Udai Singh Pawar in an exclusive interview with NewsX under the special segment, NewsX India A-list talked about his recent Netflix movie-‘Upstarts’ and his inspiring journey from being an IITian to a filmmaker. Udai Singh Pawar is a filmmaker and a screenwriter based in Mumbai, India who has worked as an Associate Director in movies like ”Airlift” starring Akshay Kumar and has worked as a chief assistant director with veteran directors like Raja Menon and Sudhir Mishra.
Mr Udai has recently directed his first-ever Netflix feature film called ‘Upstarts’ which has been streaming on the OTT platform since October 2019. Being an IITian, he has also worked in technology companies and left a corporate job to pursue his dream of becoming a filmmaker. Sharing his personal journey and his passion for becoming a Filmmaker, he remarked “Oddly enough since I was a child, I was fascinated with video cameras and my father had one of the old family cameras which I used to do experiments with. I would try to do all sorts of movements, video editing, and cuts to make and form short videos. When I went to college, more of my time was devoted to studying but one day a friend of mine made me the video editor of the college club wherein I used to record and shoot events happening in college itself.”
Talking about leaving the corporate job and the courage it takes to follow one’s dreams he said “I think it is only here in Bollywood that you notice and appreciate the courage of people. I personally think its everywhere. My own father is an entrepreneur. There are many friends of mine who have started their own ventures. I think everyone has done their part to achieve what they want in life despite coming from different backgrounds”.
Pawar’s first film ‘Upstarts’ was widely appreciated and he received praises from all around the globe. When asked about the same he underlined that one of the nicest reviews he received was from Brazil that made him realise that audience really views the film from their own perspective and as a filmmaker he feels elated.
Addressing the issue of prevalent nepotism in Bollywood, he stated ”I myself come from a place where I had no contacts. I don’t want to say that it doesn’t exist because everyone has had their different journeys. I think the actors’ job is the hardest one to do if as a director, a genre doesn’t work for me, I can easily switch to different genres be it comedy, action, thriller but an actor can’t do that. Although I would say that inherently in every industry, there is some level of meritocracy but then there are other factors that come into play and I understand the frustration people go through. it’s a really hard business.” He further talked about the upcoming projects that he is going to be working on. ” I have been working on a couple of different new ideas’.