Biography:

Neeraj Pandey (born 1973) is an Indian film director best known for his drama-thriller film, A Wednesday (2008), for which he won the Indira Gandhi Award for Best First Film of a Director. His work on the film was highly praised by audiences as well as critics. He was nominated for "Best Director" category by Filmfare Awards. His second movie Special 26 (2013) has also been equally appreciated by the public and the critics.

He was born and brought up in a Brahmin Bihari family in Kolkata. His father, who originally came from Bihar and worked for Bosch in Calcutta. Neeraj Pandey moved to New Delhi, where he graduated in English.

He started his career working with Delhi-based 'Legacy Entertainment', a company started by the Dalmia group to make television programs where he learnt his film basics.

In 2000, he moved to Mumbai, here a friend got a grant to produce a documentary, and offered him the project. Soon he was making documentaries and ad films. Thereafter, he formed a production company, 'Quarter Inch Productions', along with a colleague Shital Bhatia, which made to make television programmes, ad films and documentaries. After which they formed, Friday Filmworks, which was the original producer of his debut film, A Wednesday. 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.

His soon to release film, Total Siyapaa, is a love story with a twist. The movie boasts of a star cast that includes Ali Zafar, Yami Gautam, Kirron Kher and Anupam Kher. He has also done a Bengali feature film, The Royal Bengal Tiger, starring Bengali superstar Jeet. His another production venture, Saat Ucchakey, starring Manoj Bajpayee, K.K Menon, Anu Kapoor and Aditi Sharma shall also release next year.

Neeraj has also written his debut novel titled GHALIB DANGER. It is due for launch on the 6th of December 2013.

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