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NRI Shekhar Kapur to make film on Buddha

New Delhi, July 23, 2005
Ram Parkash
NRI press

NRI Shekhar Kapur, actor, director, writer, producer, with the blessing of the Dalai Lama plans to make a film on the life of Lord Buddha. The Indian industrialist, Bhupendra Kumar Modi will invest 70 million pounds to make this movie.

Richard Gere may play role of devout Buddhist. Other stars Brad Pitt , Aishwarya Rai and star of Bride and Prejudice may be involved.

NRI, Kapur set the stage for this success back in 1994 with “Bandit Queen”, a film that bridged the gap between Indian and Western sensibilities, winning critical acclaim abroad, and wide popularity in India - once a government ban against the film was lifted. Shekhar made the film for an international audience, hoping to attract attention in the West.

He alreay made a success by making four movies:

  • The Guru (2003)
  • The Four Feathers (2002)
  • Elizabeth (1998)
  • Bandit Queen (1994)

    Shekhar failed to get a nomination for Best Director, 'Elizabeth' was nominated for Best Picture, and Best Actress (Cate Blanchett); also for Art Direction, Cinematography, Costume Design, Make-Up and Original Dramatic Score. The film won the award for Make-Up.

One of the few Bollywood directors to make a career in the U.S., Shekhar Kapur has proved his filmmaking worth in both countries. The nephew of actors Vijay Anand and Dev Anand, Kapur was discouraged to get into show business by his father. Leaving his homeland to study business in Great Britain, Kapur soon grew bored with his accounting job and moved back to India to become an unsuccessful actor in Bollywood.

He finally found a place for himself as a director with his film debut, the coming-of-age story Masoom (1983). He was met with both international attention and controversy after the release of Bandit Queen (1994), his biographical portrait of lower-caste Indian outlaw Phoolan Devi. Although the Indian censors and Devi herself protested to the film's graphic content, it proved to be a commercial success. Kapur began working in Hollywood to make the historical biography Elizabeth, with Cate Blanchett as Queen Elizabeth I, in 1998. Nominated for the Best Picture Academy award, it also gained him more attention among Indian censors. After residing back in India for a few years, he returned to the U.S. to make the 2002 film adaptation of The Four Feathers. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide

  • Date of birth: 1945, Place : Lahore

 


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NRI Shekhar Kapur