Anshul Chauhan

Anshul Chauhan (born 1986) is an Indian film director, producer, and former animator based in Japan. He is best known for directing films such as December, Kontora (2019), and Bad Poetry Tokyo (2018). Beyond directing, Chauhan has also contributed as an animator to projects such as Final Fantasy XV, Final Fantasy VII Remake, and Tron: Uprising.

Early life and education Chauhan was born in Mainpuri, Agra, in Northern India in 1986, one day after his grandfather had died. His father was a "strict military man" who schooled Chauhan at a military academy in Rajasthan. Chauhan went to university and studied geography. He later developed an interest in animation and Japanese history after being influenced by his favourite anime, Naruto.

Career After graduating, Chauhan became an animator in 2006 and animated shows such as BBC's children's show Everything's Rosie and Disney's Tron: Uprising. He was also part of the production of Delhi Safari. After relocating to Tokyo in September 2011, He joined Square Enix and animated for video games such as Final Fantasy XV and Kingdom Hearts III along with animating TV shows such as Transformers: Robots in Disguise.

In 2016, Chauhan founded Kowatanda Films, his own production company, to start directing films. After this, Chauhan wrote his second feature film, Kontora (2019), which was the first Japanese release to win the Grand Prix Award for Best Film at the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival. He stated that his inspiration for Kontora was from war diaries of Japanese soldiers. featuring Shogen of Brillante Mendoza’s Gensan Punch. Production on the courtroom drama film began in February in Tokyo, and focused on a separated couple reuniting after the murderer of their daughter is given a retrial. In 2024, he announced that he was working on a new film titled Tiger, which would star Takashi Kawaguchi, Maho Nonami, and Yuya Endo, that was planned to be released in 2025. In September 2025, Tiger had its international premiere at the 30th Busan International Film Festival. It features LGBTQ+ themes and is his fourth film to be set in Japan.

In November 2025, Chauhan established Kowatanda Films India, an Indian branch of his production company; it is run by Chauhan, Mina Moteki, and Sohrab Bozorgchami. Kowatanda Films India will collaborate with actress Shweta Tripathi and her production company Bandarful Films on Nava, a horror film. It will be his first film in India.

Filmography Film

As director and producer

As animator

Television

As animator

Video games