Directing

Ishan Pehal

Ishan Pehal has always belonged to the stage. Born and raised in the Kullu Valley, Himachal Pradesh, he found his way to theatre early and stayed for years, not just to perform, but to understand what makes a story live inside a person long after it ends. That curiosity pulled him toward film. He made his first short, Tabula Rasa, in 2021, and something clicked. The film went on to win Best Short Film at Shorted India, earn a nomination for Best Short Film of the Year 2023, and later took home Best Short Film at MDFF 2024. What started with instinct was becoming a language. He moves fluidly across the craft, directing, editing, shooting, acting, drawn to every corner of the process. Through Chaar Chavanni Films, a collective born out of shared passion with three close friends, he has explored documentary storytelling with works like Theatre Exposure Chandigarh and Bihar Through My Eyes. In 2024, he returned to acting in Hills Don't Dance Alone, a project nurtured through the Netflix and Film Companion TakeTen grant, before directing Gods Do Not Follow. "I've always struggled to articulate things in words, so I chose stories." Everything he makes carries that search: for the frame that says what words cannot.