Aditya Shankar (born January 8, 1985) is an

Indian-American Indian Americans or Indo-Americans are citizens of the United States with ancestry from India. The United States Census Bureau uses the term Asian Indian to avoid confusion with Native Americans, who have also historically been referred to ...

film producer A film producer is a person who oversees film production. Either employed by a production company or working independently, producers plan and coordinate various aspects of film production, such as selecting the script, coordinating writing, di ...

screenwriter A screenplay writer (also called screenwriter, scriptwriter, scribe or scenarist) is a writer who practices the craft of screenwriting, writing screenplays on which mass media, such as films, television programs and video games, are based. ...

film director A film director controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfilment of that vision. The director has a key role in choosing the cast members, ...

, television program creator, television

showrunner A showrunner (or colloquially a helmer) is the top-level executive producer of a television series production who has creative and management authority through combining the responsibilities of employer and, in comedy or dramas, typically also the ...

, and occasional actor. He is best known for ''

Dredd ''Dredd'' is a 2012 science fiction action film directed by Pete Travis and written and produced by Alex Garland. It is based on the '' 2000 AD'' comic strip ''Judge Dredd'' and its eponymous character created by John Wagner and Carlos Ezqu ...

'', ''

Castlevania ''Castlevania'' (), known in Japan as is a gothic horror action-adventure video game series and media franchise about Dracula (Castlevania), Dracula, created and developed by Konami. It has been released on various platforms, from early system ...

'', and his " Bootleg Universe" One-Shot series of unauthorized pop culture satire films which include '' The Punisher: Dirty Laundry'', ''Venom: Truth in Journalism'', and '' Power/Rangers''. He is also known for being the youngest producer to have a number one film at the North American box office with '' The Grey''. In 2014, Shankar ranked number 20 on '' GQ'' magazine's list of "Most Influential Global Indian Men". He co-founded the production company 1984 Private Defense Contractors. In 2015, upon signing a three-picture deal with Disney's Maker Studios, Shankar was proclaimed the "Quentin Tarantino of the digital generation" by Maker executives.

Early life

Aditya Shankar was born in

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...

West Bengal West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the four ...

India India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the ...

, to a banking executive and an educator. His family spent his formative years relocating among

Chennai Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of ...

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the secon ...

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...

Rhode Island Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the smallest U.S. state by area and the seventh-least populous, with slightly fewer than 1.1 million residents as of 2020, but i ...

, and

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

. Shankar studied communications, business, and theater at

Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Chart ...

and graduated in June 2007.

Influences

For his controversial "Bootleg Universe" Shankar cites British street artist

Banksy Banksy is a pseudonymous England-based street artist, political activist and film director whose real name and identity remain unconfirmed and the subject of speculation. Active since the 1990s, his satirical street art and subversive epigram ...

as a major influence. In addition, Shankar frequently cites rapper

Eminem Marshall Bruce Mathers III (born October 17, 1972), known professionally as Eminem (; often stylized as EMINƎM), is an American rapper and record producer. He is credited with popularizing hip hop in middle America and is critically acclai ...

, writer

Warren Ellis Warren Girard Ellis (born 16 February 1968) is a British comic book writer, novelist, and screenwriter. He is best known as the co-creator of several original comics series, including '' Transmetropolitan'' (1997–2002), '' Global Frequency'' ...

, artist

Takashi Murakami is a Japanese contemporary artist. He works in fine arts media (such as painting and sculpture) as well as commercial (such as fashion, merchandise, and animation) and is known for blurring the line between high and low arts as well as co ae ...

, wrestler Diamond Dallas Page, and ''

Final Fantasy VII is a 1997 role-playing video game developed by Square for the PlayStation console. It is the seventh main installment in the '' Final Fantasy'' series. Published in Japan by Square, it was released in other regions by Sony Computer Enterta ...

'' character Sephiroth as artistic and stylistic influences.

''The Simpsons'' – "The Apu problem"

In April 2018, Shankar started a script contest which he hoped would encourage people to rewrite ''

The Simpsons ''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical depiction of American life, epitomized by the Simpson family, which consists of Homer Simpson, Homer, Marge ...

'' character

Apu Nahasapeemapetilon Apu Nahasapeemapetilon is a recurring character in the American animated television series ''The Simpsons''. He is an Indian immigrant proprietor who runs the Kwik-E-Mart, a popular convenience store in Springfield, and is known for his catchph ...

"that takes the character of Apu and in a clever way subverts him, pivots him, intelligently writes him out, or evolves him". He stated that, in the event that the show's producers will not take on the winning script, he would produce and distribute the episode as part of his, "Bootleg Universe" fan films. On October 26, 2018, Shankar leaked during an interview with

IndieWire IndieWire (sometimes stylized as indieWIRE or Indiewire) is a film industry and review website that was established in 1996. The site's focus was predominantly independent film, although its coverage has grown to "to include all aspects of Holl ...

that Apu was going to be written out of the show, stating that he got the information from two people who work for ''The Simpsons'' and a third source who works directly with creator Matt Groening. A representative for the show at Fox responded, saying, "Apu appeared in the 10/14/18 episode My Way or the Highway to Heaven." In the episode, Apu makes an appearance as one of dozens of characters gathered around God in Heaven. On October 28, Simpsons executive producer and show runner

Al Jean Alfred Ernest Jean III (born January 9, 1961) is an American screenwriter and producer. Jean is well known for his work on ''The Simpsons''. He was raised near Detroit, Michigan, and graduated from Harvard University in 1981. Jean began his wri ...

responded on

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

by saying "Adi Shankar is not a producer on the Simpsons. I wish him the best but he does not speak for our show."

Filmography

Film

Television

"Bootleg Universe" One-Shot Films

References

External links

*
The Bootleg Universe
on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second most ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shankar, Adi Living people 1985 births American people of Indian descent American people of Bengali descent American businesspeople Northwestern University alumni American male film actors Indian emigrants to the United States People from Kolkata Male actors from Kolkata