Dr. Baidurya Chakrabarti is a scholar of South Asian cinemas and South Asian popular cultures. He holds a bachelors and masters in English and a doctorate in cultural studies.

In his younger years, Baidurya explored documentary filmmaking, published “little magazines,” wrote prose and poetry in both Bengali and English—all while working in the ITES sector. Eventually, he decided to pursue his true strength: scholarly research. He earned a MA in English, specializing in Literary and Cultural Studies, from the English and Foreign Languages University, Hyderabad, graduating with an Outstanding grade. He did his PhD under the mentorship of the esteemed Prof. M. Madhava Prasad, whose seminal work, Ideology of Hindi Film: A Historical Construction, remains foundational to Indian Film Studies.

During his PhD, Baidurya worked as a Research and Teaching Assistant with renowned British film theorist, producer, and writer Prof. Colin MacCabe, former editor of Screen magazine and Critical Quarterly. He also contributed significantly as a Film History Research Fellow for Indiancine.ma, a project dedicated to archiving and annotating South Asian cinema. Additionally, he spent a year teaching underprivileged rural students at the Rajiv Gandhi University of Knowledge Technologies, Nuzvid, Andhra Pradesh.

His doctoral research, ‘Mapping the Ideological Terrain of Contemporary Bollywood,’ provided a critical lens on the industry’s ideological frameworks. Following this, he gained valuable experience in academic publishing, working as a copy editor at esteemed publishing houses, including Orient BlackSwan.

Before joining as an Assistant Professor at the School of Film, Media & Creative Arts, RV University, Bengaluru, Baidurya served as Head of the Media & Communication program at Symbiosis Centre for Media and Communication (SCMC), Pune. There, he designed Film Production and Film Studies curricula, supervised award-winning student films, managed studio and media lab facilities, and mentored faculty.

Forgive, O Lord, my little jokes on thee, and I'll forgive Thy great big joke on me. -Robert Frost

• With nearly seven years of post-PhD teaching experience and over a decade of professional expertise, Baidurya specializes in Film Studies, Filmmaking, and Cultural Studies. His academic repertoire also includes Creative Writing, Academic Writing, and Research Writing. He teaches as part of the Indian Film Studies program, a collaboration between the National Film Archive of India and Savitribai Phule Pune University.
• His research is published in respected, peer-reviewed, and SCOPUS-indexed journals, including Studies in South Asian Film and Media, and in anthologies from leading US university presses. He has been invited to contribute a chapter on ‘Male Sexuality in South Asian Cinema’ for the prestigious Routledge Handbook of South Asian Cinema (forthcoming 2025). Additionally, he was the founder and convener of the SCMC Pramana media research conference.
• Research Interests:
• Baidurya’s academic interests span film theory and criticism, internet studies, psychoanalysis, continental philosophy, and the intersections of regionalism and language. He maintains strong connections with the film industry, staying engaged with an ever-growing network of alumni.

• Film History Research Fellow, National Film Archive of India

• Received a fellowship from NFAI for a book-length work on early Bengali cinema.