SNS Sastry

SNS Sastry
Born1930[1]
Died1978
Alma materGovernment Film and Television Institute (GFTI), Bengaluru[2][3]
Occupationscinematographer, documentary filmmaker
Years active1950 to 1978

SNS Sastry was an Indian cinematographer and documentary filmmaker who was active from the 1950s to 1978. He is a winner of four national awards for Malwa (1963),[4]One Day (1964),[5]I Am 20 (1967),[6][7] and And I Make Short Films (1968).[8]

Career

Sastry earned a diploma in cinematography from the Bengaluru Polytechnic, now the Government Film and Television Institute (GFTI), Bengaluru.[9][10]

He joined Films Division India, the state-run film production and distribution unit, as a newsreel cameraman in the early 1950s. Over time, he became a director. For nearly three decades until 1978, Sastry made several documentaries for Films Division. The most notable among these are One Day (1964), I Am Twenty (1967), And I Make Short Films (1968), This Bit of That India (1972),[11] The Burning Sun (1973), Our Indira (1973),[12] and Flashback (1974).[13][14][15][16]

Despite being state-sponsored, Sastry’s films are marked by a subtle criticism of the political, economic and social developments of the time. His works often feature gentle self-criticism, questioning mindsets, and resilient attitudes.[17][18]

Filmography

As director – documentaries

  • Nagarjunakonda (1958)[19]
  • Call of the Kheda (1962)
  • The Sons Who Served (1963)
  • Malwa (1963)[20]
  • A Privilege (1963)
  • One Day (1964)
  • That Delta – That River (1965)[21]
  • NEFA: The Years of Promise (1965)
  • Invitation to Enchantment (1965)[22]
  • Yet in Him We Trust (1966)[23]
  • Parambikulam - Aliyar Project (1966)
  • The Sainik Schoolway (1967)[24]
  • Jai Jawan (1967)[25]
  • I Am Twenty (1967)[26]
  • The Capture of Haji Pir Pass (1968)[27]
  • And I Make Short Films (1968)[28]
  • On the Move (1970)[29]
  • Amir Khan (1970)[30]
  • We (1971)[31]
  • Keep Going (1971)[32]
  • Care...A Little More (1971)
  • Yes, It's On (1972)[33]
  • Mining the White Gold (1972)[34]
  • He is Back (1972)[35]
  • The Burning Sun (1973)[36]
  • Our Indira (1973)[37]
  • Raga - I India (1974)[38]
  • Raga - II India (1974)
  • Portrait of a Prime Minister (1974)
  • Flashback (1974)[39]
  • Faces - India (1974)[40]
  • Somewhere in the Deep Woods (1975)[41]
  • Strides (1975)
  • Take Off (1975)
  • This Bit of That India (1975)[42]
  • We Have a Promise to Keep (1975)[43]
  • A Decade of Achievement (1976)[44]
  • Love in Action (1976)[45]
  • Not a Bed of Features (1976)[46]
  • Pragati Ke Das Saal (1976)[47]
  • The First Leap (1976)[48]
  • Naya Daur (1976)[49]
  • A Sister for Kittu (1978)[50]

As cinematographer - documentaries

  • Dr Vishveshawaraya[51]

References

  1. ^ "SNS Sastry". Film Heritage Foundation. 21 March 2024.
  2. ^ "SNS Sastry". Film Heritage Foundation. 21 March 2024.
  3. ^ Muralidhara Khajane (21 March 2024). "Karnataka filmmakers, students sound alarm as film institute GFTI lies in tatters". The Federal.
  4. ^ "National Awards 1963 Winners". Times of India. 11 October 2025.
  5. ^ "National Awards 1964 Winners". Times of India. 11 October 2025.
  6. ^ "National Awards 1967 Winners". Times of India. 11 October 2025.
  7. ^ Sibi Arasu (11 October 2025). "I am 67". The Hindu.
  8. ^ "National Awards 1968 Winners". Times of India. 11 October 2025.
  9. ^ "SNS Sastry". Film Heritage Foundation. 21 March 2024.
  10. ^ Muralidhara Khajane (21 March 2024). "Karnataka filmmakers, students sound alarm as film institute GFTI lies in tatters". The Federal.
  11. ^ ""The Sun in the Belly: Indian Artist-Bureaucrat S.N.S. Sastry"". University of Chicago, Committee on Southern Asian Studies. 3 May 2019.
  12. ^ ""The Sun in the Belly: Indian Artist-Bureaucrat S.N.S. Sastry"". University of Chicago, Committee on Southern Asian Studies. 3 May 2019.
  13. ^ Tanvi Patel (28 August 2018). "Fashion Now to Denigrate the Country - What 20-YOs Thought of India in 1967". The Better India.
  14. ^ Sibi Arasu (11 October 2025). "I am 67". The Hindu.
  15. ^ Archana Nathan (19 February 2015). "Meet the maverick filmmaker". The Hindu.
  16. ^ "SNS Sastry". Film Heritage Foundation. 21 March 2024.
  17. ^ ""The Sun in the Belly: Indian Artist-Bureaucrat S.N.S. Sastry"". University of Chicago, Committee on Southern Asian Studies. 3 May 2019.
  18. ^ Paromita Vohra (July–December 2012). "Gender and the Documentary Film - Capturing a Sensed Reality" (PDF). ArtConnect: The IFA Magazine, Volume 6, Number 2, page 16.
  19. ^ "Online film festivals by Films Division to mark World Heritage Day". BestCurrentAffairs. 11 October 2025.
  20. ^ "Malwa". Films Division/NFDC. 11 October 2025.
  21. ^ "That Delta - That River". Films Division/NFDC. 11 October 2025.
  22. ^ "All the films of the 13 edition". San Sebastian Festival. 11 October 2025.
  23. ^ Nirtika Pandita (3 December 2019). "A treat for cinephiles". Asian Age.
  24. ^ "The Sainik School Way screened". The Pioneer. 10 January 2022.
  25. ^ "Jai Jawan". Films Division/NFDC. 11 October 2025.
  26. ^ Tanvi Patel (28 August 2018). "Fashion Now to Denigrate the Country: What 20-YOs Thought of India in 1967". The Better India.
  27. ^ "Watch Rare 1965 Indo-Pak War Film on the Capture of Haji Pir Pass". The Quint. 27 August 2019.
  28. ^ Ritika Kaushik (11 October 2025). "Destabilizing the Official Film Archive from Within: S.N.S. Sastry's And I Make Short Films". Meson Press.
  29. ^ "On the Move". Films Division/NFDC. 11 October 2025.
  30. ^ "Amir Khan". Films Division/NFDC. 11 October 2025.
  31. ^ "We (1971)". IMDb. 11 October 2025.
  32. ^ Anoushka Antonnette Mathews (9 September 2024). "Modes of Self Reflection: On the Genre-Fluid Essay Film". Alternative South Asia Photography - Art.
  33. ^ Ankan Kazi (23 April 2024). "Still and Moving Image Experiments: Photography and the Films Division". Alternative South Asia Photography - Art.
  34. ^ "Mining the White Gold". IMDb. 11 October 2025.
  35. ^ He is Back. Films Division. 28 April 2014.
  36. ^ "SNS Sastry". Film Heritage Foundation. 21 March 2024.
  37. ^ "The Sun in the Belly: Indian Artist-Bureaucrat S.N.S. Sastry". University of Chicago, Committee on Southern Asian Studies. 3 May 2019.
  38. ^ "Raga - I India". Films Division/NFDC. 11 October 2025.
  39. ^ Archana Nathan (19 February 2015). "Meet the maverick filmmaker". The Hindu.
  40. ^ "Faces - India". IMDb. 11 October 2025.
  41. ^ "Somewhere in the Deep Woods". IMDb. 11 October 2025.
  42. ^ "SNS Sastry". Film Heritage Foundation. 21 March 2024.
  43. ^ Basav Biradar (31 December 2019). "'Prison Diaries': An intimate documentary on anti-Emergency activist Snehalatha Reddy". The News Minute.
  44. ^ Madurai International Documentary and Short Film Festival. Madurai Film Festival. 8 December 2014.
  45. ^ "Love in Action". IMDb. 11 October 2025.
  46. ^ "Not a Bed of Features". IMDb. 11 October 2025.
  47. ^ "Pragati Ke Das Saal". BookMyShow. 11 October 2025.
  48. ^ "The First Leap". IMDb. 11 October 2025.
  49. ^ Shweta Kishore (11 October 2025). "Participation, poetry and song: Anand Patwardhan and New Latin American cinema". JumpCut - A Review of Contemporary Media.
  50. ^ "A Sister for Kittu". Films Division/NFDC. 11 October 2025.
  51. ^ Dr Vishveshawaraya. Films Division. 25 August 2021.
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