Palomi Ghosh, Tanya Maniktala, Jay Oza, Sumit Purohit among 10 participants selected for BAFTA Breakthrough India

The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) revealed the 10 participants selected for the first-ever BAFTA Breakthrough India Initiative, which is being held in partnership with Netflix. The winners are filmmakers Akshay Singh, Arun Karthick, Vikram Singh, Renu Savant, Sumit Purohit, actresses Palomi Ghosh and Tanya Maniktala, composer Karthikeya Murthy, cinematographer Jay Pinak Oza, and game developer and art director Shruti Ghosh.

A jury of industry experts including Anupam Kher, Monika Shergill, Mira Nair and Siddharth Roy Kapur selected these 10 individuals from a wide pool of promising talent from the film, games and television industries in India.

AR Rahman, the BAFTA Breakthrough India ambassador and jury chair, said in a statement, “The quality of outstanding applications from across the film, games, and television industries was overwhelming, compelling the jury to select ten deserving Indian talents as part of the Breakthrough initiative this year, rather than five as originally planned. This itself serves as a huge testament to the level of creative talent India has to offer.”

“As our country faces unprecedented times, we are hopeful to launch yet another cohort very soon, as we do believe that this programme offers an opportunity of a lifetime for Indian talent and I look forward to seeing the new opportunities Breakthrough can bring for them in the years to come,” he added.
 
His jury member Monika Shergill, vice president of content at Netflix India, shared, “Despite these tough times, it was incredible to see such amazing Indian talent apply across genres. It served as a reminder of the tremendous opportunities for new talent, fresh voices, and untold stories that can travel nationwide and around the world. Congratulations to the ten brilliant BAFTA Breakthrough participants. They represent the finest of the Indian creative community and I look forward to the paths they blaze ahead.”

According to a press release by the organisation, the selected names will receive one-to-one mentoring, global networking opportunities, free access to BAFTA events and screenings for 12 months, and full voting BAFTA membership. Additionally, they will also “connect with and learn from some of the best in the British and Indian creative industries, share their expertise with peers around the world, gain access to opportunities beyond geographical borders, and be promoted as BAFTA Breakthrough artists globally”.

BAFTA has delayed the applications for the next round of Breakthrough India due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic that is still ravaging parts of the country. The applications were due to be open up on Thursday alongside UK and USA.

Amanda Berry OBE, chief executive of BAFTA, also extended her support for the programme. She stated, “I am absolutely thrilled that Breakthrough has now been extended to India; congratulations to our participants and welcome to the growing BAFTA Breakthrough family. We are extremely grateful to Netflix for supporting the global expansion of Breakthrough, they share our vision to celebrate emerging talent from different backgrounds and cultures. We have an ongoing commitment to support future Breakthrough talent but we are also mindful of the current situation in India due to the pandemic, so whilst we will fully support the Breakthrough participants announced today we have decided to delay the opening of the next round of applications.”