Who Is Pradeep Sarkar? All About The Filmmaker Dada!

Late Pradeep Sarkar, also known by the name Dada is an Indian writer and filmmaker who majorly worked in the Hindi film industry. With an experience spanning 17 years in mainstream advertising as a creative director, Pradeep later ventured into directing advertisement films. He kickstarted his career In the film industry with Vinod Chopra Productions, the production company of Vidhu Vinod Chopra, the ace director and producer. Pradeep’s notable movies in Hindi include Parineeta, Lafangey Parindey, and Mardaani.

He is also a recipient of several coveted awards such as the Filmfare Award for Best Art Direction, the Zee Cine Award for Most Promising Director, and the Indira Gandhi Award for Best Debut Film of a Director. Pradeep Sarkar breathed his last on 24th March 2023 at Mumbai’s Lilavati hospital following a fever.

Physical Stats

Family

Pradeep was born in a Bengali family on 30 April 1955. The names of his parents are not available in the public domain. The director has a younger sister by the name of Madhu Sarkar Kuriakose who works as a Production designer.

Pradeep Sarkar is married to Panchali Sarkar and the couple has two children, Ronit and Roya. Ronit is a playback singer whereas Raya is an artist.

Education

Pradeep did his schooling at St. Andrews School, Kolkata. At that point in time, the Naxalite movement was at its peak. Thus, when Pradeep was studying in class IX, his family had to shift to Delhi. Hence, during his mid-session, she shifted to Delhi. Later, Pradeep Sarkar joined Delhi College of Art and graduated with a gold medal in 1979. 

Controversies

After the release of his directorial debut movie ‘Parineeta’ in 2005, Pradeep had gone through a lot of criticism for its melodramatic climax. However, a call from the late director Rituparno Ghosh came as a big solace for the director. Rituparno appreciated Pradeep for Parineeta’s making and conveyed the message that he found the movie aesthetically beautiful. After hearing the ace director’s words, Pradeep Sarkar was quite relieved, and it made him think that Parineeta was indeed a success.

Profession

Pradeep made his foray into advertising by joining as a creative supervisor at Tulika Advertising Agency. With the turn of events, he switched to ad filmmaking and floated Apocalypso Filmworks, his own production company. Later, Pradeep Sarkar delivered a slew of popular commercials for companies such as Tata Yellow Pages, ICICI Prudential, and Onida KY Thunder. He also bagged the Rapa Award for the Aaj Tak TV commercials, shot in black and white. At Abby’s Pradeep was honored with the ‘Best Director of the Year Award as well. In his career, he has created more than 1000 commercials.

As a music video director, Pradeep Sarkar had carved a niche of his own and was one of the most sought-after personalities in the industry. Some of his all-time great music videos include Shubha Mudgal’s Ab Ke Saawan,  Sultan Khan’s Piya Basanti, Euphoria’s Dhoom Pichak Dhoom, and Maaeri and Bhupen Hazarika’s Ganga. In 2003, Pradeep became the editor of Munna Bhai M.B.B.S, the blockbuster Hindi movie directed by Rajkumar Hirani.

In 2005, ‘Parineeta’ the directorial debut movie of Pradeep was released. He received a lot of critical acclaim for this movie and bagged several coveted awards such as the National Film Award in the Best Debut Film of a Director category and the Best Debutant Director in Screen Awards.

Pradeep’s other directorial ventures include Lafangey Parindey, Mardaani, and his last movie Helicopter Eela which was released in 2018. Reportedly, in October 2022, Bollywood’s leading actress Kangana Ranaut announced that she was signed to play the lead role in the Hindi movie ‘ Noti Binodini’ directed by Pradeep. It was a biopic based on Binodini Dasi, the renowned Bengali film and drama actress. However, fate had other plans and Pradeep left for his heavenly abode in March 2023.

Source Of Income

As per sources, Pradeep’s net worth was around $5 million. His main source of income was from directing movies, music videos, and advertisements.

Lesser Known Facts About Pradeep Sarkar

• A few days before his death, Pradeep Sarkar called Bollywood actress Rani Mukherji and had a long chat with her about her movie. Though he wanted to have a Facetime call with her, it did not happen due to poor network connectivity.
• Pradeep loved to eat kosha mangsho, a traditional Bengali dish.

• Even two days before his death, Pradeep had shot an advertisement.

• Actress Vidya Balan once said in an interview that she considers Pradeep Sarkar and his wife like her guardians. She went on to say that she used to share a love-hate relationship with him. The actress used to fight with him like she used to fight with her father and it never affected Pradeep as it was only work that mattered to him. 

• Pradeep’s son Ronit had sung a playback song in his father’s movie ‘Helicopter Eela’. Ronit later said that Pradeep tried not to be in sets while he was recording.

• Pradeep Sarkar chose actress Kangana Ranaut over Aishwarya Rai to play the character of Noti Binodini in the biopic which he had planned.

• Actress Raima Sen recollects that Pradeep was very emotional at heart and that she and Vidya Balan always used to prank him. 

• In his last few days, Pradeep’s health condition was bad, he was suffering from chronic kidney disease and was undergoing dialysis. Also, there was a major drop in his potassium levels.

• Before casting Vidya Balan in Parineeta, Pradeep Sarkar conducted tests for around 6 months. Though Vidhu Vinod Chopra was skeptical about throwing her, Pradeep was quite determined that she was the right choice.

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