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Shekhar Kapur, born 6 December 1945 in British India (in an area which became part of Pakistan) is a renowned filmmaker from India. His basic schooling was done at the Modern School, New Delhi. His works include Elizabeth (1998), a semi-historical account of the early reign of Queen Elizabeth I; it was nominated for 8 Oscars. In 2000, he was awarded the Padma Shri.

Shekhar Kapur

Films directed by Shekhar Kapur:

• Masoom
• Mr. India
• Time Machine (Incomplete)
• Bandit Queen
• Elizabeth
• The Four Feathers
• Elizabeth: The Golden Age (future release)
• The Last Full Measure (future release)
• Long Walk to Freedom (future release)
• Buddha (on hold)
• Foundation (rumored)

Very few people know that he is a close family relation of the Indian "evergreen" star Dev Anand. He has worked with Dev Anand in ISHQ ISHQ ISHQ with Zeenat Aman. He also appeared in his own film (Bandit Queen) as a truck driver. He has also appeared in several Hindi TV serials and films but his career never pulled off as an actor. Some scenes of the movie Joshilaay (1989) which starred Sunny Deol, Anil Kapoor, Sridevi and Meenakshi Sheshadari were directed by Kapur.

He was accused of being Anti-British by British tabloids, by the way he portrayed the British Army and the Empire in the movie The Four Feathers. This was also heightened by the fact that during an interview for the DVD release of the Four Feathers he spoke favorably of the fanatical religious leader depicted in the film (the Mahdi).

Kapur was also the executive producer of the Hollywood film The Guru. He established an Indian talkies film company with Ram Gopal Verma and Mani Ratnam. This company has thus far produced only one film, the Shah Rukh Khan starrer Dil Se. Apparently, there was a rumour that this company was never made and that it just used his name to use for film promotion.

Kapur was also 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 an unusual role, Kapur played the voice of Mahatma Gandhi in the Charkha Audiobooks title of "The Story of My Experiments with Truth - autobiography of M.K.Gandhi", alongside Nandita Das as narrator.

Future projects include Long Walk to Freedom, Water, The Last Full Measure, and Golden Age, a sequel to Elizabeth. Also 20th Century Fox has signed him to direct two installations of Isaac Asimov's Foundation Trilogy. They are slated to be called Foundation and Second Foundation; further details are unknown. In September, Kapur announced tentative plans to make a major motion picture account of the life of the Buddha, entitled Buddha.

Kapur is a chartered accountant. He was married to singer and actress Suchitra Krishnamurthy, they divorced in Feb 2007.

In June 2005, Kapur and his friend, author Deepak Chopra launched a discussion blog [1] with a select group of their friends and family. The purpose of the blog is to promote original discussion by voices from South Asia, and especially India. Kapur posts regularly on the blog, often writing short personal poems. Shortly after, Kapur also started his own personal blog on his official website.

In 2006 Kapur formed Virgin Comics and Virgin Animation an entertainment company focussed on creating new stories and characters for a global audience. The Company was founded with Sir Richard Branson and his Virgin Group, author Deepak Chopra and entrepreneurs Sharad Devarajan, Suresh Seetharaman and Gotham Chopra.

• Shekhar Kapur at the Internet Movie Database
• Shekhar Kapur's official website
• Shekhar Kapur's blog

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