Abbas Akbar is a Singaporean filmmaker, screenwriter and actor, predominantly working on Tamil films and television shows.

Early life and education

Akbar's mother is from

Chidambaram Chidambaram is a town and municipality in Cuddalore district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, on the banks of the Vellar River where it meets the Bay of Bengal. It is the headquarters of the Chidambaram taluk. The town is believed to be of si ...

district in

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a States and union territories of India, state in southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of India ...

and his father is from

Tiruvannamalai Tiruvannamalai (Tamil: ''Tiruvaṇṇāmalai'' IPA: , otherwise spelt ''Thiruvannamalai''; ''Trinomali'' or ''Trinomalee'' on British records) is a city, a spiritual, cultural, economic hub and also the administrative headquarters of Tiruvanna ...

, Tamil Nadu. He is the second out of three sons. His younger brother,

Shabir Shabir Tabare Alam, known professionally as Shabir Sulthan, is a Singaporean singer-songwriter, record producer, music composer, and performer whose works are predominantly in Tamil. He is the winner of the inaugural singing competition Vasantha ...

, is a singer, songwriter and musician and the winner of the competition Vasantham Star 2005.

Career

Akbar made the short film ''Certain Chapters''. ''Certain Chapters'' was nominated 'Best Short Film' at the

Asian Festival of First Films The Asian Festival of First Films () (AFFF) was an annual film festival held in Singapore from 2005 to 2009 to celebrate and provide a platform for emerging filmmakers. It was also part of the Asian Film Market. History The Asian Festival of Fi ...

and was screened at several international film festivals such as Kathmandu International Mountain Film Festival, 3rd New Jersey Independent South Asian Cinefest and the Stepping Stone Film Festival in Chennai. His music videos produced by High Breed Media for

is the first independent Tamil content to be playing on MTV Asia (both broadcast & online) and other international channels such as Channel AMP, Go! Channel Philippines, DirectTV US and Mobile TV – Vodafone UK / Ireland. He was also one of the two directors for the award-winning drama series

Vettai (TV series) ''Vettai'' is Singapore Tamil language police procedural drama television series created by Anuratha Kanderaju and Abbas Akbar for the Singapore Tamil Channel, MediaCorp Vasantham. The series' first season was on-air from November 23, 2010 to Mar ...

that took Singapore Tamil viewers by storm. Cop drama Vettai: Pledged to Hunt took home a slew of awards at Pradhana Vizha 2011,

Mediacorp Vasantham Vasantham is a Singaporean free-to-air television channel owned by Mediacorp. The network is focused towards the Singaporean Indian community in the country. It was originally launched on 1 September 1995 as Premiere 12. Tamil programming was i ...

's annual awards show honouring the best in the local television industry. In 2014, it was reported that Akbar is directing a film called

Chennai2Singapore ''Chennai 2 Singapore'' is a 2017 Tamil-language romantic comedy film written and directed by Abbas Akbar, featuring Gokul Anand, Anju Kurian, and Rajesh Balachandiran in the lead roles. The film was jointly produced by Comicbook and the Media D ...

Media Development Authority The Media Development Authority (abbreviation: MDA) was a statutory board of the Singapore Government, under the Ministry of Communications and Information (MCI). History MDA was formed on 1 January 2003 by the merger of Singapore Broadcasting ...

(Singapore) and Comicbook Films India.

Honors and awards

The Singapore Police Force in celebration of the Home Team National Day Observance Ceremony on 6 August 2012 awarded Akbar with a Public Spiritedness Award from Minister in Prime Minister's Office and 2nd Minister for Home Affairs and Trade and Industry Mr. S. Iswaran. This award was presented for his assistance rendered to a patrol officer in stopping an offender who attempted to escape.
/ref>

Filmography

Television

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Akbar, Abbas Living people Singaporean film directors Year of birth missing (living people) Singaporean people of Indian descent