Prashant Nair

Prashant Nair is an Indian film director, screenwriter and producer best known for his 2015 feature film Umrika, starring Suraj Sharma and Tony Revolori, which premiered at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival and won the World Cinema Dramatic Audience Award [1]. His latest feature, Tryst With Destiny, premiered at the 2020 Tribeca Film Festival where it won the Best Screenplay in an International Narrative award.

Prashant Nair
Nair at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2015
Born
Chandigarh, India
OccupationFilm director & screenwriter
Years active2011-present

Biography

Nair was born in Chandigarh, India to diplomat parents but was raised in Europe, Africa and Asia before going on to live and work in New York, Paris, Prague, Berlin and Mumbai. He credits his constant moving and exposure to different parts of the world as the biggest impact on the subjects of his films.[2] As a result of his upbringing, Nair is fluent in English, French and Hindi and has studied Italian, German and Arabic.

He initially worked as a social media entrepreneur well until late 2010 when he first transitioned towards a career in film.[3] His first full-length film was the micro-budget Delhi In A Day which Nair has said he made as "a sort of film school." The film went on to have a limited theatrical release in India in 2012 and was well received by critics, voted one of the top ten independent films of the year by Times of India.

His 2015 film, Umrika became the only Indian feature to win an award at the Sundance Film Festival, taking home the World Cinema Dramatic Audience Award. Its European premiere took place at the 2015 Karlovy Vary Film Festival following which the film went on to play at over forty international film festivals, picking up numerous accolades including the HP Bridging the Borders Award at the 2016 Palm Springs International Film Festival and the FIPRESCI Critic's prize at the Cairo International Film Festival 2015.

Shortly after its premiere, theatrical rights of the film were sold by sales agent Beta Cinema to France, Germany, Austria, Australia, South Korea and numerous other territories, making it one of the more widely distributed Indian independent films in recent times.[4]

Nair has said that the film is "about the mythology of America and, more generally, how cultures perceive each other: the stereotypes, assumptions, misunderstandings and labeling as “exotic” of all things unfamiliar".[5]

In 2018, Nair directed two episodes of the Amazon Prime TV series Made In Heaven.

Tryst With Destiny, a co-production between Drishyam Films and Backup Media, won the Best Screenplay in an International Narrative award at the 2020 Tribeca Film Festival where it screened for a jury that included Demián Bichir, Danny Boyle, Judith Godrèche, Sabine Hoffman and William Hurt.

Filmography
YearFilmNotes
2012Delhi In A DayFirst Full-length movie
2015Umrikawon World Cinema Dramatic Audience Award at 2015 Sundance Film Festival
2019Made in HeavenBest Director, Indian Television Academy Awards 2019
2020Tryst With DestinyBest Screenplay In An International Narrative, Tribeca Film Festival 2020

Selected awards
  • Best Screenplay In An International Narrative. Tribeca Film Festival, 2020. (Tryst With Destiny)
  • (Nominated) Best International Feature. Tribeca Film Festival, 2020. (Tryst With Destiny)
  • HP Bridging The Borders Award. Palm Springs International Film Festival, 2016. (Umrika)
  • FIPRESCI Critic's Prize. Cairo International Film Festival, 2015. (Umrika)
  • (Nominated) Golden Pyramid Award. Cairo International Film Festival, 2015. (Umrika)
  • Audience Award, World Cinema Dramatic Competition. Sundance Film Festival, 2015. (Umrika)
  • (Nominated) Grand Jury Prize, World Cinema Dramatic Competition. Sundance Film Festival, 2015. (Umrika)
  • Director's Vision Award. Stuttgart Film Festival, 2012. (Delhi In A Day)
  • (Nominated) Golden Crow Pheasant. Kerala International Film Festival, 2012. (Delhi In A Day)

References
  1. Yuan, Jada (1 February 2015). "Me & Earl & the Dying Girl Dazzles at Sundance". Retrieved 1 February 2015.
  2. Sharf, Zack. "Nair speaks to Indiewire". Indiewire. News.Corp. Retrieved 19 February 2015.
  3. "Prashant Nair: A filmmaker with an entrepreneurial flair". Moneycontrol. Retrieved 27 February 2016.
  4. Levine, Sydney. "Cannes15: Beta Cinema's 'Ghosthunters' & 'Umrika' Among Hot Sellers at Marché du Film". Indiewire.com. Retrieved 17 May 2015.
  5. Sharf, Zack. "Meet the 2015 Sundance Filmmakers #73: Prashant Nair Spans Continents for Indian Drama 'Umrika'". Indiewire. Retrieved 2 February 2015.

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