Shekhar Kapur(born 6 December 1945) is an Indian film director and producer. He is a critically acclaimed director, rose to popularity with the movie, Bandit Queen. He was nominated for Academy awards for Elizabeth and its sequel Elizabeth: The Golden Age.
Kapur was born in Lahore, British India (modern day Pakistan) to Kulbhushan Kapur, a doctor who had a flourishing practice, and Sheel Kanta, a journalist and a keen actress who performed on stage.The nephew of actors Vijay Anand and Dev Anand, he was discouraged to get into show business by his father.His schooling was at the Modern School, New Delhi.He did his economics course at St. Stephen's College. At 22, Kapur became a chartered accountant, having studied accountancy to please his parents.
He started his career as an actor in the movie' 'Jaan Hazir hai' (1975)and later in 'Toote Khilone' in Bollywood. He also appeared in several Hindi TV serials, like Udaan opposite Kavita Chaudhary, and films, but his career never took off as an actor.
He turned director with the portrayal of an illegitimate son gaining family acceptance in Masoom (1983). He then directed the 1987 science-fiction film Mr India which was one of the most successful films of the 1980s. In 1994 he directed the critically acclaimed Bandit Queen.and also played a cameo in the film as a truck driver. Kapur was also partly involved in the production of several Bollywood films.
He was one of the judges on a reality TV series, India's Got Talent, on air on Colors. He was part of the jury at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival in May 2010.
His future projects include Long Walk to Freedom, Paani, The Last Full Measure. A third episode in the Queen Elizabeth series is planned. According to screenwriter John Rogers, the success of Elizabeth led to Kapur being tapped to work on an adaptation of Isaac Asimov's Foundation Trilogy, but the project was eventually shelved.Kapur also tentatively planned to helm a motion picture account of the life of the Buddha, entitled Buddha, but the plans were later dropped for unstated reasons. He also planned to adapt Larklight, a book by Philip Reeve.
In an interview with Associated Content, Kapur announced he is no longer attached to Larklight.