Tarsem Singh Dhandwar (born 26 May 1961), known professionally as Tarsem, is an Indian director who has worked on films, music videos, and commercials. He directed ''

The Cell Cell most often refers to: * Cell (biology), the functional basic unit of life Cell may also refer to: Locations * Monastic cell, a small room, hut, or cave in which a religious recluse lives, alternatively the small precursor of a monastery w ...

'' (2000), '' The Fall'' (2006, also screenwriter and producer), '' Immortals'' (2011), '' Mirror Mirror'' (2012), and '' Self/less'' (2015).

Early life

Tarsem was born in Jalandhar,

Punjab Punjab (; Punjabi Language, Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also Romanization, romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the I ...

to a

Punjabi Punjabi, or Panjabi, most often refers to: * Something of, from, or related to Punjab, a region in India and Pakistan * Punjabi language * Punjabi people * Punjabi dialects and languages Punjabi may also refer to: * Punjabi (horse), a British Th ...

Sikh Sikhs ( or ; pa, ਸਿੱਖ, ' ) are people who adhere to Sikhism, Sikhism (Sikhi), a Monotheism, monotheistic religion that originated in the late 15th century in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, based on the revelation of Gu ...

family. His father was an aircraft engineer. He attended Bishop Cotton School in

Shimla Shimla (; ; also known as Simla, the official name until 1972) is the capital and the largest city of the northern Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. In 1864, Shimla was declared as the summer capital of British India. After independence, ...

, Hans Raj College in

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...

, and is a graduate of the

Art Center College of Design Art Center College of Design (stylized as ArtCenter College of Design) is a private art college in Pasadena, California. History ArtCenter College of Design was founded in 1930 in downtown Los Angeles as the Art Center School. In 1935, Fred ...

in Pasadena, California.

Career

Tarsem began his career directing music videos, including those of " Hold On" by

En Vogue En Vogue is an American vocal girl group whose original lineup consisted of singers Terry Ellis, Dawn Robinson, Cindy Herron, and Maxine Jones. Formed in Oakland, California, in 1989, En Vogue reached No. 2 on the US Hot 100 with the single ...

, " Sweet Lullaby" by Deep Forest and R.E.M.'s "

Losing My Religion "Losing My Religion" is a song by American alternative rock band R.E.M., released in February 1991 as the first single from the group's seventh album, '' Out of Time'' (1991). Built on a mandolin riff, the song was an unlikely hit for the gro ...

", the latter of which won Best Video of the Year at the 1991

MTV Video Music Awards The MTV Video Music Awards (commonly abbreviated as the VMAs) is an award show presented by the cable channel MTV to honour the best in the music video medium. Originally conceived as an alternative to the Grammy Awards (in the video category) ...

. He has directed commercials for brands such as Nike and

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. Tarsem's feature film directorial debut was ''

'' (2000), starring

Jennifer Lopez Jennifer Lynn Affleck (' Lopez; born July 24, 1969), also known as J.Lo, is an American singer, actress and dancer. In 1991, she began appearing as a Fly Girl dancer on the sketch comedy television series '' In Living Color'', where she re ...

. In 2003, Tarsem directed one of the most elaborate

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commercials to date. It combined a

gladiator A gladiator ( la, gladiator, "swordsman", from , "sword") was an armed combatant who entertained audiences in the Roman Republic and Roman Empire in violent confrontations with other gladiators, wild animals, and condemned criminals. Some gla ...

theme with

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's "

We Will Rock You "We Will Rock You" is a song written by Brian May and recorded by British rock band Queen for their 1977 album ''News of the World''. ''Rolling Stone'' ranked it number 330 of " The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time" in 2004, and it placed at num ...

". The commercial starred

Enrique Iglesias Enrique Miguel Iglesias Preysler (; (born 8 May 1975) is a Spanish singer and songwriter. He started his recording career in the mid-1990s on the Mexican indie label Fonovisa and became the bestselling Spanish-language act of the decade. By th ...

in the version of the commercial aired in Europe and North America and

Amr Diab Amr Diab ( ar, عمرو دياب, link=no, ; born on 11 October 1961) is an Egyptian singer, composer and actor. He has established himself as a globally acclaimed recording artist and author. He is a Guinness World Record holder, the best sel ...

in the version aired in the Arab world. Tarsem's second film, '' The Fall'', debuted at the

2006 Toronto International Film Festival The 31st Toronto International Film Festival ran from September 7 to September 16, 2006. Opening the festival was Zacharias Kunuk and Norman Cohn's '' The Journals of Knud Rasmussen'', a film that "explores the history of the through the eyes of ...

and was released theatrically in the United States in 2008. His third film was 2011's '' Immortals''. He directed an adaptation of the

Brothers Grimm The Brothers Grimm ( or ), Jacob (1785–1863) and Wilhelm (1786–1859), were a brother duo of German academics, philologists, cultural researchers, lexicographers, and authors who together collected and published folklore. They are among th ...

story of "

Snow White "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" is a 19th-century German fairy tale that is today known widely across the Western world. The Brothers Grimm published it in 1812 in the first edition of their collection '' Grimms' Fairy Tales'' and numbered as T ...

", called '' Mirror Mirror'' (2012). In 2020, Tarsem made his return to music videos with

Lady Gaga Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta ( ; born March 28, 1986), known professionally as Lady Gaga, is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. She is known for her image reinventions and musical versatility. Gaga began performing as a teenag ...

's single "

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", his first in 26 years. In 2021, his

Super Bowl The Super Bowl is the annual final playoff game of the National Football League (NFL) to determine the league champion. It has served as the final game of every NFL season since 1966, replacing the NFL Championship Game. Since 2022, the gam ...

ad for

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featuring the adoption of US

Paralympian The Paralympic Games or Paralympics, also known as the ''Games of the Paralympiad'', is a periodic series of international multisport events involving athletes with a range of physical disabilities, including impaired muscle power and impaired ...

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won significant critical acclaim.

Filmography as director

Film

* ''

'' (2000) * '' The Fall'' (2006, also screenwriter and producer) * '' Immortals'' (2011) * '' Mirror Mirror'' (2012) * '' Self/less'' (2015)

Television

* '' Emerald City'' (2017, also executive producer)

Music videos

– " Hold On" (1990) *

Suzanne Vega Suzanne Nadine Vega ( Peck; born July 11, 1959) is an American singer-songwriter best known for her folk-inspired music. Vega's music career spans almost 40 years. She came to prominence in the mid-1980s, releasing four singles that entered th ...

– "Tired of Sleeping" (1990) * R.E.M. – "

" (1991) * The Dream Academy – "Love" (1991) * Dream Warriors – "My Definition of a Boombastic Jazz Style" (1991) *

Lou Reed Lewis Allan Reed (March 2, 1942October 27, 2013) was an American musician, songwriter, and poet. He was the guitarist, singer, and principal songwriter for the rock band the Velvet Underground and had a solo career that spanned five decades ...

– "What's Good" (1992) * Vanessa Paradis – "Be My Baby" (1992) * Deep Forest – " Sweet Lullaby" (1994) *

– "

" (2020)

Commercials

Levi's Levi Strauss & Co. () is an American clothing company known worldwide for its Levi's () brand of denim jeans. It was founded in May 1853 when German-Jewish immigrant Levi Strauss moved from Buttenheim, Bavaria, to San Francisco, California, t ...

– "Swimmer" (1992) * Mulino Bianco – "Roma" (1994) *

– "Washroom" (1996) *

– "They Go On" (6-part ad series) (1997) * Nike – "Good vs Evil" (1997) *

Miller Lite Miller Lite is a 4.2% ABV light American lager beer sold by Molson Coors (previously MillerCoors) of Chicago, Illinois. The company also produces Miller Genuine Draft and Miller High Life. Miller Lite competes mainly with Anheuser-Busch' ...

– "Pro Wrestlers" (1997) *

Philips Koninklijke Philips N.V. (), commonly shortened to Philips, is a Dutch multinational conglomerate corporation that was founded in Eindhoven in 1891. Since 1997, it has been mostly headquartered in Amsterdam, though the Benelux headquarters is ...

– "Rain" (1998) *

Volkswagen Volkswagen (),English: , . abbreviated as VW (), is a German Automotive industry, motor vehicle manufacturer headquartered in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. Founded in 1937 by the German Labour Front under the Nazi Party and revived into a ...

– "Pursuit of Excellence" (1998) *

Volvo The Volvo Group ( sv, Volvokoncernen; legally Aktiebolaget Volvo, shortened to AB Volvo, stylized as VOLVO) is a Swedish multinational manufacturing corporation headquartered in Gothenburg. While its core activity is the production, distributio ...

– "Lift off" (1999) * Beck's – "Romance" (1999) * Beck's – "Laid Back" (1999) * Beck's – "Comedy" (1999) *

– "Beckham" (2001) *

Mountain Dew Mountain Dew, stylized as Mtn Dew, is a carbonated soft drink brand produced and owned by PepsiCo. The original formula was invented in 1940 by Tennessee beverage bottlers Barney and Ally Hartman. A revised formula was created by Bill Brid ...

– "Duo" (2001) * Beck's – "Engineer's Night Out" (2001) *

– "Foosball" (2002) *

– "Kung Fu" (2002) *

– "Sumo" (2002) *

– "Sumo Rematch" (2002) * Campari – "The Duel" (2002) *

Wanadoo Wanadoo was the Internet service provider division of Orange S.A. It operated in France, Spain, the United Kingdom, Belgium, the Netherlands, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Senegal, Mauritius, Madagascar, Lebanon and Jordan. It ceased to operate as ...

– "Positive Generation" (2002) * T-Mobile – "Anthem" (2002) * T-Mobile – "Czech" (2002) * T-Mobile – "Italian" (2002) * T-Mobile – "Bored" (2002) * Nationwide – "Every Minute – Football" (2002) *

Intel Intel Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California. It is the world's largest semiconductor chip manufacturer by revenue, and is one of the developers of the x86 ser ...

– "Moving Day" (2003) *

– "Airport" (2003) *

– "Diver" (2003) *

– "Elephant Tower" (2003) *

– "OK Corral" (2003) *

– "Longer Nights" (2003) *

Renault Groupe Renault ( , , , also known as the Renault Group in English; legally Renault S.A.) is a French multinational automobile manufacturer established in 1899. The company produces a range of cars and vans, and in the past has manufactured ...

– "Performance" (2003) *

Citroën Citroën () is a French automobile brand. The "Automobiles Citroën" manufacturing company was founded in March 1919 by André Citroën. Citroën is owned by Stellantis since 2021 and previously was part of the PSA Group after Peugeot acquired 8 ...

– "Les Magiciens" (2003) *

– "Les Mains" (2004) *

– "Footbattle" (2004) *

Pepsi-Cola Pepsi is a carbonated soft drink manufactured by PepsiCo. Originally created and developed in 1893 by Caleb Bradham and introduced as Brad's Drink, it was renamed as Pepsi-Cola in 1898, and then shortened to Pepsi in 1961. History Pepsi wa ...

– "Gladiator" (2004) *

– "Surfers" (2004) * Nike – "Nike Masks" (2004) *

Acura Acura is the luxury vehicle, luxury and performance division of Japanese automaker Honda, based primarily in North America. The brand was launched in the United States and Canada on March 27, 1986, marketing luxury and performance automobiles. It ...

– "Rush" (2006) *

– "Shuffle" (2007) *

Gatorade Gatorade is an American brand of sports-themed beverage and food products, built around its signature line of sports drinks. Gatorade is currently manufactured by PepsiCo and is distributed in over 80 countries. The beverage was first develo ...

– "Part I: Enchanter" (2009) *

– "Part II: Hecklers" (2009) *

– "Part III: Beware the Jabbawockeez" (2009) *

– "Part IV: EGO" (2009) *

– "Part V: Game 7" (2009) *

Dodge Dodge is an American brand of automobiles and a division of Stellantis, based in Auburn Hills, Michigan. Dodge vehicles have historically included performance cars, and for much of its existence Dodge was Chrysler's mid-priced brand above P ...

– "Snow" (2010) *

Sony , commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professional ...

– "The Gift of Sound and Vision" (2013) *

McDonald's McDonald's Corporation is an American multinational fast food chain, founded in 1940 as a restaurant operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald, in San Bernardino, California, United States. They rechristened their business as a hambur ...

– "Court" (2013) *

– "Toast" (2013) *

– "Come On" (2013) * Carte Noir – "Fire & Ice" (2013) *

– "Satellite" (2013) * BMW – "Unbridled Joy" (2015) *

– "Tree Top" (2017) *

Samsung The Samsung Group (or simply Samsung) ( ko, 삼성 ) is a South Korean multinational manufacturing conglomerate headquartered in Samsung Town, Seoul, South Korea. It comprises numerous affiliated businesses, most of them united under the ...

– "Infinitely Amazing" (2017) *

– "No Regrets" (2019) *

Dove Columbidae () is a bird family consisting of doves and pigeons. It is the only family in the order Columbiformes. These are stout-bodied birds with short necks and short slender bills that in some species feature fleshy ceres. They primarily ...

– "Dove" (2019) *

– "Cleopatra" (2019) *

– "Upstream" (2021)

References

External links

* *
Tarsem Singh at the Music Video DataBase
{{DEFAULTSORT:Singh, Tarsem Living people 1961 births 21st-century Indian film directors American film directors of Indian descent Film directors from Punjab, India Film producers from Punjab, India Grammy Award winners Indian advertising directors Indian male screenwriters Indian music video directors Indian expatriates in the United States People from Jalandhar Punjabi people Delhi University alumni Art Center College of Design alumni