Apurba Kishore Bir is a national award winning cinematographer, scriptwriter and film director. Many of his ventures have earned National level recognition. Till now he has earned nine National Film Awards including best direction and cinematography. His career as a cinematographer started in the year 1973 with the movie, 27 Down and the movie earned him National award for best cinematographer. He was a part of the first-unit cameramen of Oscar award winning movie – Gandhi (1982). His directional debut Adi Mimansa too garnished a National award. This movie earned Nargis Dutt Award for Best Feature Film on National Integration in 1991. This movie also earned him National award for best cinematographer. Apart from his debut works as a cinematographer and director, the third movie which bagged National award for cinematographer was Daasi in 1988. He was honoured with Padma shri in 2013.

He was born in 1948 in Odisha, India. Apurba Kishore Bir, studied cinematography in FTII and began his career making ads, documentaries and short film. He was a key member of Richard Attenborough’s camera team for the multiple Oscar winning ‘Gandhi’. Mr. Bir has made many films for CFSI including ‘Lavanya Preeti’ that won the Best Asian Film at the Osaka International Film Festival and ‘Baaja’ that won the National Award for Best Children’s film in 2003. He is a sensitive filmmaker who has often depicted children trapped in a world of adults obsessed with materialism and lack of harmony. Mr. Bir has won multiple national awards both for cinematography and direction.