Neeraj Ghaywan (born 20 April 1980) is an Indian film director and writer who works in Hindi films. He is the winner of several accolades including a National film Award and two Filmfare Awards. Ghaywan assisted filmmaker Anurag Kashyap on Gangs of Wasseypur (2012) and Ugly (2013) before he made his directorial debut in 2015 with Masaan which received wide acclaim and won two prizes at the Cannes Film festival including the FIPRESCI prize. His acclaimed 2017 short film Juice won him the Filmfare Award for Best Short Film-Fiction. Ghaywan then co-directed the second season of Netflix's series Sacred Games with Kashyap in 2019 and Geeli Pucchi from the anthology film Ajeeb Daastaans in 2021. Ghaywan was an episodic director on the second season of Made in Heaven.
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Biography from TMDB.
- April 20, 1980 (46)
- Hyderabad, India
- Director and writer
- 6 on MovieCove · 13 credits in all
Known for
What are Neeraj Ghaywan's films like?
Across a limited sample of 3 MovieCove titles with a thematic analysis, their films lean Power and Bonds.
Themes
What they feel like to watch
Ironic 0 · Wry 0 · Earnest 3
Light 0 · Serious 0 · Dark 3
Grounded 2 · Stylized 1 · Heightened 0
Gentle 0 · Charged 2 · Intense 1
Steady 2 · Shifting 1 · Whiplash 0
Straight-faced 3 · Some laughs 0 · Funny 0
Slow burn 1 · Even-paced 2 · Relentless 0
Casual 0 · Engaged 3 · Full focus 0
A split, not a type: Easy watch 0 · Affecting 2 · Heavy 1
Resolved 1 · Open-ended 2 · 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 Neeraj Ghaywan's films?
As of October 24, 2026, 4 of their 6 MovieCove titles stream on a subscription or free service, most on Netflix (3).
Subscription and free streaming for Neeraj Ghaywan'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, 6 with a MovieCove page.
Homebound(2025)
Midcredits score: 97th percentile of all filmsGeeli Pucchi (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2021)
Ajeeb Daastaans(2021)
Midcredits score: 71st percentile of all films
Made in Heaven(2019)
Midcredits score: 89th percentile of all shows
Sacred Games(2018)
Midcredits score: 94th percentile of all shows
Juice (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2017)
Masaan(2015)
Midcredits score: 98th percentile of all films
Shorts (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2013)
The Epiphany (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2013)
Gangs of Wasseypur - Making Uncut - The Roots of Revenge from Wasseypur (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2013)
Gangs of Wasseypur(2012)
Midcredits score: 98th percentile of all films
Noise (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2011)
Neeraj Ghaywan's Next (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)
Career shape
A full career of 13 titles, 12 of them dated from 2011 to 2025.
Counts from TMDB across their full career, self appearances out; a title counts in every role they held on it. The ring is the typical Midcredits score (the median percentile) of the role's titles that are on MovieCove, shown from 5 scored.
Awards
3 major awards from 6 major nominations, 2014–2025.
- Cannes award, nominated
- Cannes award, won · Un Certain Regard
- Cannes award, won
- Cannes award, nominated ×2
- 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 Neeraj Ghaywan's films land?
Their typical MovieCove film has a Midcredits score in the 98th percentile, the median of all 4; across a limited sample of 3 films with reception data, the typical film sits in the 96th percentile for acclaim.
- 75th and up5
- 50th to 74th1
Shape of the crowd
3 of their 6 titles are Crowd Pleasers.
- Universally Loved2
- Crowd Pleaser3
- Mixed1
Reviewers score the atmosphere 79/100 in their films, across 3 reviewed titles; fans 82, 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 Neeraj Ghaywan'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 Neeraj Ghaywan work with?
People who share at least 2 of Neeraj Ghaywan's MovieCove titles; Nitin Baid shares the most, 3.
- Nitin BaidShared titles: Homebound (2025), Ajeeb Daastaans (2021), Masaan (2015)See all 3 shared titles with Nitin Baid
- Karan JoharShared titles: Homebound (2025), Ajeeb Daastaans (2021)See all 2 shared titles with Karan Johar
