Rising Star: Preeti Panigrahi, actor

A student of animation at Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute, Kolkata, young actor Preeti Panigrahi played the lead character Mira in the 2024 Sundance Award-winning film, Girls Will be Girls, for which she won the World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Award for acting. A recipient of the National Bal Shree Honour by the Human Resource Development Ministry of India for her excellence in the field of theatre in 2015, Preeti is making her own animated short film and aspires to make a mark in filmmaking, embracing any role that allows her to bring stories to life.