Udayan Prasad

Born in India, Udayan Prasad arrived in Britain at the age of nine. After attending art school in Leeds and the National Film and Television School, he made a number of documentaries, including A CORNER OF A FOREIGN FIELD (1985,) about Pakistanis in Britain, and INVISIBLE INK (1987), about the literature from the India on the British in Britain. His documentary, ACCORDING TO BERYL (2001), was made with Dame Beryl Bainbridge on Samuel Johnson and his relationship with Mrs. Thrale.

During the early nineties he directed a number of high-prestige dramas for BBC-TV, working with Britain’s top writers. His creative partnership with Simon Gray was particularly fruitful, resulting in: THEY NEVER SLEPT (1990), a merciless parody of the British Secret Service during WWII starring Edward Fox, FEMME FATALE (1992), with Simon Callow and Donald Pleasance, and RUNNING LAKE (1992), starring Peter Bowles in a picaresque black comedy, which won a Golden Gate Award for Best TV Feature at the San Francisco International Film Festival. He won another Golden Gate Award for 102 BOULEVARD HAUSSMANN (1991), starring Alan Bates and scripted by Alan Bennett. 102 BOULEVARD HAUSSMAN was also nominated for a BAFTA for Best Single TV Drama. In 1998, he again collaborated with Alan Bennett, directing TALKING HEADS-PLAYING SANDWICHES, which resulted in a second BAFTA nomination for Best Single TV Drama.

Prasad’s first theatrical feature was the critically acclaimed BROTHERS IN TROUBLE, (1995), a tragi-comedy set in the 60s, of an illegal immigrant trying to survive in a grim northern town. BROTHERS IN TROUBLE won the Golden Alexander Award for Best First Feature at the Thessaloniki International Film Festival. His second theatrical feature, MY SON THE FANATIC, was selected for Director’s Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival in 1997 and won the Best Feature Award at the Potsdam Film Festival. The film was distributed in Europe and the United States to great critical acclaim.

His most recent film, YELLOW HANDKERCHIEF, based on a story by Pete Hamill and starring William Hurt, premiered to a highly successful debut at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival.