Janato Cinema
Everyday stories. On screen.
Details
At the heart of Janato Cinema is a simple idea: everyday stories matter.
Our films look at ordinary lives, overlooked places, difficult questions, and unexpected moments of care, courage and resilience. Through cinema, we hope to create conversations around society, democracy, dignity, freedom, equality, and community.
We work with both emerging and established filmmakers to make fiction and documentary films and help these stories find a wider audience.
Our first digital release is Khelne Chalogi?, directed by Garima Sadhwani.
The documentary follows a girls’ football team from Mumbra in Mumbai as they make their way to Azim Premji University to play in a football tournament, surmounting considerable odds to get there.
At its heart, it is a story about girls, football, friendship, freedom, and the joy of play.
Watch Khelne Chalogi trailer:
Watch full documentary film here →
Our films
Discover fiction and documentary films from Janato Cinema.
Our growing slate includes Khelne Chalogi?, Kambakhat, The Last Rites, 21, 25, With Love, Arifa, Termite, Laiba Ka Ghar, Humari Jabeena, Sabka Time Aayega, What is Health?, Kashmir Willow, and Patriots in Paradise. The slate brings together fiction and documentary, emerging and established filmmakers, and stories from very different parts of everyday India.
More than films
Janato Cinema is also about building an ecosystem where films can be made, discovered, watched, and talked about.
The Janato Fellowship supports emerging documentary and fiction filmmakers with original stories to tell.
Through project development and production support, the Fellowship will help filmmakers take their stories from an idea towards a finished film.
Watch this space for more details.
Films are meant to be watched together.
Janato Film Fridays creates a regular space for screenings and conversations, bringing socially relevant and independent cinema to audiences beyond conventional theatrical and festival circuits.
Watch this space for more details.
The Janato Film Leader Programme builds a network of young people who can use cinema to start conversations in their own communities.
Film Leaders will take curated films into adolescent clubs and community spaces, organise screenings and facilitate conversations around the films.
Watch this space for more details.
In the Media
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Shaunak Sen on taking termite to TIFF: ‘After Oscar nomination, it’s easier to get meetings’
At Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) 2026, he is presenting Termite, produced and presented by Janato Cinema, an initiative by Azim Premji Foundation, as highlighted by Upala KBR in Mid-day.
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What is Janato Cinema? How Azim Premji Foundation’s New Initiative Is Backing Socially-Engaged Films
As the Azim Premji Foundation enters film production with Janato Cinema, filmmakers see an opportunity to fill a long-standing gap in funding for independent, socially engaged work, writes Zico Ghosh, in The Hollywood Reporter.