About Ajay Saklani in Silent Hills Studio Pvt. Ltd., Hamirpur

Born and brought up in a small remote village of district Mandi, Himachal Pradesh, India, Ajay Saklani is an independent filmmaker from Himachal Pradesh, India, well known for his debut feature film ‘Saanjh’. Ajay made a mark by releasing the first ever feature film in Himachali language in the history of more than 100 years of Indian cinema.

Ajay became fascinated by cinema when he saw TV for the first time at the young age of 11. During his college, his passion for cinema motivated him to join Theatre, where he started his career in acting. Unsure about where to begin his career after college, the same passion brought him to New Delhi, where he joined the TV industry as a video editor. While at work with many TV channels in various capacity, he learned about editing, camera, directing etc and also pursued his masters in mass communication & journalism. During his stint with TV industry, he made a couple of independent documentaries focusing on sociocultural issues, one of which titled ‘Upaasmar’ is about deaths due to malnutrition among children, in the tribal region of the state of Maharastra (India). The documentary was screened at various film festivals and appreciated worldwide.

While the majority of filmmakers start their career from Mumbai, however for Ajay, the dream of launching the nonexistent Pahari cinema, brought him back to his roots. In 2015, he started his dream project 'Saanjh' the first feature film in disappearing Himachali Language. By overcoming various hurdles he completed the film by the end of 2016 and was screened at various film festivals across the world. Saanjh received the Best Feature Film Award at Borrego Springs Film Festival 2016 and Award of Merit at The Accolade Global Film Competition.

Ajay, strongly believes that using cinema as the medium, the power of cinema can preserve and promote the fast disappearing languages and culture. Regional languages and their associated cultures are fast disappearing and have become a prominent challenge in this highly connected world.