from all around the globe for his work in several film festivals.
He has been working as a Freelance Cinematographer for the past 7 years, and has developed a passion for visual storytelling, a passion that guides his style of working. The aim of Deep’s craft is to enable the audience to connect with the story on the screen so that they can take something with them at the end of it.
UNIT PRODUCTION MANAGER
Gursimran is currently based in Los Angeles and works as a UPM and an Assistant Director. He aspires to be writing more films, specifically Dramas which connect to the audience on an emotional level. He sees cinema as the best art to spread awareness about social issues and many more. For him , filmmaking is the best platform on which he can share his thoughts to the audience.
PRODUCTION DESIGNER AND SET DECORATOR
Gautami is a Production Designer and Set Dresser based in Mumbai, India. She is an aesthete of a kind. Having worked on major Production Companies such as Dharma Productions and recently completing Mira Nair’s recent work as a Set Decorator, she brings a great deal of professional storytelling experience. Her ability to create the world for characters in films is inspired by her eye for detail and ability of curating research-oriented art.
Some of her notable work includes films like Gully Boy (2019), Good Newwz (2019), A Suitable Boy (2020). Gautami aspires to be working with filmmakers and artistic minds creating spaces big and glamorous as well as spaces which are simpler and give real life experience for audiences.
