Archana Borhade is an Indian cinematographer, writer, producer and director. She was a software engineer and a SAP consultant before making a passionate career leap to cinema.
She is the first Indian female cinematographer to feature as 2021’s Rising Star of Cinematography in the prestigious American Cinematographer (ASC) magazine. She is also first female cinematographer to win the Maharashtra State Award for Best Cinematography for the Marathi feature film ‘Idak'. She has been conferred the ISC title for cinematographic excellence by the Indian Society of Cinematographers (ISC).
Her co-written screenplay ‘Purjey', a darkly humorous story of caste and class conflict, was chosen for the prestigious Global Media Makers (GMM), Los Angeles program in 2022. The screenplay for ‘3 Actresses’, which she co-wrote, was one of the top 20 projects shortlisted for same GMM program in 2019.
She wrote an English-Malayalam feature, tentatively titled ‘Blue 52’, featuring Neha Dhupia & Adil Hussain for an internationally acclaimed director, which was shot during FIFA World Cup 2022 in Qatar.
She is the co-writer, cinematographer and producer, of the award-winning feature film ‘Karkhanisanchi Waari’ (Ashes on a road trip). The film had its World Premiere at the 33rd Tokyo International Film Festival.
The film was also selected for Shanghai International Film Festival, Melbourne IFF, London IFF, International Film Festival of India (IFFI), and Chennai IFF. The film was one of the top 10 films shortlisted for the prestigious FIPRESCI Jury India award. The film had its digital premiere on Sony LIV and its satellite premiere on Disney Star India.
Archana has won the Filmfare award for Best Picture, 2 MaTa Sanmaan awards for Best Screenplay and Best Dialogues and 3 Pravah Picture awards for Best Picture, Best Screenplay and Best Dialogues for the film.
She has directed, written, shot and produced short films for PepsiCo International, CARE India, Our Better World (Singapore), Singapore International Foundation, Ashoka Innovators for the Public (UK), Cochlear (Australia), Paypal, Deutsche Wella (Germany) and Haymarket(UK). Her critically acclaimed short film ‘Bhopal Diaries 2012’ which she directed, wrote, shot and produced won multiple awards for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay and Best Actress and was screened across numerous international film festivals.
She is the creator/screenwriter for a fictional period OTT drama series. She is also the creator/screenwriter for another female-centric OTT series, currently in development. She begins principal photography on a feature film tentatively titled, ‘Predestination’ soon. Her sci-fi thriller debut feature film is in pre-production.
Feature Films (as a director of photography)
Karkhanisanchi Waari (Ashes on a road trip) 2021
Idak (2018)
Ek Nirnay (2018)
Phuntroo (2016)
Baaki Itihaas (2016)
Simulcra (Pre-Production)
Short Films (as a producer, writer and director)
Bhopal Diaries 2012
The Essay
In Denial