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Shekhar Kapur (Born: 6th December 1945) is an Indian film director and producer. He is a critically acclaimed director, rose to popularity with the movie, Bandit Queen. He was nominated for Academy Awards for Elizabeth and its sequel Elizabeth: The Golden Age.
Kapur started his career working with a multinational oil company. He moved to Great Britain in 1970 and spent several years working as an accountant and management consultant.
He started his career as an actor in the movie' 'Jaan Hazir hai' (1975) and later in 'Toote Khilone' in Bollywood. He also appeared in several Hindi TV serials, like Udaan opposite Kavita Chaudhary, and films, but his career never took off as an actor.
He turned director with the portrayal of an illegitimate son gaining family acceptance in Masoom (1983). He then directed the 1987 science-fiction film Mr India which was one of the most successful films of the 1980s. In 1994 he directed the critically acclaimed Bandit Queen. Kapur played a cameo in Bandit Queen, as a truck driver.
Kapur also directed some scenes of the movie Joshilay (1989) which starred Sunny Deol, Anil Kapoor, Sridevi and Meenakshi Sheshadri. In 1992 he started another science-fiction film titled Time Machine which was to star Aamir Khan. However halfway through production, financial problems forced the film to be abandoned and shelved. In 1996, he partly directed Sunny Deol, Jackie Shroff and Manisha Koirala starer Dushmani.
In 1998, he got international recognition for directing the Academy Award-winning period film Elizabeth. The film was a fictional account of the reign of Queen Elizabeth I; the 1998 movie was nominated for 7 Oscars and the sequel has been nominated for 2 Oscars. He was accused of being anti-British by British tabloids, for the way he portrayed the British Army and the Empire in the 2002 movie The Four Feathers. This was heightened by the fact that during an interview for the DVD release of the Four Feathers, he spoke favourably of the fanatical religious leader depicted in the film (the Mahdi). He directed a sequel to Elizabeth titled Elizabeth: The Golden Age in 2007.
Kapur was the executive producer of the film The Guru. He also established an Indian talkies film company with Ram Gopal Verma and Mani Ratnam. This company has thus far produced only one film, Dil Se (1998) starring Shahrukh Khan & Manisha Koirala. He was also the executive producer of the Bollywood-themed Andrew Lloyd Webber musical Bombay Dreams, which has been running in the West End, London since 2002, and on Broadway in New York City since 2004.
In 2005, Kapur worked with Okan Quail on Hunji!. Some claim that this was his finest film ever. Critics across the UK and India called it a flop; as a result, his films were being flopped in 2005.
Hunji! tells the story of a young Indian maid who idolised Sachin Tendulkar.
In 2006, Kapur formed Virgin Comics and Virgin Animation an entertainment company focused on creating new stories and characters for a global audience. The Company was founded with Richard Branson and his Virgin Group, author Deepak Chopra and entrepreneurs Sharad Devarajan, Suresh Seetharaman and Gotham Chopra.
In an unusual role, Kapur provided the voice of Mahatma Gandhi in the Charkha Audio books title of The Story of My Experiments with Truth, alongside Nandita Das as narrator.
He is currently, one of the judges on a reality TV series, India's Got Talent, on-air on Colors. He is scheduled to be part of the jury at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival in May.
Kapur started his career working with a multinational oil company. He moved to Great Britain in 1970 and spent several years working as an accountant and management consultant.
He started his career as an actor in the movie' 'Jaan Hazir hai' (1975) and later in 'Toote Khilone' in Bollywood. He also appeared in several Hindi TV serials, like Udaan opposite Kavita Chaudhary, and films, but his career never took off as an actor.
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| Shekhar Kapur |
He turned director with the portrayal of an illegitimate son gaining family acceptance in Masoom (1983). He then directed the 1987 science-fiction film Mr India which was one of the most successful films of the 1980s. In 1994 he directed the critically acclaimed Bandit Queen. Kapur played a cameo in Bandit Queen, as a truck driver.
Kapur also directed some scenes of the movie Joshilay (1989) which starred Sunny Deol, Anil Kapoor, Sridevi and Meenakshi Sheshadri. In 1992 he started another science-fiction film titled Time Machine which was to star Aamir Khan. However halfway through production, financial problems forced the film to be abandoned and shelved. In 1996, he partly directed Sunny Deol, Jackie Shroff and Manisha Koirala starer Dushmani.
In 1998, he got international recognition for directing the Academy Award-winning period film Elizabeth. The film was a fictional account of the reign of Queen Elizabeth I; the 1998 movie was nominated for 7 Oscars and the sequel has been nominated for 2 Oscars. He was accused of being anti-British by British tabloids, for the way he portrayed the British Army and the Empire in the 2002 movie The Four Feathers. This was heightened by the fact that during an interview for the DVD release of the Four Feathers, he spoke favourably of the fanatical religious leader depicted in the film (the Mahdi). He directed a sequel to Elizabeth titled Elizabeth: The Golden Age in 2007.
Kapur was the executive producer of the film The Guru. He also established an Indian talkies film company with Ram Gopal Verma and Mani Ratnam. This company has thus far produced only one film, Dil Se (1998) starring Shahrukh Khan & Manisha Koirala. He was also the executive producer of the Bollywood-themed Andrew Lloyd Webber musical Bombay Dreams, which has been running in the West End, London since 2002, and on Broadway in New York City since 2004.
In 2005, Kapur worked with Okan Quail on Hunji!. Some claim that this was his finest film ever. Critics across the UK and India called it a flop; as a result, his films were being flopped in 2005.
Hunji! tells the story of a young Indian maid who idolised Sachin Tendulkar.
In 2006, Kapur formed Virgin Comics and Virgin Animation an entertainment company focused on creating new stories and characters for a global audience. The Company was founded with Richard Branson and his Virgin Group, author Deepak Chopra and entrepreneurs Sharad Devarajan, Suresh Seetharaman and Gotham Chopra.
In an unusual role, Kapur provided the voice of Mahatma Gandhi in the Charkha Audio books title of The Story of My Experiments with Truth, alongside Nandita Das as narrator.
He is currently, one of the judges on a reality TV series, India's Got Talent, on-air on Colors. He is scheduled to be part of the jury at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival in May.
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