Akhilesh Jaiswal (born 19 March 1986) is an Indian film director and screenwriter.

Akhilesh Jaiswal was born in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh.^{[citation needed]} He grew up in Bhopal, did his schooling from there and came to Mumbai in 2006 for graduation.^{[citation needed]} He was pursuing Bachelor of Mass Media from Lala Lajpat Rai College of Commerce and Economics.^{[citation needed]} Only a year later did he realize that he was ready to launch into his true calling filmmaking, and that graduation wasn't required for it.^{[citation needed]} So, he dropped out after his first year of college and started making small-time Marathi ad films and worked backstage with some theater groups.^{[citation needed]}

Jaiswal says he always wanted to be a film maker. He got his big break when he got the opportunity to co-write Anurag Kashyap's 'Gangs of Wasseypur'. He made his directorial debut with Mastram, which released on 9 May 2014.

Akhilesh directed Ballabhpur Ki Roopkatha a web-adaptation of Badal Sarkar's classic, by the same name.

He has also helmed the story and screenwriting of ‘Simple Murder’ a web series which got released on 20 Nov 20 [1]