Chandraprakash Dwivedi

Chandraprakash Dwivedi
Born	1959/1960 (age 50–51)[1]
Other names	Chandra Prakash Dwivedi
Years active	1988-present
Spouse	Mandira

Chandraprakash Dwivedi is an Indian film director and script writer, who is best known for directing the 1991 television epic Chanakya in which he also played the title role of the political strategist Chanakya. His other major work is the 2003 film Pinjar, a tragic love story set amidst the Hindu-Muslim tensions during the Partition of India, based on Amrita Pritam's novel of the same name. He has also directed the 1996 television series Mrityunjay which is based on the life of Karna, a major character from the epic Mahabharata, and he won a Screen Videocon Best Director award for the same.^[2][3]

Career

Dwivedi is a qualified medical professional who gave up his profession because of a deep interest in Indian literature, and began working in theater instead. In the late 1990s, he held the position of programming division head at Zee TV.^[2] During his stint at Zee, he tried his hand at retelling the Mahabharata (Ek Aur Mahabharat) but had to abort the experiment after 14 episodes due to a poor response from advertisers and viewers. The rerun of Chanakya too failed to attract advertisers.^[4][5][6][7] Dwivedi wrote the dialogues for the 2001 epic Doordarshan television series on Chhatrapati Shivaji.^[2][8]

In February 2008, Bobby Bedi announced that he had been planning a new Mahabharata with Dwivedi as director.^[9] However, in April, Dwivedi disassociated himself from the project citing pressure brought on as a result of competition from Ekta Kapoor's Kahaani Hamaaray Mahaabhaarat Ki.^[10][11]

In 2008, Dwivedi directed a television serial based on the Upanishads titled Upanishad Ganga.^[10] He is presently working on The Legend Of Kunal, a film based on the life of Kunal, the son of Emperor Asoka.

In 2009, the South Asian Cinema Foundation honored Dwivedi with its Cultural Catalyst Award "in recognition of his commitment to exploring India’s ancient culture and history in television and popular cinema."^[12]

In January 2011, his film Mohalla Assi set around Assi Ghat of Varanasi, went into production with shooting starting in Film City, Mumbai, with Sunny Deol as lead actor.^[13][14]

Filmography

• Chanakya (TV series) (1991–92)
• Mrityunjay (TV series)
• Ek Aur Mahabharat (1997)
• Pinjar (2003)
• Upanishad Ganga (2008) (under production)
• The Legend Of Kunal (2010) (under production)
• Mohalla Assi (2011) (under production)

References

1. ^ Sweet Dreams Are Made of These
2. ^ ^{a b c} Pinjar - Celebrating humanity
3. ^ Director special
4. ^ I would like to learn from Ekta Kapoor: Dr. Chandraprakash Dwivedi
5. ^ The comeback man
6. ^ Earshot: Where have all the ads gone?
7. ^ Earshot: Out of sight, out of mind
8. ^ Building programmes
9. ^ Mahabharata for the BPO generation
10. ^ ^{a b} No more pressure, period
11. ^ It is Chanakya Vs Ekta Kapoor
12. ^ Girish Kasaravalli gets ‘Excellence in Cinema’ award in UK
13. ^ "Sunny is all set to play priest". Times of India. Feb 8, 2011. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/bollywood/news-interviews/Sunny-is-all-set-to-play-priest/articleshow/7450892.cms. 
14. ^ "Sunny Deol to play a pandit in Mohalla Assi". NDTV Movies. http://movies.ndtv.com/movie_story.aspx?section=Movies&Id=ENTEN20110169087&keyword=bollywood&subcatg=MOVIESINDIA&nid=84318. Retrieved 2011-02-11. 

External links

• Chandraprakash Dwivedi at the Internet Movie Database

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Name	Dwivedi, Chandra Prakash
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