Leena YadavWriter, Director
Leena Yadav is an independent filmmaker based in Mumbai and Los Angeles, known for unconventional themes in her films and international collaborations with artists. Her journey in film started with SHABD (2005) starring Aishwarya Rai, Sanjay Dutt and Zayed Khan. She wrote, Directed and edited the film. Teen Patti (2010) is Leena’s second film as a director & writer. Set in India and England, and starring Amitabh Bachchan and Academy Award Winner Sir Ben Kingsley – Teen Patti is an emotionally riveting and razor sharp thriller about greed, deception and achievements. Her next film Parched had its world premiere at Toronto International Film Festival, 2015. Since TIFF, Parched traveled to 57 film festivals across the world, having won 31 international awards. The film explores gender politics in a misogynistic society and is set in rural India, for which Leena was also conferred with the inaugural IMPACT Award – designed, established and judged by the most iconic Chinese artist and human rights activist Ai Wei Wei – at the Stockholm International Film Festival. Parched had a historic theatrical run in French Cinemas, having played for 43 consecutive weeks, making it the longest running Indian film ever in France. Leena’s last film Rajma Chawal (2018) is a father son comedy drama about technology and the changing face of communication starring Rishi Kapoor. It premiered at the BFI London Film Festival and was released as a Netflix Original on November, 2018. After this Leena ventured into Documentaries and House of Secrets – The Burari Deaths – a 3-part true crime Docu Series created and directed by her, released on Netflix to an amazing response internationally in Oct 2021. The series is an exploratory look into the famous case where 11 members of a multigenerational family were found hanging in their house on 1st July 2018. Leena is also part of an anthology film called Tell It Like a Woman, where 7 female directors from across the world made 7 compelling female-driven short films. She directed alongside amazing filmmakers like Catherine Hardwicke, Maria Sole Tognazzi, Lucia Puenzo, Mipo O and Taraji P. Henson. Tell It Like a Woman was awarded the excellence Award at Taormina Film Festival in June 2022. Leena is slated to Direct Cowgirl’s Last Ride, staring Geena Davis, Scoot McNairy and Jill Scott, in early 2023. It is being produced by Resonate Entertainment. Leena is also attached to direct three more International films, one of them is an Indo-Italian production.
