He told pupils that while at the School, he did not know what he wanted to do for a career, and went to university to study journalism. At the age of 24 he had a realisation that what he was truly passionate about was directing; due to his love of watching music videos and commercials as a teenager, he wanted to do something similar. He began to shoot low-budget music videos and commercials and eventually got an agent who found him other work.

Aneil then did some short films and began choosing larger, longer projects in television and films, such as The Gold on BBC, based on
Britain’s largest ever gold heist and Top Boy on Netflix. In 2020, he co-wrote and directed the short film The Long Goodbye, which was the film that won the Oscar. The students watched this film as part of Aneil's talk.

The Year 12 group were able to ask questions about his work and Aneil also brought in his Oscar, which staff and pupils alike were lucky enough to hold and take photographs with.

It was a very eye-opening talk for the Year 12's as Aneil gave a great deal of insight into what can be achieved, as well as showing that it is not important whether students know where they want to go after Sixth Form.

Aneil also visited the Prep School where he was the assembly guest for Years 3 to 6. The pupils were very excited to ask questions about working in film and television, including how stuntmen are filmed and how it felt to win an Oscar. The answer was “very surprised and delighted!”

Nicholas Weaver, Ipswich School Headmaster, said: “We are so grateful to Aneil for giving up his time to come and inspire what we hope might be a new generation of Ipswich School Oscar winners.”

Author, Bryony S, Year 12