Siddharth Katragadda

Indian writer

Siddharth Katragadda

Siddharth Katragadda

Born| Bangalore, India
Pen name| Sid
Occupation|

* Writer
* Artist
* Filmmaker
* Engineer

Nationality| US (India)
Alma mater| University of Texas, Arlington, The Frank Anthony Public School, Bengaluru, St. Joseph's College, Bangalore
Period| 2002–present
Notable works| Dark Rooms, The Other Wife, Varanasi (film), B.L.I.N.D (film), Painless (screenplay)
Notable awards| Red Hen Fiction Prize (Runner up), Rhode Island International Film Festival (Semi-finalist) Page Screenwriting Award, Screencraft Drama Contest, WeScreenplay Feature Contest (Quarterfinalist), San Diego Book Awards(Runner-up ), Atlantic City Film Festival (Best Foreign Film)
Website
sidartist.com

Siddharth (Sid) Katragadda is an Indian American artist, writer, filmmaker, poet and engineer.

## Early life

[edit]

He was born in Bangalore, India in 1972 and moved to the United States for his Master's degree in computer sciences from the University of Texas at Arlington.[1]

## Painting

[edit]

Katragadda has been painting since childhood, and started exhibiting and selling his art in 2008.[2] His paintings often feature Indian women painted in an abstract style.[3] In 2010, his work was acquired by Mani Ratnam.[citation needed]

In 2022, he painted a series of 12 Western paintings in what he calls Holeism style, based on various humanitarian issues. He also returned to his abstract Indian women, creating the first of his Timism style paintings.[citation needed]

### Exhibitions

[edit]

* 21 February 2008. Solo exhibition, Chitrakala Parishad, Bangalore.[4]
* 2 – 6 December 2013. Group exhibition, Renaissance Gallerie, Bangalore.[5]
* 2014\. Group exhibition, "Boutiful Art", Kensington Art Gallery, San Diego.[citation needed]
* 2015\. Solo exhibition, "The Woman", Wine Vault, San Diego. [citation needed]
* 2023\. Online exhibition, "Sita", Saatchi Art.[citation needed]
* 2023\. Online exhibition, "I Can't Breathe", Culturally Arts.[6]
* 8 – 12 May 2024. Solo exhibition, "Monsoon Maidens", Chitrakala Parishad, Bangalore.[7]
* 2024\. Group exhibition, "Interiority", Culturally Arts.[8]

## Films

[edit]

Katragadda's short documentary "B.L.I.N.D – Born to Live in Near Darkness?" had its theatrical release at the Los Feliz 3 Theater, Los Angeles, from Sept 24–30th 2021. The film was an official entry to the 94th Academy Awards in the Documentary Short-Subject Category. Hi second documentary, The Godsend was screened at the 14th Chicago South Asian Film Festival His short film "Varanasi" won the Best Foreign Film Award at the Atlantic City CineFest, New Jersey, 2013.[9][10] His screenplay "Painless" (aka The Mercy Machine) was a quarter finalist at the PAGE International Screenwriting Awards, 2016,[11] the Screencraft Drama Contest 2017,[12] the WeScreenplay Screenplay Awards[13] His short documentary "The Indus Code" was shortlisted for the 6th International Documentary and Short Film Festival, Kerala. [14][15] His Screenplay pitches won Honorable Mention/Finalist awards at the 2021 ISA Virtual Pitch Challenge.[16][17]

### Filmography

[edit]

Year  | Film  | Genre  | Awards  | Credited as

|
|
|
|

Director  | Producer  | Screenwriter
2012  | The Girl Upstairs | Feature Film | Released on Amazon Prime | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  |
2013  | Varanasi | Short Film | Best Foreign Film, Downbeach Film Festival, New Jersey | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  |
2023  | City of Lights | Short Film |

* Official Selection, Amsterdam Lift-off Film Festival 2023
* Official Selection, San Diego Independent Filmmaker’s Festival
* Honorable Mention, Kuumba Film Festival,2023
* Official Selection – Kerala Short Film Festival, Munnar

| Yes  | Yes  | Yes  |
2020  | B.L.I.N.D : Born to Live in Near Darkness | Documentary Short |

* Semifinalist, Flickers Rhode Island Intl. Film Festival 2020, 2021,
* Outstanding Documentary Award, Hollywood Golden Film Awards, 2020,
* Gold Award, International Independent Film Awards, 2020,
* Best Documentary Short, Zero Degree Film Contest, 2020,
* Grand Prize Award-Documentary, Cannes International Independent Film Festival, 2020,
* Finalist, India International Film Festival Boston, 2020,
* Finalist, Bengaluru Shorts Intl. Film Festival,
* Best Documentary/Outstanding Achievement (Direction), Sand Dance International Film Festival,
* Special Mention, 11th DadaSaheb Phalke Film Festival,
* Outstanding Achievement Award, Tagore International Film Festival,
* Official Selection, Kolkata Shorts International Film Festival-20,
* Official Selection, 16 International Film Festivals by JIFF,
* Kaaryat International Film Festival of India, Jaipur

| Yes  | No  | Yes  |
2020  | Being Human | Short Film |

* Best Documentary Award – FLICKFAIR, LA, 2021
* FROSTBITE International Indie Fest,
* DMOFF, LA,
* Standalone Film Festival & Awards, LA
* AI International Film Festival (April 21 – 23, 2023 at the Redstone Theater in Park City, Utah)

| Yes  | Yes  | Yes  |
2023  | The Godsend  | Short Film  |

* Official Selection – Chicago South Asian Film Festival, 2023
* Official Selection – Kerala Short Film Festival, Munnar, 2023
* Honorable Mention – Indian Independent Film Festival, 2023

| Yes  | Yes  | Yes

## Writing

[edit]

His first novel, "Metamorphosis" won Runners-up Prize at the 2021 Red Hen Press Fiction Award/ Los Angeles Review. [18] His first Novel in Verse, Dark Rooms won an award at the San Diego Book Prize, 2002 (Poetry).[19] A sequel, The Other Wife also won the same award in 2003.[20][21]

Numerous articles written by him have been published on CNN.[22][23][24] [25] His work has appeared in Taint Taint Taint,Grey Sparrow Press (best new literary journal 2011),[26] New Plains Review – Fall 2018 Issue, Chaffey Review, A Generation Defining Itself, Carter Street Review, Wilderness Review and numerous literary journals.[27][28] His work has been reviewed in the journals like "One India."[29] [30] He also writes on Cricket topics.[31]

### Books

[edit]

Year  | Book  | Genre  | Awards

|
|
|

2002  | Dark Rooms | poetry | Runners-up San Diego Book Awards
2003  | The Other Wife | poetry | Runners-up San Diego Book Awards
2022  | Metamorphosis | Novel | Runners-up – Red Hen Fiction Award

## Podcasts

[edit]

Sid was interviewed on the reputed podcast Immigrantly Podcast for the Dec 24th, 2023 episode.[32]

## Plays

[edit]

An emerging playwright, his play "Tsunami" was produced by Firecracker Production, Houston, and was nominated for five Awards at the 2021 Broadway World Houston.[33] Tsunami also was won the "Your Worst Nightmare Short Play Festival" in San Francisco. His short play Power Outage will be produced at the 11th Towne Street Theatre's Annual Ten-Minute Play Festival – at the Stella Adler Theatre, Hollywood April 4–26, 2020.[34]

### Theatre productions

[edit]

Year | Play | Production

|
|

2020 | The Power Outage | Stella Adler Theatre, Hollywood 11th-annual-10-min-play-festival
2020 | Tsunami | Shelton Theater in San Francisco, Your Worst Nightmare Short Play Festival
2021  | Tsunami  | Firecracker Productions, Houston

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "51 Notable Alumni of the University of Texas at Arlington". EduRank. 29 February 2024.
2. ^ "Exhibition of paintings – by Siddharth Katragadda at Karnataka Chitra…". buzzintown.com. 18 January 2013. Archived from the original on 18 January 2013. Retrieved 4 August 2024.
3. ^ "Soulism". Taint Taint Taint. Archived from the original on 11 August 2022.
4. ^ "Exhibition of paintings – by Siddharth Katragadda". buzzintown.com. 18 January 2013. Archived from the original on 18 January 2013.`{{cite web}}`: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
5. ^ "Attend: Art". The Hindu. 2 December 2013. Retrieved 4 June 2024.
6. ^ "I Can't Breathe | Sid Katragadda". Culturally Arts Coll. Retrieved 4 August 2024.
7. ^ "Monsoon Maidens – An Exhibition by Indian-American Artist Sid Katragadda". stayhappening.com. Retrieved 4 June 2024.
8. ^ "Interiority, 2024". culturallyarts.com. Retrieved 4 June 2024.
9. ^ "Downbeach Film Festival/Atlantic City Cinefest 2013 : Home". festivalgenius.com. Archived from the original on 1 December 2017. Retrieved 16 February 2017.
10. ^ "Varanasi". festivalgenius.com. Archived from the original on 1 December 2017. Retrieved 16 February 2017.
11. ^ "2016 Quarter-Finalists – PAGE International Screenwriting Awards: Screenplay Contests". pageawards.com. Retrieved 16 February 2017.
12. ^ "2017 Drama Contest Quarter-Finalists Announced". Screencraft. 24 October 2017.
13. ^ WeScreenplay (30 December 2016). "WeScreenplay – WeScreenplay Feature Contest WISC 2016 Quarter Finalists". wescreenplay.com. Retrieved 16 February 2017.
14. ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 December 2013. Retrieved 12 June 2013.`{{cite web}}`: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
15. ^ "International Documentary and Short Film Festival of Kerala". Archived from the original on 30 October 2013. Retrieved 29 October 2013.
16. ^ "ISA Virtual Pitch Challenge".
17. ^ "The Key to a Perfect Pitch is You".
18. ^ "Red Hen Press Fiction Award – Red Hen Press". 18 February 2020.
19. ^ "Search – San Diego Public Library". bibliocommons.com. Retrieved 16 February 2017.
20. ^ Katragadda, Siddharth (1 January 2003). The other wife: a novel in verse. PublishAmerica. ISBN 9781413706833. Retrieved 16 February 2017 - via sandiego Library Catalog.
21. ^ Katragadda, Siddharth (1 January 2003). "Winner, Unpublished Novel, San Diego Book Awards, 2010". PublishAmerica. Retrieved 16 February 2017 - via San Diego Library Catalog.
22. ^ "Delhi gang rape victim dies: India does care about its women". Archived from the original on 29 March 2013.
23. ^ Brown, Sarah (4 January 2013). "'She could have been me': Action urged after Delhi gang rape case". CNN. Retrieved 16 February 2017.
24. ^ prospectjournalucsd (30 January 2013). "SHE SAID 'NO,' HE HEARD 'YES': AMERICA'S RAPE CULTURE". prospectjournal.org. Retrieved 16 February 2017.
25. ^ "Glimmer of hope for India's poorest girl students". CNN. Retrieved 16 February 2017.
26. ^ "[9] Summer 2011". 31 July 2018.
27. ^ "Cartier Street Review March 2011". issuu.com. Retrieved 16 February 2017.
28. ^ "Poetry in Wilderness House Literary Review" (PDF).
29. ^ "The Dark Rooms: Ode to a Generation". 22 April 2008.
30. ^ "The Other Wife: When You Take The Second Step". boldsky.com. 5 May 2008. Retrieved 16 February 2017.
31. ^ "The Fall of Goliath – India's near-exit from the T20 World Cup". 3 November 2021.
32. ^ "Ep-252 Crafting Change Through Art". web.archive.org. Archived from the original on 24 December 2023. Retrieved 4 August 2024.
33. ^ "BroadwayWorld Houston Awards – Best Streaming Play".
34. ^ "11th 10 Minute Play Festival". Towne Street Theatre.