About

Hi, I'm Riya.

I'm a writer-director, producer, sound mixer, and peacebuilder, which means I spend a lot of time thinking about conflict, and then, for some reason, choose to recreate it in stories.

I grew up in India and have been based in Brooklyn since 2012, though I'm in Malawi through August 2026. I hold an MFA in Film Production from NYU Tisch and am completing an MA in Peacebuilding at NYU Gallatin. Before film school, I studied Physics and Psychology, which mostly explains my interest in unstable worlds, unstable people, and systems that pretend to be logical. I'm drawn to stories about childhood, shame, power, collective delusion, and the rules people inherit before they're old enough to question them.

I've assisted directors including Anurag Kashyap (Raman Raghav 2.0, Cannes Directors' Fortnight 2016) and Nandita Das (Manto, Cannes Un Certain Regard 2018), and mixed sound on over thirty films, including In Passing (Tribeca 2023), Remnants (SXSW 2025), and F*ck That Guy (PROOF Film Festival 2024), the latter two executive produced by Spike Lee. My thesis film, If You Show Me Yours I'll Show You Mine, has won over thirty screenwriting awards, including NYU's King Screenwriting Award, and honors at Flickers' Rhode Island International Film Festival and the Amsterdam Lift-Off Film Festival. I am producing two features in development: Wager$ (executive produced by Ellie Foumbi) and QLC (directed by Shruti Ganguly, with Meg Donnelly attached). I've also been on the other side of the table as a screener for Academy-qualifying festivals including Woodstock, Atlanta, and BendFilm.

In Malawi, I'm designing community data governance for a voice-based crisis reporting platform with NYU's Peace Research and Education Program (NYU PREP) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP Malawi). In between, I'm writing and directing a short with a Malawian cast and crew in collaboration with the Film Association of Malawi, teaching filmmaking workshops and building the film with the same community I'm learning from, which is the closest my two degrees have ever come to shaking hands.

I scuba dive whenever possible and have an alarming affection for sharks, snakes, orcas, and monkeys. I live with one emotionally complicated dog. Her name is Nika. I run all of my life, career, and creative decisions by her. She has the final say.