Independent Cinema.
Global Stories.

About

Parambi Studios was co-founded in 2022 by media professional Pooja Dolas and filmmaker-poet Mithunchandra Chaudhari. Pooja has an extensive background in theatre, radio, television, film, and media education, having worked in various capacities across these fields.

Mithunchandra, a National Award-winning filmmaker, is known for creating tender, socially poignant, and critically acclaimed films. Based in Pune, India, Parambi Studios produced the short documentary Anonymous, which was selected for prestigious film festivals such as Visions du Reel, the International Documentary and Short Film Festival of Kerala, and the Dharamshala International Film Festival, among others. Parambi Studios is committed to producing meaningful fiction and nonfiction films that focus on the culturally and socially alienated and marginalized yet significant communities and individuals within the Indian working class. The studio aims to tell profound and empowering stories of the voiceless in authentic and innovative ways.

Parambi Studios seeks to collaborate with like-minded international filmmakers and producers and aspires to become a strong platform supporting independent filmmaking in India and beyond. Currently, the Studios is working on three important projects. Its feature length documentary ‘Women of the Cane’ is in the post production stage. Its short fiction ‘Flight Mode’ is in pre-production, and its fiction feature ‘Pothi’ is in development.

Team

Pooja Dolas

Founder, Producer

Mithunchandra Chaudhari

Co‑Founder, Writer-Director · National Film Award recipient (India)

Mazhar Shaikh

European Representative (Munich, Germany)

Pooja Dolas

Pooja Dolas is a multimedia professional with 20 years of experience across theatre, radio, television and film. She began her career as a radio jockey, later earning multiple best actress awards for her performances in Marathi-language plays. She has also worked extensively as a television anchor, dubbing artist and educator, currently teaching mass media at Pimpri Chinchwad University.

As the founder of Parambi Studios, Pooja has been actively involved in both fiction and non-fiction filmmaking. She produced the short documentary Anonymous, which was selected for prestigious festivals including Visions du Réel, IDSFFK, SiGNS Festival, Kolkata International Film Festival and the Dharamshala International Film Festival. Her forthcoming projects include Women of the Cane, a feature length documentary in post-production, Flight Mode, a short fiction in pre-production stage and Pothi, a feature fiction in the advanced stages of development.

Mithunchandra Chaudhari

Mithunchandra Chaudhari's films explore the resilience of working-class women in rural India, tackling themes of alienation, patriarchy and livelihood. His short fiction Paywat won the Silver Lotus at the 63rd National Film Awards and is streaming on ZEE5. The film was also studied by international students at Gottingen University, Germany.

His work has been featured at various international film festivals like Visions du Réel, CineFest Dresden, CineFest Miskolc, Hungary, Ravenna, Italy, International Film Festival of India (IFFI), Mumbai, Kolkata, IDSFFK, Dharamshala.

Mithun was Chief Assistant Director on acclaimed Marathi films Fandry (BFI London Film Festival, 2013) and Sairat (Berlinale, Generation, 2016) and served as a juror for the IFFI Indian Panorama non-feature film section in 2017 and 2024.

A USIEF research scholar in documentary filmmaking, he completed a residency at Salisbury University, Maryland. Mithun’s poetry has been published in prominent Marathi literary magazines and his debut poetry collection, Aatli Kawada (The Doors Within), published in September 2025. Originally from the village of Patkul, Maharashtra, he holds a PhD in Documentary Filmmaking and currently heads the Film Programme at Symbiosis International University, Pune

Currently, Mithun’s feature-length documentary Women of the Cane is in the post- production stage, which focuses on the lives of marginalized female sugarcane labourers in India. His fiction feature Pothi that explores themes of alienation, patriarchy, and the complexities of family dynamics in rural India, is in the development stage. And his short fiction Flight Mode is in the pre-production stage.

Mazhar Shaikh

Mazhar Shaikh is the European Representative of Parambi Studios, based in Munich, Germany. With a deep understanding of the European film market and industry dynamics, he plays a key role in building and nurturing relationships with international filmmakers, producers, and distributors. His expertise in navigating the European film landscape supports Parambi Studios in expanding its reach and collaborating on global projects.

Mazhar is also an actor and has performed in short films and web series. His artistic sensibility, combined with his commitment to independent cinema, aligns closely with the studio’s mission of bringing profound and empowering stories from India to a global audience.