Pan Nalin

Pan Nalin is truly an International filmmaker; as a writer and director he is one of the first Indian filmmaker to achieve worldwide critical and commercial triumph with SAMSARA (Miramax). Pan Nalin recently won Audience Choice Award First-Runner-up for ANGRY INDIAN GODDESSES (Mongrel International) at the Toronto International Film Festival 2015 and Prix du Public at the Rome Film Festival 2015; a much-awaited breezy women-buddy movie from contemporary India is currently being released across 70 countries in 2016. Nalin, a self-taught filmmaker, was born in a remote village in Gujarat, India. Nalin, until the age of 12, helped his father sell tea on a railway platform. The richest thing his parents gave him was his spiritual upbringing. As a child, Nalin disliked schools; instead he used to paint and draw. He also actively staged mythological dramas and folk plays. Nalin saw his first movie at age of eight - since that day he always wanted to make movies. Later, as a teenager, he left his family and village in pursuit of cinema. He studied Fine Arts at the M.S. University of Baroda. Nalin made some fifty odd wedding videos to finance his education. It is also in Baroda that Nalin discovered Hollywood movies and World Cinema. A year later Nalin went to study Design at the prestigious NID (National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad). While at NID, he wrote about movies and managed the Film Club by programming films from around the world. After all those colleges, after making four animations and twenty short silent films -Nalin concluded that the best film school is life itself. He traveled widely all over India. And finally moved to Mumbai where he worked as a production runner. In no time the producers recognized Nalin's talent and offered him a chance to direct commercials and corporate films. Nalin conceived a unique comedy TV series in collaboration with famous cartoonist R. K. Laxman; the series was later sold and became a major hit under the title of WAGLE KI DUNIYA. Nalin lived in USA and UK for a short period and then set out for six-month long nomadic existence in Europe. On returning to India, he roamed the Himalayas deep and wide -in search of his voice. After a long process of unlearning, he developed ideas for several feature films -and started writing. What followed was an amazing journey through India and Asia where Nalin constantly tried to seek original and deeply moving stories. With passion for cinema and travel what naturally followed was documentaries. Nalin made several of them with BBC, Discovery, Canal Plus and other leading international networks. His multiple awards winning feature documentary AYURVEDA: ART OF BEING (Pandora Film & Kinowelt) was theatrically released worldwide with major success. AYURVEDA: ART OF BEING celebrated a yearlong theatrical run in Spain and record-breaking three-year long run in France. The film met with similar success in USA, Canada, Germany, Holland... Till date, it remains the highest grossing Indian documentary film. But the real challenge is yet to come: Nalin went around the globe to seek fund for his first feature film SAMSARA (Miramax). After seven years of struggle, which made him nearly bankrupt and homeless, the film was finally produced by Karl Baumgartner of Pandora Film. Pan Nalin came into global limelight; SAMSARA became a massive commercial and critical success worldwide and won him some thirty plus international awards. Many critics and spectators considered SAMSARA a groundbreaking film. SAMSARA grossed US$ 32 million (without USA, UK & Japan.) Till date, it remains the highest grossing Indian Independent film. Nalin's romantic epic VALLEY OF FLOWERS (TF1 International) was pre-sold to nearly 35 countries and considered a major underground hit. It still continues to enjoy multiple-platform release with cult, critical and commercial success worldwide. VALLEY OF FLOWERS was filmed in remote, high altitude Himalayas and in Japan. VALLEY OF FLOWERS won Best Picture at IFFLA Los Angles, also won four nominations at IAAC New York, including The Best Picture and The Best Director. Nalin's latest feature documentary FAITH CONNECTIONS was an Official Selection at Toronto (2013), won the Audience Choice Award at IFFLA Los Angeles (2014) and it has been theatrically released worldwide. For the UN's Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen 2009, United Nation's project VISUAL TELEGRAMS invited 30 popular filmmakers from 30 countries to make a short film on our environment. Pan Nalin was among the invitees and only Indian to join leagues of well know directors like Stephen Frears, Paul Haggis, Emir Kusturica... In 2006 Pan Nalin was awarded Spain's highly prestigious award Vida Sana for his contribution to the ecology, thus an earth keeper. Also in 2007, TMG (David Flint's Triangle Media Group UK) awarded Pan Nalin as one of the Top 50 Achievers in Global Mainstream Media in the field of Film, Theatre & Drama. Nalin has also served as Jury member at many prestigious International Film Festivals along with international celebrities like; Roman Polanski, Maria Medeiros, Jamel Debouze, Ludivine Sagnier, David Wenham, Paz Vega, Sandrine Bonnaire & Teddy Chan. Nalin is probably the only Indian screenwriter to be twice invited to a prestigious Screenwriter's lab Equinoxe along with top Hollywood screenwriters like; Ron Bass (Rainman..), David and Janet People (Unforgiven, Blade Runner...) Jim Hart (Dracula, Contact, Lara Croft..), and Shane Black, (Lethal Weapon, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang...) among others. Legendary Diva of French Cinema Jeanne Moreau headed the writer's lab. On many occasions Nalin has also been invited to be on panels at many prestigious literature, arts or media conclaves. The recent one being at the Jaipur Literature Festival where Nalin was invited for « Art of Adaptation for Screen » conclave with Oscar winner Christopher Hampton. Nalin was also invited, along with the delegation headed by Mr. Amitabh Bachchan; to be on the panel for France-India Coproduction forum at Salon du Cinema in Paris. Nalin also made it into The Better India's prestigious list of "25 NRI (Non-Resident Indians) Across The World Who Have Made India Proud." Nalin's latest comedy screenplay SLIGHTLY SANE, inspired from S. H. Manto's short story Toba Tek Singh, recently won the CJ Entertainment's Award for The Best International Project at Asia Film Market in Busan, South Korea. Other English language pictures in the line-up includes a Los Angeles set supernatural thriller titled H2O and a mega action-adventure epic SATORI: THE FIRST WARRIOR developed in association with renowned producer Fred Fuchs (Godfather, Rainman, Dracula...) Nalin also created GREEKS, a multi-season drama TV series in association with Fred Fuchs whose credit also includes TV series like Tudors, Camelot, Transporter... Since last ten years, Nalin has been working on an epic BUDDHA: THE WARRIOR WITHIN. Also he has been scripting Paris set spy-thriller CODENAME: MADELEINE inspired from WWII real life story of Noor Inayat Khan. Presently Nalin is filming THE DISAPPEARANCE OF EVA HANSEN, a spiritual thriller set in the Himalayas. It's a first New Zealand - India co-production starring David Wenham and Emmanuelle Beart. Pan Nalin lives in India and France. IMDb Mini Biography By: [Anne Magidson](https://imdb.com/search/name?bio_author=Anne%20Magidson&view=simple&sort=alpha) Vis kilde på IMDb