Enjoy lunch with Hollywood producer Deepak Nayar in Los Angeles!
Deepak Nayar is one of the most prolific producers in Hollywood, for nearly 2 decades, having worked with the likes of David Lynch, Wim Wenders, Paul Schrader & Mark Waters. His films, besides being box office success, have played in competition at the various film festivals across the world, including Cannes, Berlin, Toronto and Sundance where they have won him many awards.
Nayar began his career in his native India, collaborating with the Merchant Ivory Films on Heat & Dust; The Deceivers and The Perfect Murder. After a move to Los Angeles, he set up his own production company, Kintop Pictures. In 1997 he produced David Lynch's highly acclaimed Lost Highway, followed by The Million Dollar Hotel, which he produced alongside Bono (U2) starring Mel Gibson. His collaboration with Wim Wenders earned an Oscar® nomination for highly acclaimed The Buena Vista Social Club and a Grammy nomination for the music video 'Teatro.'
In 2002, he produced another hugely successful Bend It Like Beckham, earning both Golden Globe® and BAFTA nominations. He followed this with another collaboration with Gurinder Chadha, the cross-cultural box office hit Bride and Prejudice and Mistress of Spices. Some of his other notable films have been Paul Schrader's thriller The Walker; Wim Wender's End of Violence and Mika Kaurismaki's LA Without a Map.
Besides working with auteur film makers, Nayar has given many first time filmmakers their break, 7-teen Sips with Stephen Berra; Harlem Aria with Bill Jennings; Matt Dillion's directorial debut City of Ghosts; Jonathan Newman's Swinging With The Finkels and Foster; Mahesh Mathai's Bhopal Express and Broken Thread; Eli Craig's directorial debut Tucker and Dale vs. Evil, which won the Audience Award at SXSW festival and Pat Holdens's When the Lights Went Out.
Nayar is currently working alongside Reliance Entertainment. As an Executive Producer, the first film he collaborated on was with Julia Roberts on Jesus Henry Christ, which was followed by Safe (starring Jason Statham). Subsequent films under the partnership are Dredd 3-D (starring Karl Urban), A Haunted House (starring Marlon Wayans), Bullet to the Head (starring Sylvester Stallone), Dead Man Down (starting Colin Farrell, Noomi Rapace), Hummingbird (starring Jason Statham) and Enchanted Kingdom a documentary about Africa. As a Producer, he produced films Walking with Dinosaurs 3-D, Paranoia (starring Gary Oldman and Harrison Ford) and Vampire Academy, (starring Zoey Deutch and Lucy Fry).
He has also had a notable career in TV production producing episodic series 'On The Air' for ABC; 'Hotel Malibu' & 'Second Chances' for CBS; White Dwarf' with Fox and 'Hotel Room' for HBO. His most recent TV series includes Executive Producing 'Sense 8' for Netflix directed by Andy and Lana Wachowski.
In 2015, Nayar successfully opened the highly rated Bend It Like Beckham - The Musical, based on the hit movie, in London's West End Phoenix Theatre, quickly becoming a critic's favourite.
Nayar is partner in India Take One Productions, a production services company based in Los Angeles and India. Some of the notable films they have worked are 'Holy Smoke'; 'Alexander The Great'; 'Slumdog Millionaire'; 'Eat Pray Love'; 'Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol'; 'Looking for Comedy in Muslim World'; 'Life of Pi'; 'Zero Dark Thirty'; 'Million Dollar Arm'; and 'The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel 1 & 2.'
Nayar is also a partner in Atlantic Screen Music a music publishing company; I M Global a foreign sales organization; Georgeville TV a TV production company.
In addition, Nayar is also serving as an Executive Producer on Open Road Films, that he is financing under a multi-picture, multi-year deal thru his company Riverstone Pictures which he launched in London in Oct 2014. Through the same company he also financed and is an Executive Producer on 'Genius' (starring Colin Firth, Nicole Kidman, Jude Law) which is in production.
Currently he is producing 'Viceroy House' which is being directed by Gurinder Chadha and his next feature is 'Second Objective' written by Mark Frost which will shoot later this year. Other upcoming feature films are 'Graceling', 'Paladin Prophecy' and 'Citizens of London' all based on bestsellers.