Ashoke Pandit (born 11 May 1966) is an Indian filmmaker. He currently serves as the president of the
Indian Film & Television Directors' Association.
Career
Pandit began his career acting in plays while attending Narsee Monjee College, Mumbai. After graduating, he continued directing plays at the college, until he was eventually offered a sponsorship from the
Indian People's Theatre Association
Indian People's Theatre Association (IPTA) is the oldest association of theatre-artists in India. IPTA was formed in 1943 during the British rule in India, and promoted themes related to the Indian freedom struggle. Its goal was to bring cultur ...
.
Pandit worked as an associate director for Raman Kumar,
Kundan Shah, and
Manjul Sinha, until rising to his own prominence as the producer and director of the comedy TV series ''Filmi Chakkar''.
He would later go on to direct the TV shows ''Tere Mere Sapne'' and ''Colgate Top Ten''.
In 1999, he won a Radio and TV Advertising Practitioners' Association of India award for best picture for his documentary ''Sharnarthi Apne Desh Mein'', a 40-minute film detailing the plight of
Kashmiri Pandit refugees during 1989-1990. In 2010, he released ''A Village of Windows'', a documentary detailing the hardships of the Kashmiri village of Dardpura.
Most recently, Pandit was a co-producer of the 2019 film ''
The Accidental Prime Minister
''The Accidental Prime Minister: The Making and Unmaking of Manmohan Singh'' is a 2014 memoir by Indian policy analyst Sanjaya Baru, who was Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's media advisor from May 2004 to August 2008. Published by Penguin India, ...
'' He serves as the president of the Indian Film & Television Directors' Association, and is the chief advisor of (
Federation of Western India Cine Employees
Federation of Western India Cine Employees (FWICE) is a film industry worker's union in Mumbai, India. As of 2020 it had 500,000 members. FWICE is mother body of all Indian Cinema Association.
Affiliations
FWICE is a member of UNI APRO, itse ...
).
Controversy
He is known for his
controversial statement with regard to the complex issue of
Palestine
__NOTOC__
Palestine may refer to:
* State of Palestine, a state in Western Asia
* Palestine (region), a geographic region in Western Asia
* Palestinian territories, territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely the West Bank (including East ...
i.e. "
Nadav Lapid’s selection as the jury head of IFFI53Goa is a major lapse on behalf of I&B ministry. Hence heads of those in the ministry, who are responsible for this crime, should roll. What does one expect from a Palestine sympathiser?! ".
[https://twitter.com/ashokepandit/status/1597287869722546176?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw] The context was in relation to the
Kashmir conflict being portrayed in the
The_Kashmir_Files
''The Kashmir Files'' is a 2022 Indian Hindi-language drama film written and directed by Vivek Agnihotri. The film presents a fictional storyline centred around the 1990s exodus of Kashmiri Hindus from Indian-administered Kashmir. It depicts ...