Uday Shankar Pani is an Indian film maker. He graduated in 1974 from the

Film and Television Institute of India The Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) is a film institute under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting of the Government of India and aided by the Central Government of India. It is situated on the premises of the erstwhile ...

. He was an

assistant director The role of an assistant director on a film includes tracking daily progress against the filming production schedule, arranging logistics, preparing daily call sheets, checking cast and crew, and maintaining order on the set. They also have t ...

Richard Attenborough Richard Samuel Attenborough, Baron Attenborough, (; 29 August 192324 August 2014) was an English actor, filmmaker, and entrepreneur. He was the president of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) and the British Academy of Film and Televisio ...

's ''Gandhi''. A 1974 documentary on the

National Film Archive of India The National Film Archive of India (NFAI) was established as a media unit of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting in February 1964. It is was a member of the International Federation of Film Archives. In March 2022, it was merged with ...

made by Pani was screened on that organization's 52nd anniversary. In 2016, he was selected as one of thirteen jurors for that year's International Film Festival of India. He is on the faculty) a
Flyking Film Academy.

Earlier years

Uday Shankar Pani was born in east (Odisha), brought up in North (Delhi), studied in a south Indian school (Kannada) and is now settled in west (Mumbai). While growing up he was into painting cartoons, theatre, sculpturing, sports but never had any interest in cinema. He wanted to join the army but NDA rejected him and his attempts to clear dozens of competitive exams were also unsuccessful. He finally managed to get selected in Film & TV Institute of India in Pune. Joining FTII at a very young age of 18, felt like almost growing up in cinema & realised that cinema is the king of all professions. After passing out as a trained film director at the young age of 21, he assisted many film makers for a decade. He started directing his own short films from 1980s onwards.

Career

Among the prominent short films, Pani had the launched was Hindustan Lever's' Fair & Lovely. Also he directed short films for New India Assurance, GIC, Air India, NFL, MCF, SCI, MTC, Deccan Florabase, Ford Foundation, and Nitco Tiles. Pani most famous Lijjat Udyog's papad ad with rabbit is a landmark in the world of advertisement films. He was an assistant director to

Krishna Shah Krishna Shah (10 May 1938 – 13 October 2013) was an Indian-American/ Gujarati film and theatre director, screenwriter, playwright, producer, and production/distribution executive. Shah was considered the first Indian to create the crossover ...

in his foreign production '' Shalimar''. His major career highlight happened when hired as the 1st assistant director to Sir Richard Attenborough's 'Gandhi' and BBC's ' Jim Corbett'. Apart from directing many music videos, events, tele- shopping films, TV serials & been busy teaching in major film schools. Currently Full-time Faculty at Flyking Film Academy. In recent past, he has been an integral part various film festivals as a jury member.

Filmography

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pani, Uday Shankar Film and Television Institute of India alumni Film directors from Odisha Living people Indian television directors 20th-century Indian film directors Hindi-language film directors Year of birth missing (living people)