
Varsha Panikar is a trans-nonbinary filmmaker, author, illustrator, and interdisciplinary artist. They serve as the co-founder and Artistic Director of Star Hopper, a trans-led entertainment and media company working at the intersection of film and culture, with primary focus on narratives that are brown, queer and women led. In 2024, they launched Riot Ink Press, an independent publishing arm showcasing queer and trans voices in print. They also curate and blog at the Underground Film Observatory (UFO), spotlighting moving image works and experiments through a distinctly brown, trans-feminist lens.
Blending mediums and formats, Varsha’s work challenges the status quo, interrogating representation and authorship while crafting socially conscious narratives that provoke dialogue and foster change. Their practice is a radical act of resistance, catalysing both personal and collective healing through art. Varsha’s process is punk in its defiance, tender in its introspection, feminist in its urgency, and queer in its essence.
As a filmmaker, Varsha Panikar merges artistic storytelling with social impact, earning recognition on global platforms. Their recent films for Disney+ Star’s Words of Pride initiative received widespread acclaim, winning a Grand Prix, three Golds, and a Bronze at The Drum Awards 2024. The campaign also earned the prestigious Purple Elephant (Zee Equality Award) at the Kyoorius Creative Awards, a Merit at One Show 2024, and Silver and Bronze honours at Spikes Asia Awards 2024, alongside Gold, Merit, and Bronze at the One Asia Creative Awards 2024. These accolades exemplify Varsha’s ability to blend personal and political storytelling with global relevance. With over a decade of experience in Mumbai’s advertising industries, Varsha has collaborated with major brands like Disney+ Star, Universal Music, UN Women, Google, Snapchat, and featured on platforms such as Nowness, Nowness Asia, MTV, Directors Notes, GiF and Otherness Archive.
Their short film Bodies of Desire, celebrated as part of #FiveFilmsForFreedom 2021 by BFI Flare and the British Council, has been showcased at over 60 international festivals, including BFI Flare, Outfest LA, and Berlin Commercials, earning the Best International Short Special Jury Award at the RIO Festival De Cinema LGBTQIA+ and recognition at 24fps International Short Film Festival. Their spoken-word films, including After So Long, premiered on Nowness Asia, and received accolades at esteemed festivals such as Zebra Poetry Film Festival and Balkan Can Kino. False Promises based on their poem, was honoured at the Dada Saheb Phalke Film Festival 2021.
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Beyond film, Varsha Panikar is an up and coming author, illustrator, and mixed-media artist whose work spans zines, poetry, short stories, and visual art. Often exploring themes of identity, resistance, and social change, their latest horror graphic novella, It Waits, has been lauded by Readers’ Favourite as “a masterful balance of vivid imagery and creeping dread.” Told through an intimate journal format, the story weaves a chilling tale of identity and memory, centered on a malevolent cabinet that leaves a haunting impression. 'Conundrums on the Brink of Perception', has been described as “thought-provoking and a mirror to our own contradictions and hypocrisies,” challenging readers to question their judgments and perspectives.
Their literary and artistic works have been featured at Underground Zine Fest (Mumbai 2024), Opn Art House (Max Müller Bhavan, New Delhi), and ‘Queer Futures Archives’ (Parramatta Riverside Theater, Sydney 2020). Their zines have been curated and archived by Zine Club Chicago, State University Of New York's Sojourner Truth Library, Queer Zine Library(UK), and Grrrl Zine Fair (Oxford). Other publications include The Lipstick Politico, Munich Zine, Brown Girl Magazine, Nerve Zine, The Rights Collective, One Future Collective and Pinjratod, and more.
Varsha’s project Ara Chronicles, a queer children’s graphic novel blending Indian folklore, fantasy, and magic realism, was awarded the Chain Unchained: Mintathon Grant (2023) by Goethe-Institut and BeFantastic. Exhibited at Kala Ghoda Festivals 2024, the project explores NFTs and emerging technologies. As a BeFantastic C³ Fellow, Varsha continues to expand the possibilities of storytelling across mediums.
Guided by a deep yearning for connection, authenticity, and radical care, Varsha they strives to craft messy, magical, and radically inclusive worlds that inspire evoke transformation.
In their downtime, Varsha lends their voice to films and brands, performs spoken word, experiments with analog image-making, and indulges in their love for all things horror. They also moonwalk through existential questions, pondering the imagined queer oasis they hope to inhabit in the proverbial sky, someday.
For collaborations and inquiries, you can contact them at varshapanikar@gmail.com.
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Awards
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Grand Prix at The Drum Awards 2024 - Words Of Pride
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Gold (Social Purpose) at The Drum Awards 2024 - Words Of Pride
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Gold (Charity or Not for Profit) at The Drum Awards 2024 - Words Of Pride
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Gold (Disruption) at The Drum Awards 2024 - Words Of Pride
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Gold for Cultural Driving Force at One Asia Creative Awards 2024 - Words Of Pride
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Merit for Creative Effectiveness at One Asia Creative Awards 2024 - Words Of Pride
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Bronze for Brand-Side/In-House at One Asia Creative Awards 2024 - Words Of Pride
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Bronze (Data/Insight) at The Drum Awards 2024 - Words Of Pride
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Bronze and Silver at Spike Asia Awards 2024 - Words Of Pride
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Purple Elephant Zee Equality Awards 2024 Kyoorius Creative Awards - Words Of Pride
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Merit at 2024 One Show - Words Of Pride
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Five Films For Freedom 2021 at BFI Flare and British Council - Bodies Of Desire
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Best Poetry Short at Make Art Not Fear 2022- Bodies Of Desire
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Best Poetry Short at Make Art Not Fear 2023 - After So Long
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Best International Short (Special Jury Award) at RIO Festival De Cinema LGBTQIA+ 2021 - Bodies Of Desire
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Honourable Mention at 24fps International Short Film Festival 2022 - Bodies Of Desire
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Best Music Video at Global Indian Film Festival 2021 - Bodies Of Desire
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Special Mention and Certificate of Excellence at the 11th Dada Saheb Phalke Film Festival 2021 - False Promises
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Quarter Finalist (Best International Feminist Short) at Femifilms - Bodies Of Desire
Film Festivals & Programmes
Five Films For Freedom . Fringe! Queer Film & Arts Fest . OUTFEST Los Angeles . BFI FLARE London LGBTQ+ Film Festival . Berlin Commercials Toronto Queer Film Festival . Fashion Film Festival Milano . Indian Film Festival Of Melbourne . Kyoorius Creative Awards . One Show . Spike Asia Awards . One Asia Creative Awards . Zebra Poetry Film Festival 2021 . Zebra Poetry Film Festival 2022 . Rio Festival De Cinema LGBTQIA+ Prairie Pride Film Festival . Les Mains Gauches . Athens Fashion Film Festival . 4:3 Int'l Short Film Festival . Geelong Pride Film Festival . 9th Int'l Video Poetry Festival . Queerz Get Loud . Erotica Art & Film Festival . Reelout Queer Film Festival . Tag! Queer Shorts Festival . Balkan Can Kino . Black Cat Award International Film Festival | Lustreifen Film Festival . Global Indian Film Festival . Wench Film Festival . Pan Eros Film Festival . CLIT Film Festival . Provincetown International Film Festival . HKSF . Reel Desire Chennai International Queer Film Festival . Melanin Pride Festival . Thessaloniki Queer Arts Festival . Living Together Again . Flickfair . Last Frame Queer Womxn Fest . 10th International Video Poetry Festival . One Earth Awards . Dada Saheb Phalke Film Festival . New York City Independent Film Festival . Bangalore Queer film Festival . Women Make Waves . IAWRT Asian Women's Film Festival . Star Film Fest . One Earth Award . 24fps International Short Film Festival Festival del Cinema di Cefalù . Directors Note . Cinema Talks . Trans Film Festival Stockholm . Helios Sun Poetry Film Festival .
Grants, Residency, Fellowship, Workshop
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Recipient of the Mintathon - Chain Unchained Grant (2023) by Goethe Institute and Be Fantastic.
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BeFantastic C³ (2021) by Goethe-Institut(Mumbai) and Zentrum für Kunst und Medien ZKM (Karlsruhe), BeFantastic.
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Documentary Theater with Gob Squad Collective, Göethe Institut Mumbai
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Experimental Practices with Celluloid, Harkat
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16mm Contact Printing, Harkat
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Clowning with Rupesh Tillu, The Fools School
Curation
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UFO's Film Curation, For Dialled.In at Southbank Centre, London, U.K
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Dr. Bootleger's Bowl Of Delightful Diversions, One Future Collective, Virtual, India
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UFO's Film Curation, Flying Chameleon Film Festival, New-Delhi, India
Education
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International Women's Health & Human Rights, Stanford (Ongoing)
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Healing with the Arts, University Of Florida (Ongoing)
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Directing Actors, Sundance Institut
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Diversity and Inclusion in the workplace, ESSEC Business School
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Health Across Spectrum, Stanford
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Mental Health Fist Aid, MHFA
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Queer Rights & Allyship, One Future Collective
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Film & Video, Xaviers Institute Of Communications, Mumbai
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Linguistics, Department Of Germanik & Romance Studies, Delhi University