Ship Of Theseus (India)

If the parts of a ship are replaced, bit-by-bit, is it still the same ship? A celebrated experimental photographer struggles with the loss of her intuitive genius as an unexpected aftermath of a physical change; an intellectual monk confronting a complex ethical dilemma with a long held ideology, has to choose between principle and death; and a young stockbroker, following the trail of a stolen kidney, learns how intricate morality could be. These disparate characters manifest philosophical dilemmas in their personal lives, but their narratives converge to reveal an even larger fabric of connections, meaning, beauty, existence and death in a delicately poetic finale.

Anand Gandhi's directorial debut Right Here, Right Now (2003), a 30-minute film that deals with the idea of cyclic causality, achieved substantial critical acclaim. His second film Continuum (2006) was co-directed with Khushboo Ranka. Continuum is a montage of simple stories from everyday life, popular culture and folklore that explore "the continuum of life and death, of love and paranoia, of trade and value, of need and invention, of hunger and enlightenment". He was initially involved in parallel theatre, where he wrote and directed several critically acclaimed plays.

His first feature-length film, Ship of Theseus set in Cairo, Stockholm and Mumbai, premiered at the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival, where it was discovered as the "hidden gem of the year". It won the Best Film Award at the Transylvania International Film Festival, Best Cinematography Award at the Tokyo International Film Festival, the Jury Prize for Technical Excellence at the Mumbai Film Festival, Best Actress Award at the Dubai International Film Festival. Ship of Theseus won the National Film Award for Best Picture, which is considered India's equivalent of the Best Picture Oscar.