Indian Panorama, a flagship component of the International Film Festival of India (IFFI), will showcase 25 feature films, including five films in the Mainstream Cinema section, and 20 non-feature films for 2026. ‘Dhurandhar’ (Hindi), directed by Aditya Dhar, has been selected as the opening feature film of Indian Panorama 2026, and ‘Becoming’ (Ladakhi), directed by Ms Leena Yadav, has been selected as the opening non-feature film.
The feature-film selection has been made from 404 contemporary Indian feature-film entries, while the 20 non-feature films have been selected from 358 entries. Together, the selections bring a wide range of contemporary Indian filmmaking to the festival, spanning feature and non-feature forms and multiple languages. Indian Panorama aims to select feature and non-feature films of cinematic, thematic and aesthetic excellence for the promotion of film art. The selection is undertaken by separate juries for feature and non-feature films, led by their respective chairpersons.
The Best Debut Director of Indian Feature Film Award seeks to encourage fresh perspectives, innovative forms of expression and new talent in Indian cinema.
25 Feature Films Selected for Indian Panorama 2026
The Feature Film Jury, comprising 12 members, was headed by National Film Award-winning film director and producer Shri Madhur Bhandarkar. The selected feature-film package comprises 20 films in the Indian Panorama Feature Film section and five films in the Mainstream Cinema section.
| No. | Title of film | Language | Director |
| 1 | Paro – The Untold Story Of Bride Slavery | Hindi | Gajendra Ahire |
| 2 | Laalo – Krishna Sada Sahaayate | Gujarati | Ankit Bhupatbhai Sakhiya |
| 3 | The Kerala Story 2 Goes Beyond | Hindi | Kamakhya Narayan Singh |
| 4 | Krishnavataram | Hindi | Hardik Gajjar |
| 5 | Birds On Ice | Ladakhi | Sahil Shah |
| 6 | Scroll | Tamil | Kannan S |
| 7 | Pagla Ghora | Bengali | Sekhar Das |
| 8 | Aadi Anant | Marathi | Mahesh Limaye (aka Shivkumar Limaye) |
| 9 | Urum | Nyishi | Duyu Tabyo |
| 10 | Banaras | Hindi | Bharatbala Ganapathy |
| 11 | Kabir Sir Ka Akhri Lesson | Hindi | Sarfaraz |
| 12 | Sing Geetham | Telugu | Singeetham Srinivasa Rao |
| 13 | Ohh My Dog | Hindi | Amit Rai |
| 14 | Ruby-Cube | Kannada | P Sheshadri |
| 15 | Sev Micchar | Hindi | Muskan Asthana |
| 16 | Pili Channe | Tulu | Anupama Sharadhi |
| 17 | The Great Grand Superhero Aliens Ka Aagman | Hindi | Manish Saini |
| 18 | Thaai Kizhavi | Tamil | Sivakumar Murugesan |
| 19 | Surjyamukhi | Assamese | Antara G.G. Choudhury |
| 20 | Sarvam Maya | Malayalam | Akhil Sathyan |
Mainstream Cinema Section
| No. | Title of film | Language | Director |
| 21 | Kantara A Legend Chapter 1 | Kannada | Rishab Shetty |
| 22 | Baapya | Marathi | Samir Tewari |
| 23 | Mana Shankara Vara Prasad Garu (Pandaga Ki Vastunnaru) | Telugu | Anil Ravipudi |
| 24 | Dhurandhar | Hindi | Aditya Dhar |
| 25 | Deool Band 2 | Marathi | Pravin Vitthal Tarde |
Nominations for Best Debut Director of Indian Feature Film Award
The Feature Film Jury has nominated the following five films for the Best Debut Director of Indian Feature Film Award:
| No. | Original title of film | Language | Director |
| 1 | Chennai Love Story | Telugu | Ravi Varma Namburi |
| 2 | Pratyabartan | Bengali | Samarpan Sengupta |
| 3 | Tighi | Marathi | Jeejivisha Kale |
| 4 | Sledge | Kashmiri | Raja Shabir Mohd Khan |
| 5 | Hanuman Ansh | Hindi | Dr Vishal Chaturvedi |
20 Non-Feature Films Selected for Indian Panorama 2026
The Non-Feature Film Jury, comprising six members, was headed by renowned film director and educationist Shri Himanshu Sekhar Khatua. A package of 20 non-feature films has been selected from 358 contemporary Indian non-feature film entries. The package reflects the capacity of emerging and established filmmakers to document, investigate, entertain and engage with contemporary Indian values.
| No. | Title of film | Language | Director(s) |
| 1 | The Unseen Holy River – Saraswati | Hindi | Bhasker Vishwanathan |
| 2 | Becoming | Ladakhi | Leena Yadav |
| 3 | Shat-Shat Atal | Hindi | Atul Pandey |
| 4 | The Hug of Emptiness | Kannada | Pradeep Kumar Shetty K |
| 5 | Red Carpet | Assamese | Aimee Baruah |
| 6 | Demography is Destiny | Hindi | Kamakhya Narayan Singh; Anshuman Shekhar |
| 7 | Echoes of the last shelter | Hindi | Bharat Arora; Rajesh Bhatia |
| 8 | Win | Telugu | Praveen |
| 9 | Ulididdu Sampige Maatra | Kannada | Abhishek |
| 10 | Nirmanjali: The Chandigarh of Maciej Nowicki | English | Suraj Kumar |
| 11 | Shiksha | Marathi | Amyth Patkar |
| 12 | Naqsh-e-Daur | Kashmiri | Baba Tassaduq Hussain |
| 13 | Chandoba | Marathi | Nipun Dharmadhikari |
| 14 | Abhal -Vriksh | Marathi | Santosh Davakhar |
| 15 | Attappadi | Tamil | Vijeesh Mani |
| 16 | Save The God | Hindi | Niraj Kumar Mishra |
| 17 | Amit Atal | Hindi | Hitesh Shankar |
| 18 | Switch Off | Malayalam | Sandeep Francis |
| 19 | Chalo Indian with Eric Ji – Mizoram | English | Rajdeep Choudhury |
| 20 | Kathar Katha | Bengali | Dhritisree Sarkar |
Introduced in 1978 under the umbrella of IFFI, Indian Panorama promotes Indian films and the country’s rich culture and heritage through cinematic art. It is dedicated to showcasing the best Indian films of the year and promoting film art through non-profit screenings. Beyond their screening at IFFI, selected films may be presented at international film festivals in India and abroad, Indian Film Weeks held under Bilateral Cultural Exchange Programmes, specialised Indian Film Festivals outside cultural exchange protocols, and special Indian Panorama festivals in India.
Leave a Reply