Karan Tejpal(I)

Karan Tejpal is an Indian writer & director who is inspired to unravel tales of the complex and contradictory world that he sees around him. His debut feature film, Stolen, had its world premiere at the 80th Venice Film Festival. The film explores a world in which brutality coexists with moments of profound humanity. Tejpal's work sheds light on the harsh realities of society, exposing the vulnerabilities of the powerless and the erosion of trust in human social systems. Tejpal was born in New Delhi, and spent his childhood moving around the country with his army family. He attended Mayo College, an all-boys boarding school in Ajmer, which was a formative part of his experience as a young man. During his college years, he was less inclined towards academia, and spent his time playing horse polo professionally in India, New Zealand and South Africa. Moving away from the pursuit of a career as a professional athlete, Tejpal fell into film, drawn by the adventure and sense of possibility that the industry offered. Over the next decade, he worked on several feature films and multiple TV commercials alongside leading Indian directors Rajkumar Hirani, Rakeysh Mehra, Mrighdeep Lamba, Rajesh Mapuskar, Ayappa and Abhinay Deo. His early years of work allowed him to travel the length and breadth of the country, exposing him to the diverse socio-cultural fabric of India first hand. Those experiences eventually found their way into his own narrative voice as a filmmaker, which he honed while studying film-making at the New York Film Academy. Tejpal started his career working in large-scale Bollywood films, and moved through a range of projects including advertising and television. He found his niche in independent cinema and his early work as a screenwriter has been recognised by the Sundance Screenwriters Lab (2016), NFDC Screenwriters Lab (2014).