Anuparna Roy, a newcomer to the world of cinema, has suddenly become a name on many lips. With her first feature, Songs of Forgotten Trees, she was awarded the Best Director prize in the Horizons section of the Venice International Film Festival. It was a remarkable debut, but her path to the screen was far from straightforward. For many years she worked in the IT industry, and by the account of her family, she had shown little interest in filmmaking until much later.
Early Life and Educational Background of Anuparna Roy
Roy was born in Narayanpur, a village in the Purulia district of West Bengal. She studied English Literature at Burdwan University, later adding qualifications in mass communication. Before she found her way into cinema, she held corporate posts in Delhi and Mumbai, among them a position in IT sales.
A deepening fascination with film led her to abandon that career and seek training in performance. She earned a diploma from Anupam Kher’s Actor Prepares Institute and took part in acting workshops in Mumbai. Step by step, she moved from the corporate world to the craft of storytelling, and her first film now stands as proof of that choice.
Breaking Boundaries: Venice Film Festival Triumph
Roy’s first film, “Songs of Forgotten Trees,” was shown at the Venice Film Festival and at once drew the attention of critics and viewers alike. Set in the Indian countryside, it is a tense psychological story that turns on questions of memory, suffering, and endurance. Reviewers spoke of the precision of her direction, which joined careful camerawork with performances that felt restrained yet powerful.
Her success is not simply a triumph of one individual. It marks a wider shift in Indian cinema, where a younger generation is moving away from familiar formulas and taking risks with form and subject. Roy’s award has brought notice to this movement, and it suggests that stories once thought too difficult or too unusual can find their place on the world stage.
Choosing Filmmaking over Corporate Life
Anuparna resolved to leave her job and devote herself to directing, a choice that stirred unease within her family. In 2021 she settled in Mumbai with the clear aim of pursuing film. Her mother, Manisha Roy, later remarked that she ‘initially thought she would get a government job’ and often reproved her for shifting between careers. Yet she also admitted to feeling proud that Anuparna held to her belief in spite of doubts and objections.
What’s the “Songs of Forgotten Trees” About?
Her first film, Songs of Forgotten Trees, follows the lives of two women in Mumbai (one a migrant actress, the other an office worker) and the bond that grows between them. With this work Anuparna became the first Indian to secure the Best Director award in the festival’s Orizzonti section. The project carried further weight through the support of Anurag Kashyap, who joined as executive producer.
Conclusion
Anuparna Roy’s story of IT cubicles to Venice red carpets is like the sort of underdog movie that Bollywood would give the green light in a heartbeat. The victory of Roy is a mild warning to helicopter parents all over: maybe that steady government job is not always the silver bullet to the happy life. The disappointment of her mother at first must have been changed into the type of bragging rights that make aunties in the neighborhood cry with envy.
The fact that Roy has been a success, as Indian cinema keeps developing, is an indication that genuine storytelling can actually find its audience even when it does not follow the proven formula of masala. Her victory is not only a personal vindication, but a hope to all dreamers that are currently languishing in a career that keeps the bills paid but kills the soul. In some cases, the risk of not taking one is the highest.
FAQs
Q1: Who is Anuparna Roy?
Imagine her as the great career-change success story of all time. Roy was born in a village in West Bengal and she swapped her IT sales career with that of a film director- much to the initial horror of her family. With an English Literature degree and sheer determination she is now royalty at the Venice film festival.
Q2: What did she win at Venice Film Festival?
Anuparna Roy won the Best Director in the Horizons category in her first film, the songs of forgotten trees. She is the first Indian to win this specific prize.
Q3: What’s “Songs of Forgotten Trees” about?
It is a psychological drama about two women in Mumbai, a migrant actress and an office worker, and their improbable friendship. It is a film of connection in a disconnected world.
Q4: How did she transition from IT to films?
Roy did not simply stop and wish she would be fine. She made the strategic decision to train at Actor Prepares Institute of Anupam Kher and attended workshops in Mumbai, and slowly developed her film making capabilities.
