Indian filmmaker Anuparna Roy has continued her remarkable run at the Venice Film Festival. Her latest feature, Lovers in the Blue Night, has won the NETPAC Award for Best Asian Film at the festival’s 2026 edition. The recognition comes just a year after Roy won the Best Director award at Venice for her debut feature Songs of Forgotten Trees.
Anuparna Roy Scores Another Venice Win
The latest award marks Roy's second consecutive year of recognition at one of the world's most prestigious film festivals. Her new film competed in the Orizzonti section of the 83rd Venice International Film Festival. The official festival programme lists Lovers in the Blue Night as a 107-minute India-USA production featuring Neelima Sharma, Pritam Pilania, Bhushan Shimpi, Jatin Sarin, Kajal Keshav and Vinod Suryavanshi.
The NETPAC jury praised the film for its sensitive portrayal of marginalised lives and its exploration of themes including migration, displacement, urban survival, hidden desire, gender, poverty and class.
What Is Lovers in the Blue Night About?
Set against the backdrop of Mumbai, Lovers in the Blue Night follows four people whose lives are shaped by migration, loneliness and the struggle to survive.
The story brings together a closeted husband, his unhappy wife who works in a bar, a man involved in sex work and a petty criminal dealing with his own desires and ambitions. Their individual journeys gradually intersect, creating a story about love, identity, belonging and survival.
The film has been made in Hindi, Sylheti Bengali and Marathi, giving its Mumbai setting an additional layer of cultural and linguistic diversity.
Anuparna Roy Says the Film Is Personal
Speaking about the Venice recognition, Roy said the film came from a deeply personal place. She explained that the characters represent people and lives that are often pushed to the margins or overlooked.
For Roy, the award is meaningful because it acknowledges the film's attempt to portray these lives with tenderness, dignity and honesty. She also expressed how moving it was to receive another honour at Venice just one year after her debut film was recognised there.
A Second Consecutive Venice Recognition
Roy's latest achievement follows her historic Best Director win at the 2025 Venice Film Festival for Songs of Forgotten Trees. That made her the first Indian filmmaker to receive the Best Director honour in the Orizzonti section.
Returning to Venice with her second feature and securing another major award further establishes Roy as an emerging Indian voice on the international festival circuit.
Film Explores Lives on Mumbai's Margins
At its heart, Lovers in the Blue Night is less about conventional romance and more about the human need to be accepted, understood and loved. The film examines how people living on the margins of a major city navigate relationships while dealing with economic hardship, social pressure and questions of identity.
The film's recognition at Venice highlights the growing international interest in Indian stories that explore complex social realities through intimate and character-driven filmmaking.
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