Chetak Screen Awards 2026: The nominees on their films, journey and inspiration | Bollywood News

Stolen has secured Best Director-OTT film nomination for Tejpal and Best Actor (Female)-OTT Film nomination for Mia Maelzer and Best Actor (Male)-OTT nomination for Shubham Vardhan. It has also received nods in the Best OTT Film and Best Script-OTT film categories.

Contributing to a community, Banerjee says, has always been central to his approach. He had that in mind even when he started his casting company. “We need more newcomers –writers, directors, actors, cinematographers — so that as an industry we can grow and power doesn’t lie with only a few. The main agenda of doing a film like Stolen is to take that risk,” he says.

Apart from the accolades, it has been a fulfilling experience on a creative level. Having worked across formats, he admits that conventional projects often come with a certain predictability. “A creative person thrives on challenge, when there is a curiosity attached to any kind of project, when you don’t know how it’s going to shape up,” he says.

Arati Kadav
Best Director-OTT film
Mrs.
Arati Kadav
When writer-director Arati Kadav began working on Mrs. (Zee5), she saw it as a coming-of-age story — not just for the protagonist, but also for herself as a filmmaker. Taking on the film meant she was going beyond the sci-fi genre, which she is involuntarily drawn to. “Though I am passionate about all kinds of films, when I make my films, I gravitate towards sci-fi. So, I wanted to take up Mrs. as a challenge,” says Kadav, who made her directorial debut with Cargo (2019).

Mrs., a remake of the 2021 Malayalam film The Great Indian Kitchen, is also nominated for Best Actor (Female) – OTT Film, Best Film for Gender Sensitivity, Best OTT Film and Best Script – OTT film categories.

After Kadav came on board, she worked on having a brighter colour palette for Mrs. compared to the original movie. “I wanted the house to resemble an Indian middle-class home. I took a lot of inspiration from Iranian cinema,” says Kadav. Mrs. follows the story of a young bride in a middle-class joint family as she struggles to cope with domestic responsibilities.

Of all her movies, Mrs. has had a wider impact. After watching Mrs., many women have come forward to share their stories. “The film made me realise the importance of connecting with people. The viewers even defended the film when it faced criticism online. Some of them did a better job of defending the film that I could have,” she says.

The experience of directing Mrs. has prepared Kadav for bigger challenges. Even though she wants to helm a sci-fi feature in future, she is also trying to pursue stories of strong women. Her next is a woman-led story.

Also Read – Screen Academy unveils Chetak Screen Awards: Here are the nominees for the finest in film and OTT

Boman Irani
Best Director – OTT film, Best OTT Film, Best Script – OTT film
The Mehta Boys
Boman Irani
When Boman Irani made his directorial debut with The Mehta Boys (Prime Video), he deftly handled multiple responsibilities as the film’s co-writer and co-producer, apart from playing the role of a grieving patriarch in it. His ability for multitasking has its roots in his theatre days, his experience as a photographer for 14 years, working in advertising and dealing with customers at the family-run store ‘Golden Wafers’. “It all comes together when you have to write and direct a film,” says the actor-turned-director.

Though Irani has been part of the film industry for about 25 years, it was as a director that he grew aware of the significance of writing. “It is difficult to start writing a script from scratch; create characters that feel and express something; and to build a theme, conflict, drama. You’re imagining everything without the frills — no actors, no music, nothing. Just words on a page,” says Irani, who has co-written the script with Alexander Dinelaris.

Choosing a relationship drama for his directorial debut was driven by his desire to explore emotional complexities. What fascinates him most is the ambiguity of fractured relationships. “The moment you offer a solution, it becomes simple,” he says and points out the father-son relationship shown in The Mehta Boys doesn’t always have answers. “They carry scars. Things may shift, but they don’t necessarily heal.” The Mehta Boys is nominated for Best Actor (Female) – OTT Film (Shreya Chaudhry) and Best OTT Film.

Sharing that he wants to explore the full spectrum of storytelling, Irani wants to tackle a different genre in his next directorial outing. “Genre is just a vehicle. What matters is what you want to say,” says the actor-director, who counts Alfred Hitchcock, Billy Wilder, Sidney Lumet and Steven Spielberg among his inspirations.

Manjiri Pupala
Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Female)
Superboys Of Malegaon
Manjiri Pupala
“When art chooses you, then you should follow the trail,” believes actor Manjiri Pupala. Pursuing acting was not her initial dream. Inspired by astronaut Kalpana Chawla, she wanted to study aeronautical engineering. However, when she watched Veena Jamkar’s performance in a Vijay Tendulkar play, Pupala’s career plan changed.

From childhood, she was exposed to theatre thanks to her father Vijay Pupula, who worked as an art director at the Films Division. “My father would take us to watch plays regularly. Art can shift the perspective of society, he would say, and I too believe in that,” says the actor who features in Betaal (2020), Shehar Lakhot (2023) and Dhadak 2 (2025).

Though her first screen appearance was in Aamer (2016), a short film made under the supervision of director Zoya Akhtar, it was her role in Dahaad (2023) that helped her get the role of Trupti in Superboys of Malegaon. Though she joined the team a fortnight ahead of the shoot, she immersed herself in picking up local accents as well as observing local women. She regularly returns to the stage to perform Manjiri Matching Centre, an 80-minute play written and performed by her.

Raam Reddy
Best Director
Jugnuma: The Fable
Raam Reddy
The vision for Jugnuma existed in the form of a nearly 400-page-long graphic novel before Raam Reddy translated it into a feature film. “It was a rigorous, purest kind of process where everything was pre-designed. As a filmmaker, to be able to exercise that level of control with something as brave as Jugnuma was a great learning experience,” says the writer-director. The film, set in the Himalayas, blends magic realism with mystery.

Though Reddy, who won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Kannada for his debut Thithi (2015), has become more aware of the commercial demands, he remains true to his creative instincts. “I probably wouldn’t know how to make those films. I know how to make the films that I do,” he says. While Jugnuma had a limited theatrical run, the film found a newer audience base after its streaming release. Discussions around its visual style, colour palette, and independent filmmaking approach too surfaced on social media. Even though he has some core collaborators, Reddy would continue his hands-on approach as a writer, director, and producer. His next is a high-energy contemporary tale about GenZ.

Jugnuma is nominated in the Best Actor (Male) for Manoj Bajpayee; Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Male) for Deepak Dobriyal; Best Cinematography and Best Special Effects categories.

Also Read – Chetak Screen Awards 2026 Nominations: Who decides, and what’s the process

Shalini Vatsa
Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Female)
Homebound
Shalini Vatsa
When Shalini Vatsa was cast as Phool, a lower-caste woman who loses her son, her biggest concern was authenticity. Though she was aware of women like Phool, having worked with NGOs and in Habib Tanvir’s theatre group, Naya Theatre, she was wary of not having the “lived experience” to approach the role.

Vatsa delved into reading books about women belonging to the marginalised sections of society. What mainly helped her in delivering a convincing performance was director Neeraj Ghaywan’s guidance. He shared personal stories and references that shaped her understanding of Phool. “He was very generous,” she recalls. For Vatsa, the responsibility of representing a lower-caste woman and her struggles on screen felt significant, and that remained at the centre of her preparation.

One of the stand-out scenes in Homebound captures Phool’s reaction when her son’s body is brought home. His friend then gives Phool the slippers that her son had bought for her to protect her cracked heels. “Since the scene was shot in a linear manner, it helped me to maintain her emotional arc,” Vatsa says.

Sonal Madhushankar
Best Actor (Female)
Humans in the Loop
Sonal Madhushankar
Much before Sonal Madhushankar caught the attention of film lovers with her nuanced portrayal of Nehma, a tribal woman in Jharkhand engaged as a ‘data labeller’ at an Artificial Intelligence data centre in Aranya Sahay-directed Humans in the Loop, she played the role of Banno in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Gangubai Kathiawadi (2022).

After getting her degree in engineering, she moved from Maharashtra’s Chandrapur to Pune with an IT job. There, she began doing theatre with friends, most of whom were IT professionals, over weekends. She continued doing theatre even after acting in Gangubai Kathiawadi, Delhi Crime 2 (2022) and Duranga (2023).

To prepare for the role of Nehma, she interacted with tribal women. “We had heart-to-heart conversations with them about their hardships during workshops. One encounter stayed with me—one woman spoke about her hardship often, without shedding a drop of tear,” Madhushankar recalls. Experiencing her quiet strength helped Madhushankar understand the emotional world of her character.

Humans in the Loop was shot over two weeks in two schedules. The experience, she says, was different from working on big film sets. “People are not approachable when you are on a big set as they have to get things done. But one should enjoy the creative process,” says Madhushankar, who believes in finding like-minded collaborators and telling stories that matter to them. At present, she is working in one FTII diploma film and will be shooting for a feature film soon.

Humans in the Loop is nominated for awards in Best Cinematography, Best Film for Gender Sensitivity, Best Film Writing (Story & Screenplay) Best Sound Design, Breakthrough Debut Director and Breakthrough New Actor (Female) categories.

Suparn S Varma
Best Director
Haq
Suparn S Varma
Working on Sirf Ek Bandaa Kaafi Hai (2023), made Suparn S Varma fearless. “That kind of gave me the impetus to take up bigger challenges. I knew about the Shah Bano case and I wanted to make a film which explores not just the case but the politics of marriage,” he says.

A self-proclaimed disciple of Gulzar, Varma wanted to create the world of protagonist Shazia Bano (essayed by the Chetak Screen Award nominee for Best Actor (Female) Yami Gautam Dhar) that would give him the freedom to explore many facets of society and to layer the story. “I wanted the characters to be gray, especially the husband Abbas (Emraan Hashmi) who at that time lived in a society that allowed him to act the way he did,” says Varma, who roped in Reshu Nath (who has secured two Chetak Screen Award nominations in the Best Writing and Dialogues categories) to write Haq’s script.

Varma believes that when a story comes from a place of honesty and without agenda, propaganda, or bias, the process becomes clearer. Though some people were worried that the film might be seen as political, Haq found resonance with audiences, especially women, across religions and even countries, shares the director. “Many kept asking me why I am telling an old story now. My response was that nothing much has changed for a woman. She lived in a man’s world then and she lives in a man’s world now,” says Varma.

Watch Chetak Screen Awards 2026 LIVE on YouTube, Sony Entertainment Television, and Sony LIV on April 5 at 8 pm.