Later, Khatua moved into film direction independently with his debut film Shunya Swaroopa (Contours of the void) which took him to many international film festivals including International Film Festival Rotterdam (Netherlands), Kinotavr (Sochi International Film Festival, Russia), Gothenburg Film Festival (Sweden), and Cinema Jove International Film Festival, Valencia (Spain).The Film also got National Award as the Best Regional Film in Oriya, and quite a many state awards.