Nagesh Kukunoor

Nagesh Kukunoor (born 30 March 1967) is an Indian filmmaker and screenwriter. He is known for movies such as Hyderabad Blues (1998), Rockford (1999), 3 Deewarein (2003), Iqbal (2005) and Dor (2006).

Early life
Nagesh Kukunoor Naidu was born to Kusuma Sudarshan and KS Naidu in Hyderabad. As a child he loved watching Telugu, Hindi, and English films in the theatres of his neighbourhood, Narayanguda. He then did his intermediate from Little Flower Junior College, Hyderabad and went ahead to do Chemical Engineering at Osmania University in Hyderabad, and graduated with a Bachelor's degree. He moved to Atlanta, Georgia in the United States in 1988, and completed his Master's degree in Chemical Engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology. He studied Acting & direction at the Warehouse Actor's Theater in Atlanta.

Movie career
He invested the money he made from his engineering career in USA in producing the movie Hyderabad Blues. It is based on a script that he wrote in Atlanta dealing with Indians returning home from the United States of America. He directed and acted in the movie. It was a budget of Rs. 1.7 million (roughly equivalent to US$40,000) and shot in 17 days. It was perceived by Sanjay Arora, an independent film maker, to be realistic and among one of the first movies to use Hyderabadi Urdu correctly. It became the most successful independent film in India. The film was featured at Peachtree International Film Festival in Atlanta and Rhode Island International Film Festival.

Later movies
3 Deewarein which was based on Shawshank Redemption(2003) was premiered at the Kolkata Film Festival. In contrast to his earlier work, it had a budget of inr 21000000 and featured established actors including Naseeruddin Shah, Juhi Chawla and Jackie Shroff.

In 2006, Nagesh KuKunoor wrote and directed Dor, a drama film featuring Ayesha Takia, Gul Panag and Shreyas Talpade as the lead actors. Nagesh also acted in the film, playing the role of businessman Chopra. The film is about two women who come from different backgrounds and how fate brings them together. Meera (Ayesha Takia), a young woman who becomes a widow shortly after marriage, is trapped by tradition. Zeenat (Gul Panag), on the other hand, faces the daunting task of saving the life of her husband, who is on trial for murder. A bahuroopiya (Shreyas Talpade) helps her reach Meera, who holds the "string" to Zeenat's hope. The companionship that develops between Meera and Zeenat results in redemption for both. The film, which is a remake of the Malayalam film, Perumazhakkalam (2004), was well received by both, the critics and film buffs.

His film Iqbal, written by Vipul K Rawal featuring Shreyas Talpade and Naseeruddin Shah won a lot of critical acclaim for the simple yet heart rendering script and the acting by all actors.

8x10 Tasveer (2009), features Akshay Kumar in the lead role and Ayesha Takia as the female lead it is a thriller with a touch of Hollywood style cinematography, but fared poorly at the box office. It is considered to be Nagesh's most self reflective work to date. "I like to cast characters who are close to me. And this one gets as close to me as possible. I was once an environmental consultant. Akshay plays the part of an environment protection officer," Kukunoor said in an April 2009 interview. His latest movie Mod did not do well at the box office.

Filmography

 * One Culture at a time (1995) Short film
 * Hyderabad Blues (1998)
 * Rockford (1999)
 * Bollywood Calling (2001)
 * 3 Deewarein (2003)
 * Hyderabad Blues 2 (2004)
 * Iqbal (2005)
 * Dor (2006)
 * Bombay To Bangkok (2008)
 * 8x10 Tasveer (2009)
 * Aashayein (2010)
 * Mod (2011)
 * Laxmi (2013)

Awards

 * National Film Award for Best Film on Other Social Issues – Iqbal – 2006
 * Filmfare Award for Best Story – 3 Deewarein – 2004
 * Teacher's Achievement Award for Creative and Performing Arts – 2002
 * Audience Award for best film at the Peachtree International Film Festival in Atlanta, Georgia – Hyderabad Blues – 1999
 * Audience Award for best film at the Rhode Island International Film Festival – Hyderabad Blues – 1999