Neeraj Pandey

Neeraj Pandey (born 17 December 1973) is an Indian film director, producer and screenwriter. Pandey made his directoral debut in A Wednesday!, which was largely praised by critics and which later became a recipient of many accolades. His second film was Special 26 (2013), which was followed by Baby (2015), the latter of which received critical acclaim and became a huge commercial success. He served as a producer in Rustom (2016). Pandey returned to directing in 2016 helming the biopic movie M.S. Dhoni: The Untold Story based on renowned Indian cricketer M.S.Dhoni which fared well critically and commercially. Besides being a filmmaker, Pandey is also a writer and has written a novel named Ghalib Danger in 2013.

Neeraj Pandey
Neeraj Pandey at IIT Mumbai (2017)
Born (1973-12-17) 17 December 1973
Arrah, Bihar, India
NationalityIndian
Alma materSri Aurobindo College, University of Delhi
OccupationFilm director, writer, producer
Years active2008-Present

In 2016, his production house Friday Filmworks entered into a joint venture with Reliance Entertainment and formed Plan C Studios.

He has also directed a Web Short 'Ouch' with Manoj Bajpayee and Pooja Chopra which is nominated for Filmfare Short Film Award 2017. He was the co-producer of the film Toilet- Ek Prem Katha. His next release was Aiyaary which starred Sidharth Malhotra and Manoj Bajpayee and was both critically and commercially unsuccessful, becoming his first failed venture.

In March 2020, Neeraj Pandey presented and directed his first web series Special Ops on Hotstar. The eight episode series, the first production of Friday Storytellers, the digital arm of Friday Filmworks, was extremely well received by the critics. He is currently working on his next feature film Chanakya.[1]

Early life and education

Pandey was born and brought up in Howrah, West Bengal.[2] His father, who originally came from Arrah, Bihar and worked for Bosch in Calcutta.[3] He did his schooling from St. Aloysius High School, Howrah (till Class X) and then St. Thomas' High School, Dasnagar, Howrah (Class XI and XII).[4] Pandey moved to New Delhi, where he graduated in English from Sri Aurobindo college(University of Delhi) .

Career

Pandey started his career working with Delhi-based 'Legacy Entertainment', a company started by the Dalmia Group to make television programs.

In 2000, he moved to Mumbai, where a friend got a grant to produce a documentary, and offered him the project.[3] Soon he started making documentaries and ad films. Thereafter, he formed a production company 'Quarter Inch Productions', along with his colleague Shital Bhatia which specialized in making television programmes, ad films and documentaries. In 2008, Neeraj and Shital Bhatia formed a production house named Friday Filmworks, which was the original producer of his debut film, A Wednesday!. The film's script was inspired by the 11 July 2006 Mumbai train bombings.[4]

In 2011, Neeraj produced the film Taryanche Bait.

After directing his first movie in 2008, Neeraj directed his second movie Special 26 in 2013, starring Akshay Kumar and Kajal Aggrawal. Neeraj is very fluent in Bengali and also produced a Bengali film, The Royal Bengal Tiger in 2014. In the same year he also produced the film Total Siyappa starring Yami Gautam and Ali Zafar. In 2015, he directed the movie Baby starring Akshay Kumar. In 2016, he produced the film Saat Uchakkey which was a comedy film starring Manoj Bajpayee, Kay Kay Menon and Aditi Sharma.

In 2016, Anil Ambani-owned Reliance Entertainment announced a joint venture with Pandey and Friday Filmworks to form Plan C studios for production of films. Akshay Kumar starrer Rustom was the first film under the banner, Plan C Studios. It is an equal partnership joint venture between the two.

Pandey has also written his debut novel titled Ghalib Danger which was launched on 6 December 2013. The novel is soon going to be made into a motion picture.

In 2017, having co-produced Toilet- Ek Prem Katha, a satirical take on the open defecation scenario in India went on to become a critically acclaimed movie.

He has also directed the short film Ouch with Manoj Bajpayee and Pooja Chopra which is nominated for the Filmfare Short Film Award 2017.

His next release was Aiyaary which starred Sidharth Malhotra and Manoj Bajpayee and was both critically and commercially flop emerging as his first failure. This film was written, directed by himself and produced under the banner of Plan C Studios, the film was an action thriller on the Indian borders. Sidharth Malhotra and Manoj Bajpayee played the lead characters Jai Bakshi and Abhay Singh respectively. Naseeruddin Shah reunited with the filmmaker after their first venture, A Wednesday!. The film was based on true incidents, a theme seen in several of his previous films as well.

In March 2020, Neeraj Pandey presented and directed his first web series Special Ops on Hotstar. The eight episode series, the first production of Friday Storytellers, the digital arm of Friday Filmworks, was extremely well received by the critics.

Currently, he is working on his next film, a full length feature film, Chanakya. This will be his first association with superstar Ajay Devgn.[1]

Filmography

Year Title Director Screenplay Producer
2008 A Wednesday! Yes Yes
2011 Taryanche Bait Yes
2013 Special 26 Yes Yes
2014 The Royal Bengal Tiger Yes Yes
2014 Total Siyapaa Yes Yes
2015 Baby Yes Yes
2016 Rustom Yes
2016 M.S. Dhoni: The Untold Story Yes Yes
2016 Saat Uchakkey Yes
2017 Naam Shabana Yes Yes
2017 Toilet: Ek Prem Katha Yes
2018 Aiyaary Yes Yes Yes
2018 Missing Yes

Television

Year Series Director Screenplay Producer Network
2020 Special OPS[5] Yes Yes Yes Hotstar

Bibliography

Awards

Film Award Name Year Notes
A Wednesday! National Film Award. Best First Film of a Director: 2008 [6]
A Wednesday! Star Screen Award, Best Film, Best Story 2009
A Wednesday! IIFA Awards Best Story. Best Dialogue 2009

References

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