Meet Nisha Pahuja whose film To Kill a Tiger has earned a nomination at the Oscars 2024

Delhi-born filmmaker Nisha Pahuja is in the spotlight as her film To Kill a Tiger has been nominated in the Best Documentary Feature category at Oscars 2024. The film is based in India but is a Canadian production.

Pahuja was born in Delhi but shifted to Canada with her family where she was raised.

Here are more details on the filmmaker who is this year's only Indian to be nominated at the Oscars.

Who is Nisha Pahuja?

Nisha Pahuja shifted to Canada with her family in the 1970s and completed her studies in English Literature at the University of Toronto. She worked as a researcher on the CBC documentary Some Kind of Arrangement and later worked with Canadian filmmakers John Walker and Ali Kazimi. Pahuja rose to fame after her 2012 documentary film, The World Before Her won critical acclaim.

Accolades for The World Before Her

Pahuja's film, The World Before Her earned several accolades before getting nominated at the Oscars. The film won the Jury Award at the Tribeca Film Festival, Best Canadian Documentary from Hot Docs and was included in Canada's Top Ten films.

The Emmy-nominated film with the help of director Anurag Kashyap, saw a theatrical release in India in 2014. Nisha's other works include the feature documentary Bollywood Bound and a three-part series Diamond Road.

More about To Kill a Tiger

To Kill a Tiger is based in India and follows the story of Ranjit and his battle for justice as his daughter was sexually assaulted by three men. The official synopsis of the film reads, “In To Kill a Tiger, Ranjit, a farmer in Jharkhand, India, takes on the fight of his life when he demands justice for his 13-year-old daughter, the survivor of sexual assault. In India, where a rape is reported every 20 minutes and conviction rates are less than 30 per cent, Ranjit’s decision to support his daughter is virtually unheard of, and his journey unprecedented.”

The film was previously screened at Toronto International Film Festival 2022, where it won the Amplify Voices Award for Best Canadian Feature Film.

The film also has Mindy Kaling and Dev Patel as excutive producers. Kaling said the film "is a story of how one family’s strength can overcome even the most heinous injustices. Nisha is an incredibly powerful storyteller, and her film is a triumph. Everyone should see it.”

Following the nomination announcement, Mindy added on her instagram, “TO KILL A TIGER NOMINATED FOR BEST DOCUMENTARY!! The director (and mother) of the film, Nisha Pahuja (@nishappics), has made the most moving and beautiful film about the strength of a family in the face of impossibly harrowing circumstances. I was beyond honoured when she asked me in 2022 to join the film as an executive producer - and could not be more proud of her, the To Kill A Tiger team and the film this incredible morning!”