Akash Khurana

Akash Khurana is an Indian actor, screenwriter, theatre artist and entrepreneur.^[1] He was recently the Artistic Advisor to the NCPA Repertory Theatre. He has a diverse and rich experience of nearly four decades in Theatre, Film, Television and Corporate Affairs. He has worked extensively with Satyadev Dubey, Sunil Shanbag and Naseeruddin Shah and is the core member of Motley, Akvarious Productions, and Arpana, three of India’s foremost theatre companies. Vijay Tendulkar’s ‘A Friend’s Story’, directed by him, won 4 nominations and 1 award at the recent Mahindra Excellence in Theatre Awards. He was Editor of the theatre journal OVATION, and with Jennifer Kapoor launched the Prithvi Theatre Festival. He made his first screen appearance in Shyam Benegal’s Kalyug and went on to act in nearly 60 films

He has also written over 20 screen plays, including Baazigar, for which he won the Filmfare Award.

He is a Mechanical Engineer from NIT Rourkela with an MBA from XLRI, M Phil and Ph D from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences. He started his management career as an Executive with Tata Motors and later moved on to become the CEO and MD of Nimbus Communications.

Early life and background

Khurana did his schooling from St. Francis de Sales school in Nagpur.^[2] He graduated from NIT Rourkela as a Mechanical Engineer. He then obtained Post Graduate in Business Management from XLRI, Jamshedpur. Later he obtained M. Phil and a Ph.D. in Social Sciences from Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai where has been a visiting faculty member since 1995.^[3]

Career

Dr. Khurana is a Mechanical Engineer from NIT, Rourkela, and an MBA in Marketing from XLRI. He worked in TELCO (now Tata Motors) for eight years, and then moved on to become a management consultant in the hospitality industry. He also took up a parallel career in media and entertainment. He co-founded Nimbus Communications, the leading sports, media and broadcasting conglomerate, and has held various positions in the company like HR Advisor, Chief Creative Officer, CEO and MD, and is currently its Chairman.

He has been acting, writing, and directing for the stage and screen for over three decades. In the early eighties, he founded and edited ‘Ovation’, Bombay’s only English language theatre journal at the time. In the theatre, he has worked extensively with Satyadev Dubey and Naseeruddin Shah. His work includes directing and acting in plays by Pinter, Mamet, Mrozek, Kundera, Tendulkar, Shakespeare, Shaw, and Beckett. He is a core member of Arpana, Motley, and Akvarious Productions, three of India’s foremost theatre companies. His current projects include Mitch Albom’s ‘Tuesdays with Morrie’ and Brian Friel’s ‘Faith Healer’.

He made his first screen appearance in Shyam Benegal's ‘Kalyug’ and went on to play character roles in nearly 60 films such as ‘Ardh Satya’, ‘Saaransh’, ‘Naam’, ‘Beta’, ‘Saudagar’, ‘Sarfarosh’, ‘Company’, and ‘Barfii’. He won the Nandi Award of Andhra Pradesh for playing the lead in the Telugu film ‘Dr. Ambedkar’. He has also written over 20 screenplays, including ‘Aashiqui’ and 'Baazigar', the latter fetching him the Filmfare Award. He is presently directing a feature film about a journey down the Ganges.

During the nineties, he took a part-time sabbatical to complete his M.Phil. and Ph.D. in New Technology and Human Resource Management from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences. Dr. Khurana is the Founder and CEO of SYZYGY, a Leadership Development enterprise that is a recent initiative. He has been a student mentor and guest faculty at several B-schools, teaching subjects like Creativity and Innovation, Organizational Behaviour, Business Environment, Conflict Management and Communication. He has also conducted Workshops on Acting, Screenwriting, and Film making.

On the advisory boards of several institutes, he has been a spokesperson for the media and entertainment industry on national forums like FICCI and CII, and was a Rotarian at the Rotary Club of Bombay North Island.

He is also a musician and plays the drums and the piano.

Filmography

Actor

Director

• Yeh Aashiqui Meri (1998)
• Life on the Line
• Swara

Writer

• Life on The Line
• Kaanchi (2014)
• Swara
• Aakrosh (story & screenplay) (2010)
• Black & White (screenplay) (2008)
• U Me Aur Hum (screenplay) (2008)
• Sarhad Paar (screenplay) (2006)
• Yeh Raaste Hain Pyaar Ke (screenplay) (2001)
• Daag: The Fire (screenplay / as Aakash Khurana) (1999)
• Agar Tum Na Aate
• Kartoos
• Silsila Hai Pyar Ka (screenplay) (1999)
• Angaaray (written by / as Aakash Khurana) (1998)
• Hum Tum Aur Woh
• Duplicate (written by) (1998)
• Yeh Aashiqui Meri
• Betaabi (screenplay / story) (1997)
• Itihaas (screenplay) (1997)
• Chaahat (written by) (1996)
• Sanam O Sanam
• Baazigar (written by) (1993)
• Drohi (dialogue) (1992)
• Dhun
• Gunah
• Milan
• Saathi (dialogue / screenplay / story) (1991)
• Do Pal
• Aashiqui (dialogue / screenplay / story) (1990)
• Swayam
• TVF Tripling^[4]

Television

Actor

• Satyajit Ray Presents
• Sara Jahan Hamara
• Guftagoo
• Tamas
• C.Rajagopalachari Stories
• Faisla
• Dhadkan
• Asha
• Rishtey
• Untitled
• Raahein
• Kuch Ret Kuch Pani
• Aakrosh
• Ladies Special
• 24 Season 2

Director

• Front Page on Doordarshan
• Kuch Ret Kuch Pani on Channel 9 Gold

Writer

• Gulmohur (West)
• Kismat
• America...Amerika
• Kabhie Kabhie
• Viruddh
• Dil Hai Hindustani
• Kuch Ret Kuch Pani

Theatre

Actor

Director

• Chowkidar
• Mat Yaad Dila
• Yaatnaghar
• The Stronger
• Once Upon a Fleeting Bird
• Once There Was A Way
• Women In Waiting, Men On The Line
• All about my Mother
• Second Hand Emotions
• Our Town
• The Hound of the Baskervilles
• A Friend’s Story

References