Nagesh Kukunoor - Biography

Nagesh Kukunoor, with his first movie Hyderabad Blues, showed he is not one to play by rules and continued to drive home the point time and again with his work. Basics on Nagesh Nagesh Kukunoor was born on 30th March 1967 in Hyderabad, India. His parents are Kusuma Sudarshan and KS Naidu. He studied in Chennai at the Montfort Anglo Indian School. He went back to Hyderabad and completed Chemical Engineering at the Osmania University. He moved to Atlanta and got a master’s degree in Chemical Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology. After completing his education, Kukunoor lived in Atlanta and worked as an environmental consultant. On the side, he studied acting at the Warehouse Actor’s Theater. In 1994, he co-produced and directed a short film called One Culture at a Time. He also penned the script for Hyderabad Blues while in Atlanta. Nagesh Kukunoor’s Movies Nagesh Kukunoor acted and directed Hyderabad Blues (1998), a story of a man who returns to India and has to re-adapt to the culture. The movie received rave reviews. It won the Audience Award for Best film at the Peachtree International Film Festival in Atlanta and the Audience Award for best film at the Rhode Island Film Festival. Rockford (1999) which he directed and acted in, with Nandita Das was set in a boarding school. Bollywood Calling (2001) moved away from teen romance as it told the story of a Hollywood actor in India, trying to make it in Bollywood. 3 Deewarein (2003) was written and directed by him. He also played the role of Nagya, a prisoner. The movie also starred Naseeruddin Shah, Jackie Shroff and Juhi Chawla. It won the Filmfare Best Story Award. The sequel Hyderabad Blues 2 (2004) failed to enchant like the original. Iqbal (2005), a cricket based movie told the story of a deaf-mute boy. Dor (2006) was critically acclaimed and was screened at film festivals. It was a remake of a Malayalam movie Perumazakkhalam and the cast consisting of Ayesha Takia, Gul Panag and Shreyas Talpade performed brilliantly. After Bombay to Bangkok (2008), he has two movies set to release in 2009. Aashayein stars John Abraham as a gambler, while Eight By Ten, previously titled Tasveer, has Akshay Kumar and Ayesha Takia in the lead with veterans Sharmila Tagore and Vinod Khanna in supporting roles.