Nitya Mehra
Nitya Mehra at Made in Heaven Screening, Mumbai in 2019
Born (1980-01-31) 31 January 1980 (age 44)
Amritsar, Punjab, India
NationalityIndian
Alma materWelham Girls' School
OccupationFilm Director / Executive Producer / Writer
Known forLife of Pi
The Namesake
Baar Baar Dekho
Made in Heaven
SpouseKaran Kapadiya (m. 2015)

Nitya Mehra is an Indian film director and screenwriter based in Mumbai. Between 2002 and 2011, she assisted Farhan Akhtar in Lakshya (2004), and Don (2006), Ang Lee in the Oscar winning film Life of Pi (2012), Mira Nair in The Namesake (2006) and The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2012) before becoming an independent director. She is best known for directing the romantic drama Baar Baar Dekho (2016) and the Prime Video series Made in Heaven (2019-present).[1][2][3][4]

Early life

Mehra was born in Amritsar into a Punjabi family. Her mother was a fashion designer. She studied at Welham Girls' School, a boarding school in Dehradun.[5] After completing her schooling she went on to study literature at Delhi University, after which she did a continuing studies program in Film Production and Direction at New York University.[6]

Career

Nitya started out her career with being a PA on a film in New York called 3 am. Eager to return to India she began assisting film makers in India and learning the ropes. As an assistant director she worked for the movies like Lakshya, The Namesake, Don, Little Zizou, The Reluctant Fundamentalist and Life of Pi. She worked as an Assistant Director for many years on various Indian and international films.[7]

Nitya's first big directorial project was on the Indian franchise of the hit TV show 24 season1, which aired on Colors TV at the time.[8]

In 2016, Nitya directed her first feature film Baar Baar Dekho starring Sidharth Malhotra and Katrina Kaif, co-produced by Excel Entertainment and Dharma Productions.[9]

In 2019, she showran, executive produced and directed the web series Made in Heaven aired on Amazon Prime Video, starring Arjun Mathur, Sobhita Dhulipala and Kalki Koechlin.[10]

She is one of the directors and writers of Chand Mubarak which is part of an Indian Hindi-language anthology Unpaused, released on Amazon Prime Video in 2020. She got critical acclaim for this film.[11]

Nitya joined the team of Made in Heaven for Season 2 of the show in 2023.[12][13]

Filmography

Films

Year Movie Note(s)
2006 The Namesake Assistant Director
Don
2008 The Other End of the Line
Little Zizou
2012 Life of Pi
The Reluctant Fundamentalist
2016 Baar Baar Dekho Director
2020 Unpaused Director (Chaand Mubarak)

Television

† Denote shows that have not yet been released
Year Television Show Notes
2013 24
2019 Made in Heaven Season 1, Director, 3 episodes
2023 Season 2
2024 Big Girls Don't Cry creator

Awards and nominations

Personal life

Nitya Mehra is married to Karan D. Kapadia and they have a son.[16]

References

  1. ^ Ghosh, Sankhayan (5 September 2016). "Why Nitya Mehra doesn't like reality". www.livemint.com/. Retrieved 23 March 2018.
  2. ^ Reuters Editorial. "Interview: Nitya Mehra on 'Baar Baar Dekho'". IN. Archived from the original on 20 February 2018. Retrieved 23 March 2018. ((cite news)): |author= has generic name (help)
  3. ^ "Baar Baar Dekho: The film is a person's life story from 18-60, says Ritesh Sidhwani".
  4. ^ "Made In Heaven writers Zoya, Reema, Nitya, Alankrita on their debut series that 'unmasks' big, fat Indian weddings". Firstpost. 11 March 2019.
  5. ^ Upadhyay, Karishma (30 April 2021). "Inside an all-women writers' room: in conversation with director Sudhanshu Saria". The Hindu. Retrieved 5 April 2023.
  6. ^ "Amritsar-born Nitya Mehra hopes her debut directorial film Baar Baar Dekho becomes a 'game-changer'". The Indian Express. 6 September 2016. Retrieved 23 March 2018.
  7. ^ "Farhan Akhtar's proud of his protege, Baar Baar Dekho's Nitya Mehra". Hindustan Times. 16 July 2016.
  8. ^ "'Baar Baar Dekho' to release on September 9". Business Standard India. 6 January 2016.
  9. ^ "Filmmaker Nitya Mehra opens up about striking gold in the OTT space, second season of 'Made In Heaven'". DNA India. 17 February 2021.
  10. ^ "Unpaused: Shardul Bharadwaj talks about working with Ratna Pathak Shah, Nitya Mehra gives an update on Made In Heaven 2". Hindustan Times. 17 December 2020.
  11. ^ "Nitya Mehra: Chaand Mubarak is about learning to trust again". The Indian Express. 20 December 2020.
  12. ^ "'Baar Baar Dekho' Director Nitya Mehra on Second Season of 'Made In Heaven', Theatres Vs OTT". www.news18.com. 17 February 2021.
  13. ^ "'Made in Heaven' Season 2 series review: Proud, progressive and a tad lost". The Hindu. 10 August 2023. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 18 August 2023.
  14. ^ "Made in Heaven, The Family Man Win Big at Critics Choice Awards". TheQuint. 11 December 2019.
  15. ^ "Zoya Akhtar, Rasika Dugal, Neha Dhupia and Jackie Shroff attend Critics' Choice Shorts And Series Awards". The Indian Express. 12 December 2019.
  16. ^ "'Baar Baar Dekho' Director Nitya Mehra BLESSED With Baby Boy, Ranveer Singh & Deepika Padukone Visit New Mommy". news.abplive.com. 30 October 2019.

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