From Huma Qureshi And Mrunal Thakur To Nithya Menen And Shakun Batra, IFP Season 16 Sparks Conversations On Cinema, Creativity, Culture

IFP Season 16 brought together some of the most compelling voices across cinema and creativity for two days of candid conversations, thought-provoking insights and exciting revelations at Mehboob Studios, Mumbai, on October 24 and 25.

From Huma Qureshi expressing her desire to play morally ambiguous characters and Vetrimaaran discussing the expanding Vada Chennai universe to Mrunal Thakur announcing her Marathi short film as a producer, the festival delivered several headline-making moments.

Nithya Menen reflected on creative freedom in contemporary cinema, while Craig Mazin addressed the backlash surrounding The Last of Us Part II. Shakun Batra explored AI’s growing influence on filmmaking, Sujoy Ghosh revisited the making of Kahaani and Badla, and Saurabh Sachdeva opened up about his unconventional journey into acting.

Meanwhile, Pratik Gandhi and Ratna Pathak Shah discussed the importance of collaboration over competition in acting, while Sonam Wangchuk shared his views on development, governance and the right to peaceful protest.

Beyond the conversations, IFP Season 16 also celebrated the winners of its six 50 Hour Challenges, which brought together 44,752 creators from 411 cities across 35 countries, with content created in 23 languages. Spanning filmmaking, music, photography, writing, design and performing arts, the challenges recognised winners across multiple categories.

In the Filmmaking Challenge, which saw 31,164 filmmakers create 1,201 films, the Amateur category recognised GWE (Aye) with Platinum, Sanhita Creations (Kaun Banega Mannequin) with Gold, Creative Sync (How You Doin’?) with Silver and Baap ke Bandar, Maa ke Dhurandar (Gairat) with Bronze. In Mobile, Aparoksh (खमकी) won Platinum, Khayal (Order Placed) Gold, Team Pawar (Unsent Letter) Silver and 4 FPS (Ghosted) Bronze. The AI category saw NEXGEN AI STUDIOS (The Last Story) win Platinum, Maayaavi (The Connection) Gold and BlueStitchAI (Binge) Silver. In Vertical, Dreamers Collective Productions (Nazar O CARam) secured Platinum, Team Kahaniwale (Kalamsat) Gold, Kalshot (Parampara) Silver and Fantasy Factory (Tadka) Bronze. The Professional category recognised Team Chikki (Rohan Todkar) with Platinum, BONK Digital (Chaadi Chores) with Gold, Team Square One Productions (थर / Thar) with Silver and Silver Halides (Last Ball) with Bronze.

The Music Challenge, featuring 8,821 musicians and 891 tracks, recognised Rangrez (Nadi – Ek Kahani (River – A Story)) as the Jamesone Winner. In Rock, SHAGGZi (PUPPET) won Platinum, The Old Monks (Letting Go) Gold and Shaan Belchada (Monster Inside) Silver. Electronic recognised SansThought (Paper Cuts) with Platinum, VACI (En Na) with Gold and Mauvision (Hold Me Down) with Silver. In Pop, Mahesh Raghunandan (Hopeless) secured Platinum, 432 Hz (Saaya) Gold and Manas Roy (Khud Khushi) Silver. Folk Fusion winners included Saada-Namak (Re Musafir) with Platinum, Kaafee (Kasturi) with Gold and Backpack Lights (Ek Iraada) with Silver. Hip Hop recognised Maktub (Kaisa ye Samaj?) with Platinum, Awedeo/Audio (Systematic) with Gold and Sunil Gandhi (Prathirodhanam) with Silver.

In the Photography Challenge, which saw 1,134 photographers submit 5,670 photos, the Vertical (9:16) category recognised Tejbhanu Saini with Platinum, Aditya Shrivastava with Gold and Rohit Suri with Silver. In Horizontal (16:9), Ammar Nadaf won Platinum, Ashley Sheldon Gold and Pooja V Silver.

The Writing Challenge, featuring 1,621 writers, recognised Azlaan Tirmizi (Chop-Chop) with Platinum, Gayatri Joshi (Pakad) with Gold and Senecca Rato (Yellow Wind) with Silver in Mini Series. In Short Script, Kalyani Nema (Body Butter) won Platinum, Srijan Sinha (Imtihaan) Gold and Vijit Agrawal (Gaslight) Silver. Short Story winners included Surmayi Khatana (Seven) with Platinum, Dheeraj Mittal (The Silence Between Two Windows) with Gold and Terveen Gill (The Cursed Woman of Teen Bagh) with Silver. In Think Piece, Aishwarya Roy (Death of the Amateur) secured Platinum, Anuradha Rao (The Last Caregiver in the Chain) Gold and Ojasvi Kala (The Unwritten Script) Silver.

The Design Challenge, which brought together 1,248 designers, recognised Saurabh Zore (Unkahi) with Platinum, Tapan Vyas (Drishtikon – The Story, From Her Perspective) with Gold and Debarghya Mondal (The Aftertaste) with Silver in Poster & Fan Art. Digital Illustration winners included Pratishma Bansal (Mom Home) with Platinum, Rajballabh Shyam (Suitcase Smiles) with Gold and Ritesh Patra (Peace Shelter) with Silver. In Doodle, Sanya Saipillai (Chaos Carnival) won Platinum, Shloka Kavtekar (A Spiral Called Life) Gold and Saloni Dave (2:00 AM Thoughts) Silver. UI Design recognised Yash Gehlot (DECIDA) with Platinum, Divya Venkatesh (SWYP) with Gold and Sweta Paul (Muse) with Silver. In Brand Book, Prabuddha Lenka (SAME TIME) secured Platinum, Aradheta Andley (NAGA the Guardian) Gold and Shalaka Sonurlekar (Pac Man Brand Book) Silver.

The Performing Arts Challenge, featuring 764 performers, recognised Rishika Srinivasan with Platinum, Romil Shukla with Gold, Isha Maharana with Silver and Joshua Gershom with Bronze in Mono Act Performance of the Year. In Poetry Performance of the Year, Piyush Ranjan won Platinum, Khusboo Thakur Gold, Subi Kumari Silver and Manali KT Bronze. Spoken Word Performance of the Year recognised Akshetha Ashok with Platinum, Upasya Bhowal with Gold, Apurv Inamdar with Silver and Anandrup Datta with Bronze.

Bringing together diverse perspectives and creative disciplines, IFP Season 16 reinforced its position as a meeting ground for the voices shaping cinema, storytelling and culture.