He is one of those rare talents who know the art of unraveling the true stories on celluloid fearlessly with confidence. Filmmaker Neeraj Pandey, is an observer, an analyst, and this is witnessed in his films. His films are not just frames of characters taking the story forward but it has the strong potential of talking to the audience. He stands apart in the business of filmmaking, he has successfully defined his style of storytelling in the industry with films like AWednesday and Special 26. Many a times filmmakers create a mess in an attempt to make a realistic film, but Neeraj managed to give a class films by strong and sharp portrayal of facts and incidents, which justifies his inclination towards research to perfection.
Neeraj Pandey and his films
Neeraj won the Indira Gandhi Award for Best First Film of a Director, for his movie A Wednesday released in 2008. Film’s script was inspired by the 11 July 2006 Mumbai train bombings, and a lot of information in the film was taken from the incidents that followed the bombings. The movie had no big stars, but had great performers, it was the story that drove the interest of audience and his work on the film was highly praised by audiences as well as critics; and from thereon he went on garnering accolades and awards.
It was yet again a cinematic brilliance from Neeraj with his second film Special Chabbis also known as ‘Special 26‘. Released in 2013, this thriller heist was inspired by a real-life heist on 19 March 1987 where a group posing as CBI officers executed an income tax raid on the Opera House branch of a very famous jewelry showroom in Mumbai. It was Akshay Kumar in the lead for this time, no doubt the actors were outstanding in their performance which was one of the reasons for the film to have received positive response, but apart from the actors, it was the way the story was constructed and the style of storytelling that outshone and the movie went on to receive critical acclaim and was one of the best films of 2013.
The audiences did not had to wait for too long for the third film coming from this ace director, yet again starring Akshay Kumar in a strong role, Neeraj Pandey’s Baby is all set to hit the theatres tomorrow. The movie is an espionage action thriller based on terrorism. (Read BABY’s Plotline)
After giving such engaging and interesting films, the hopes are high to see the master stroke from his next directorial, Dhoni- The Untold Story, starring Sushant Singh Rajput. It is a biographical film based on Indian Cricket team’s captain, Mahindra Singh Dhoni.
