Born in Orissa, India in 1973. He lives in Delhi. Exploring contemporary, modern India and giving birth to unique visual poetry, Panda attained cult status with his maiden feature film, I am Kalam in the year 2010, winning 34 international awards along with a National Award. His second feature film Jalpari (Desert Mermaid), received the MIP Junior Award at Cannes and later, Halkaa (Relief), that has traveled to 32 international film festivals, won two Grand Prix Awards in the international film circuit. His recent feature film, Yesterday’s Past (On Sea Level Rise), was part of Indian Panorama, in IFFI Goa and got prestigious National Award in 2020. For his achievements, Panda received one of the highest civilian honor “Padma Shri” in 2016 and was conferred with D.Litt. Honoris Causa in 2018.