Meet Megh Patil

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Megh Patil. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Megh below.

Megh, thanks so much for taking the time to share your insights and lessons with us today. We’re particularly interested in hearing about how you became such a resilient person. Where do you get your resilience from?

I come from a family of engineers and doctors. So yeah—telling them I wanted to make films for a living was… interesting. No one had a clue how the film industry worked. Neither did I. But I couldn’t see myself doing anything else. So I had to learn—and somehow convince them that maybe there’s a way to live doing something you actually enjoy.
I wasn’t a protégé. No mentor opened a door for me. I had to figure my shit out. I auditioned, got rejected, wrote short films just so I could act in them. They went nowhere. I kept going—worked as an assistant director, managed plays, rewrote scripts until I hated them, then rewrote them again.
Did I know what I really wanted? Not really. I just knew stopping wasn’t an option. Somehow, that persistence led me to film school in Los Angeles. And honestly, I couldn’t be luckier. I love making movies. Is that my purpose? I don’t know. But it’s the only place I feel content.
This resilience started from trying to prove myself—to my family, to everyone who thought this was a phase. Now it’s simpler. I just want to be a little better than yesterday. People will love some films, hate others—you never really know. It’s a long game. You just keep going and look forward to the problems you actually enjoy solving.

Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?

I’m a filmmaker from Mumbai, currently based in Los Angeles, finishing my MFA in Directing at the American Film Institute. My work usually sits between dark absurdism and satire. I’m drawn to stories about people trying to live up to impossible expectations—parents, children, immigrants—anyone caught between love and pressure.
Right now, I’m finishing my thesis film A Superhero’s Father, about legacy, neglect, and the quiet rot of expectations. I’m also developing a feature called The Pune Initiative, set in India, which looks at the ego and chaos behind social service. Alongside that, I’m working on a TV show set in Long Beach—a dark social satire about South Asians chasing the American dream.
What excites me most about filmmaking is that it lets me make people feel something real—often through discomfort. I’m not interested in easy catharsis. I like stories that make you shift a little in your seat.
I’m still early in my journey, but I want to keep building a body of work that feels honest—films that sit somewhere between humor and heartbreak, where people decide for themselves what’s right or wrong.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

I’d say blind belief, curiosity, and not regretting your decisions.
I’ve always had this quiet belief that I’ll make it somehow. Nothing is ever too small when you want to really understand your craft. I never wanted to think I was too good for something menial. Sometimes that thought creeps in, sure, but I always remind myself: you’re never good enough. I hope I keep reminding myself of that, because I never want to stop learning.
I haven’t figured out enough to give advice. But one thing I stand by—nothing you do in life is ever wasted. Every decision, good or bad, brought me here. So just keep moving forward. Make mistakes. They’re fun.

One of our goals is to help like-minded folks with similar goals connect and so before we go we want to ask if you are looking to partner or collab with others – and if so, what would make the ideal collaborator or partner?

Yeah, absolutely. Collaboration’s everything. Films begin and end there.
Right now I’m looking for producers and writers—especially South Asian voices—for a TV project set in Long Beach. It’s a dark social satire about South Asians chasing the American dream, and I want to build it with people who get the texture instead of trying to “represent” it.
For features, I’m drawn to filmmakers who want to tell weird, dark Indian stories that still speak to a global audience—the kind that don’t fit neatly into genre but stick anyway. One day, I hope films like that get proper distribution in India.
I’m also looking for editors, cinematographers, sound designers, and composers who geek over tone and love to disrupt genre.
If this sounds like your kind of chaos, reach out: [email protected].

Contact Info:

• Instagram: patil_megh
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/megh-patil-413b63310