I am a film-maker, full stop. The film-maker is distinct from my cultural identity.

Asif Kapadia’s first feature film, The Warrior, is still raking in the accolades

It was a winning formula for 29-year-old director Asif Kapadia…the universal themes of redemption and restoration, a novice cast from the National School of Drama along with Indian TV actor Irfan Khan, and a sensitive script "whose appeal lies in its denunciation of violence" co-written with Tim Miller, his senior tutor at The Royal College of Art in London.

The result was The Warrior, his first feature film, and it has raked in the accolades.… The Alexander Korda Award for the Outstanding British Film of the Year, and the Carl Foreman Award for Special Achievement at the 2003 BAFTAs; the Sutherland Prize at the London Film Festival; and the Best Newcomer Award for the writer/director at the Evening Standard Film Awards.

Great going for a guy who got into filmmaking ‘purely by accident’. Raised in Hackney, East London, Kapadia recalls, "My family watched films but we weren’t into cinema. When 17, I worked on a film and really enjoyed the experience."

And the experience continued…at film school, first at the University of Westminster and later at the Royal College of Art in London, with his student efforts resulting in awards. His graduation film, Indian Tales, won the best student film award at the Chicago Film Festival, and his postgraduate effort, The Sheep Thief, won him an award at Cannes.

While filming The Sheep Thief in Rajasthan, Kapadia developed a passion for "the amazing landscape of India that reinforces the mystical and magical element of my storylines". The Warrior, too, was shot entirely on location in Rajasthan and at the foothills of the Himalayas in Himachal Pradesh.

Kapadia refuses to be defined in cultural terms. "I am a film maker, full stop. The film maker is distinct from my cultural identity." Working in India, though, is a distinct possibility. "At this point, an art film would appeal to me more. I can see myself working in Chennai or Kolkata. There are so many brilliant film craftsmen in India." On the anvil are two projects, "one with an Indian theme". He hopes to start filming next year.

Meanwhile, after doing the festival circuit, The Warrior is due for national release in India. "Everyone is proud that a film shot in India, made in Hindi and directed by a person of Indian descent has been received so well in the West," he says. "I was overwhelmed with the response." We can’t wait!