Aneesh Chaganty (/əˈniːʃ ˈtʃɑːɡənti/; Telugu pronunciation: [əniːʂ tʃɑːɡəɳʈi] born January 30, 1991) is an American film director and screenwriter. He made his feature film directorial debut with the 2018 thriller Searching, for which he won the Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival. Chaganty was included in the 2019 Forbes 30 Under 30 Hollywood & Entertainment list. In 2021, Chaganty was featured in the December issue of Vanity Fair, representing Gold House as an AAPI leading member. Description above from the Wikipedia article Aneesh Chaganty, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
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Biography from TMDB.
- January 1, 1991 (35)
- Redmond, Washington, USA
- Director, writer and producer
- 5 on MovieCove · 13 credits in all
What are Aneesh Chaganty's films like?
Across a limited sample of 3 MovieCove titles with a thematic analysis, their films lean Self and Morality.
Themes
What they feel like to watch
Ironic 0 · Wry 0 · Earnest 3
Light 0 · Serious 1 · Dark 2
A split, not a type: Grounded 2 · Stylized 0 · Heightened 1
Gentle 0 · Charged 0 · Intense 3
Steady 0 · Shifting 1 · Whiplash 2
Straight-faced 3 · Some laughs 0 · Funny 0
Slow burn 0 · Even-paced 2 · Relentless 1
Casual 0 · Engaged 0 · Full focus 3
A split, not a type: Easy watch 0 · Affecting 2 · Heavy 1
Resolved 2 · Open-ended 1 · Ambiguous 0
Moods and endings
AI-generated from each title's plot synopsis and cast list, with extra plot summaries, reviews and Parents Guide notes for titles the model may not know, and the model's own knowledge of the ones it recognizes. Only analyzed titles count, so this covers part of the filmography; the feel axes count films only for now.
Where can I watch Aneesh Chaganty's films?
As of October 24, 2026, 4 of their 5 MovieCove titles stream on a subscription or free service, most on Hulu (2).
Subscription and free streaming for Aneesh Chaganty's titles on MovieCove; rent and buy are not counted. Titles are listed by Midcredits score, highest first, at most 12 per service; a dashed chip is a producer credit or a minor one, such as a thanks. A service opens the browse page, which counts movies only, so its number can differ.
Filmography
13 credits, 5 with a MovieCove page.
Plainclothes(2025)
Midcredits score: 87th percentile of all films
Dìdi(2024)
Midcredits score: 92nd percentile of all films
Missing(2023)
Midcredits score: 87th percentile of all films
Run(2020)
Midcredits score: 74th percentile of all films
Searching(2018)
Midcredits score: 96th percentile of all filmsAdventure, Wisconsin (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2012)
Microeconomics (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2012)
Monsters (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2012)
Alibi (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2011)
Starving! (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2009)
The Sound of Evanescence (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2008)
Nug (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2007)
Doppelgänger (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)
Career shape
A full career of 13 titles, 12 of them dated from 2007 to 2025.
Awards
2 major awards from 2 major nominations, 2018.
- Sundance award, won · Best of Next!
- Sundance award, won
Major bodies only: the Oscars, Primetime Emmys, Golden Globes, BAFTAs and Screen Actors Guild Awards are named; Cannes, Venice, the Berlinale, Sundance, the directors', writers' and producers' guilds, the Grammys, Critics Choice and the Independent Spirit Awards count as other major bodies. Festival and regional prizes are not counted. Source: IMDb.
How do Aneesh Chaganty's films land?
Their typical MovieCove film has a Midcredits score in the 87th percentile, the median of all 5; across a limited sample of 3 films with reception data, the typical film sits in the 84th percentile for acclaim.
- 75th and up4
- 50th to 74th1
Shape of the crowd
None of their 5 titles divides audiences: 4 are Crowd Pleasers.
- Universally Loved1
- Crowd Pleaser4
Reviewers score the pacing 69/100 in their films, across 3 reviewed titles; fans 74, detractors 45. The element that speaks to their work as a director.
Percentiles are each film's standing among all films on MovieCove; the typical film is the median, so one outlier cannot drag it. Percentiles and reviewer scores count the films IMDb credits them on, for now; the Midcredits score bands, the shape of the crowd and the two cards count their MovieCove titles, shows included (a show ranked among shows), appearances as themselves left out. A descriptor is the shape of a title's IMDb rating distribution against the catalog; "most divisive" needs a spread wider than half of all titles, and a card names only a principal credit: a craft role, and on a show a crew role or a run of episodes, never a courtesy credit or a one-off guest spot.
Is Aneesh Chaganty's work okay for kids?
Across a limited sample of up to 3 MovieCove titles with content scores.
Severity 0–100 from the Content Guide. Categories with under 10 votes on a title are not counted.
Who does Aneesh Chaganty work with?
People who share at least 2 of Aneesh Chaganty's MovieCove titles, grouped by what they did on them; Sev Ohanian shares the most, 3.
Writers
- Sev OhanianShared titles: Missing (2023), Run (2020), Searching (2018)See all 3 shared titles with Sev Ohanian
Actors
- Sara SohnShared titles: Run (2020), Searching (2018)See all 2 shared titles with Sara Sohn
Composers and editors
- Nicholas D. JohnsonShared titles: Missing (2023), Run (2020), Searching (2018)See all 3 shared titles with Nicholas D. Johnson
- Will MerrickShared titles: Missing (2023), Run (2020), Searching (2018)See all 3 shared titles with Will Merrick
- Torin BorrowdaleShared titles: Run (2020), Searching (2018)See all 2 shared titles with Torin Borrowdale
Producers
- Natalie QasabianShared titles: Missing (2023), Run (2020), Searching (2018)See all 3 shared titles with Natalie Qasabian
- Adam SidmanShared titles: Missing (2023), Searching (2018)See all 2 shared titles with Adam Sidman
- Timur BekmambetovShared titles: Missing (2023), Searching (2018)See all 2 shared titles with Timur Bekmambetov
