An eye for an eve

Can Indian filmmakers resist stereotypes, refuse to pander to a Western gaze and still make work that travels across the globe? Mira Nair has, and Bijoy Shetty is determined to continue on the same path.

- BHANUJ KAPPAL.

What does it mean to show India to the world—not as a postcard cliché but in all its layers and contradictions? Mira Nair has kept at it for over three decades—whether through Monsoon Wedding (2001), which took Delhi’s chaotic beauty global, or The Namesake (2006), which tenderly captured the sharp pangs of diasporic longing.

Today, Bijoy Shetty is attempting something similar in a different medium. The 27-year-old director's music videos for artists like Hanumankind, Martin Garrix and Badshah push hip-hop beyond borrowed aesthetics, rooting it in local culture—dahi handi pyramids, daredevil riders, traditional martial arts—while speaking in a visual language that has universal appeal.

When Nair and Shetty meet over Zoom for a conversation with Vogue India, they exchange notes about each other's work and discuss the tug-of-war between authenticity and representation. Most of all, they talk about resisting the pressure to flatten identities into marketable tropes. For both filmmakers, the challenge and the joy are the same: to show India as it is—in all its messy, irresistible complexity.

Vogue India: Mira, you've often said that you're an Indian filmmaker at home in the world. Your films have helped change how the world sees India and its diaspora. Bijoy, your music videos, particularly your recent work with Hanumankind, are strongly rooted in Indian culture. How important is the idea of representation in your work?