Anish Akshay Chauhan is a Leicester-based writer-director whose work weaves heritage, folklore, and psychological storytelling through a distinctly Indo-surrealist lens; exploring the intersections of identity, memory, and diaspora with a focus on South Asian and British cultural narratives.

Anish’s work has been recognised by Roma... Read More

Anish Akshay Chauhan is a Leicester-based writer-director whose work weaves heritage, folklore, and psychological storytelling through a distinctly Indo-surrealist lens; exploring the intersections of identity, memory, and diaspora with a focus on South Asian and British cultural narratives.

Anish’s work has been recognised by Roman Coppola’s Decentralized Pictures, where his feature concept Belgrave won Silver and Bronze Prizes in two Screenplay Competitions (2022), and achieved a 94.74% community score in the Onchain Base Creators Award (2025). He later evolved the project into a novella titled Diwaleen in Belgrave, recently shortlisted by BBC Film Development Executives. His earlier collaboration with Leicester Museums, The Ellis Sisters of Belgrave, laid the foundation for this expanding creative universe.

A Postgraduate Masters Scholar at Central Saint Martins, Anish directed Faith in Fabric (2023), a short film examining Leicester’s South Asian fast-fashion industry, later showcased at Leicester Film Festival. He is the founder and creative director of Belgrave Bookstore, an online bookstore specialising in South Asian literature and heritage. Alongside his narrative work, Anish has produced commercial and heritage content, and currently works as a Script Reader and Development Assistant for London-based Twenty-Nine Palms Entertainment, and as a Film & TV Teacher at Pauline Quirke Academy.

Deeply embedded in Leicester’s cultural landscape, he continues to build partnerships across film, literature, and heritage sectors, developing projects that challenge, reimagine, and reclaim narratives of belonging. Read Less