Abbas Akbar

Last updated

Abbas Akbar
Certain Chapters - Director 2.jpg
Akbar in 2010
OccupationFilmmaker
Years active2006 – present

Abbas Akbar is a Singaporean filmmaker, screenwriter and an executive producer. He has written, directed, and overseen over 100 hours of award-winning television and film since 2009. [1]

Contents

He is known for Mediacorp's blockbuster hit drama series (Tamil), Vettai: Pledged to Hunt, which he wrote and directed in 2010. It is touted to be one of the most watched shows in Singapore's television history and it continues to have a cult following today. Due to the show's popularity and TV ratings, the final 3 episodes of the season were shown at Cathay, Orchard Cineleisure. It won the 'Most Popular Series' at Pradhana Vizha 2011.

Personal life

Abbas Akbar was born 14 September 1983 in Singapore. His mother is from Chidambaram, Tamil Nadu and his father is from Tiruvannamalai, Tamil Nadu. He is the second out of three sons.

Career

Abbas Akbar made the short film Certain Chapters (2009), which was nominated 'Best Short Film' at the Asian Festival of First Films, and was screened at several international film festivals including Kathmandu International Mountain Film Festival, 3rd New Jersey Independent South Asian Cinefest and the Stepping Stone Film Festival in Chennai. [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]

His music videos produced by High Breed Media featuring Shabir were the first independent Tamil content to be playing on MTV Asia (both broadcast & online) and other international channels such as Channel [V] AMP, Go! Channel Philippines, DirectTV US and Mobile TV – Vodafone UK / Ireland. [9]

He was one of the two directors for the award-winning drama series Vettai (TV series) that took Singapore television by storm. A Tamil procedural cop drama Vettai: Pledged to Hunt took home a slew of awards at Pradhana Vizha 2011, Mediacorp Vasantham's annual awards show honouring the best in the local television industry. [10]

In 2012, Abbas Akbar kickstarted his feature film journey in India. He went to the heart of Kollywood, to make his very feature film, titled 'Chennai 2 Singapore'. The film was jointly produced by Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA), Vrobal, MM2 Entertainment Pte Ltd, and co-produced by Ghibran and Shabir. This film was the first collaboration between the Tamil and Singaporean film industries.by Media Development Authority (Singapore) and Comicbook Films India. [11] [12]

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. [13]

Filmography

YearFilmDirectorWriterActing roleLanguageNote(s)Awards or Nominations
2009Certain ChaptersYesYesJegan (Lead actor) Tamil Short documentary film
2017 Chennai to Singapore YesYes Tamil Based on the book Me and Earl and the Dying Girl

Television

YearTitleDirectorWriterActing roleLanguageNotes
2011-2014 Nijangal
(நிஜங்கள்)		YesNoNo Tamil
2010-2017 Vettai (வேட்டை)

1) Vettai: Pledged to Hunt

2) Vettai 2.0

YesYesNo Tamil Co-written with Anuradha Kanderaju

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rishi Kumaar</span> Singaporean actor, musician, lyricist (born 1975)

Rishi Kumaar was a Singaporean actor, musician, lyricist, known for acting in the Vasantham drama Vettai. He was the second runner-up of Vasantham Star 2005 organized by 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. The channel first signed on 15 February 1963 as Channel 5, the country's very first television channel and later that year also on Channel 8. In 1973 the language structure of the two channels was changed, with Channel 5 broadcasting in English and Malay and Channel 8 in Chinese and Tamil. The arrangement used for the latter ran until 1 September 1995, when it became a standalone Mandarin-language channel. After this, Tamil programming transferred to the new channel Prime 12. On 30 January 2000, as Prime 12 was rebranded to Suria and became a standalone Malay-language channel, Tamil programming transferred to the new channel Central, with Vasantham Central as its timebelt for Indian programming, and was later rebranded again as an independent Tamil-language channel on 19 October 2008. As of 1 February 2023, the channel's logo is based on the corporate Mplifier graphics format, with the channel name in blue text placed beside the Mediacorp "M" logo.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Okto</span> Television channel in Singapore

Okto is a Singaporean children's programming block broadcast by Mediacorp's Channel 5 in English and Channel 8 in Mandarin Chinese.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shabir Sulthan</span> Musical artist

Shabir Tabare Alam, known professionally as Shabir Sulthan, is a Singaporean singer-songwriter, record producer, music composer, and performer. Most of his lyrics are in Tamil.

<i>Vettai: Pledged to Hunt</i> Singaporean TV series or program

Vettai : Pledged to Hunt was the first season of Singapore's Tamil, 72-part crime drama, Vettai. The series ran on-air from 23 November 2010 to 30 March 2011, every Monday to Thursday, at 10:30 pm on the MediaCorp Vasantham channel. The season was directed by Anuratha Kanderaju and Abbas Akbar.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pradhana Vizha</span> Award

Pradhana Vizha is a television award ceremony held in Singapore by MediaCorp Vasantham. It was started to honour rapidly growing Tamil television artists on Mediacorp Vasantham.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Devarajan Varadarajan</span> Singaporean actor, singer and director

Devarajan Varadarajan (Dev) (born 23 May 1980) is a Singaporean actor, singer and director of Tamil descent.

<i>Chennai 2 Singapore</i> 2017 film by Abbas Akbar

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 Development Authority Singapore, Ghibran, Vrobal and MM2 Entertainment Pte Ltd and co-produced by Shabir. Chennai2Singapore is the first collaboration between the Indian Tamil and Singaporean film industries.

David Bala was a Singaporean security guard, former comedian and actor. He was best known for his roles in Tetangga, Just Follow Law, Ah Long Pte Ltd and The Ghosts Must Be Crazy.

The 2014 Pradhana Vizha is a television award ceremony held in Singapore by Vasantham TV. The 14th edition of Vasantham's prestigious Awards extravaganza, Pradhana Vizha saw a total of 27 awards being given out to the best in the local Indian television industry in Singapore. The Lifetime Achievement Award were awarded to Manimaran Thorasamy.

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 23 November 2010 to 30 March 2011, every Monday to Thursday, 10.30 pm and the second season was on-air from 4 January 2012 to 11 May 2013. Meanwhile, the third season started to air on Deepavali 2014 and end by Spring 2015 and the fourth season started to air from 11 December 2017 to 29 March 2018, every Monday to Thursday at 10.00 pm

Tamil television drama or Tamil serials are a genre of Tamil-language television produced in India, Sri Lanka, Singapore and Malaysia. All major TV networks in India. produce a variety of Soap opera series including family drama, comedy, romance, history stories, horror, devotional, fantasy stories and many others.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bala Ganapathi William</span> Indonesian Actor

Bala Ganapathi William, known professionally as BGW is a Malaysian actor, film director, television host, singer and producer. Bala Ganapathi William is the founder of BGW Studios companies which specialise in advertising, Malaysian Tamil film production (MKU) and film distribution, music record label and digital content.

Jaya Rathakrishnan is a Singaporean screenwriter, lyricist and film director. Rathakrishnan started working as a screenwriter in 2001. She started working as creative director for Stardust Story. Since then she has written award-winning Tamil television dramas such as Vettai and Vyjayanthi under Vasantham, a Singaporean free-to-air television channel that is owned by Mediacorp. Most recently Janani D/O Madhavan Season 2, bagged her the “Best Children Series” Award in Pradhana Vizha 2018.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jae Liew</span> Singaporean actress (born 1990)

Jae Liew is a Singaporean actress.

Anandha Kannan Singaporean actor (1973–2021)

Anandha Kannan was a Singaporean actor and television host, popularly known for his theatre works and shows broadcast in Singapore and Sun Network.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jaynesh Isuran</span> Singaporean Tamil actor and radio jockey

Jaya Ganesh Isuran also known as Jaynesh, is a Singaporean Tamil television actor, radio jockey and television host. He was well known for his unique hosting in Hello V Live on Vannathirai, Hello Vasantham and acting as one of the main role as a police officer of Secret Society Branch ASP Raghav in the crime drama Vettai Season 2. He was a former radio jockey in the Singaporean Tamil radio station Oli 96.8FM.

Udaya Soundari, is a Singaporean Indian television actress and television presenter. She has appeared in films such as Parandhu Sella Vaa (2016) and A Yellow Bird (2016). She is also the first person in Singapore to win three awards in one year at the Pradhana Vizha festival.

Vasantham Star is an 2005 Singapore Tamil-language reality singing television show, which airs on Vasantham TV from 2005. Over eighteen years, Vasantham Star has rolled out seven seasons.

References

  1. ↑ "Indian movies being made in Singapore - BBC News". BBC News. Retrieved 28 December 2015.
  2. ↑ Benjamin Nowicki (1 January 2010). "The Cinefile Presents Director Abbas Akbar & Composer Shabir". The Cinefile. Archived from the original on 15 December 2021. Retrieved 17 February 2010.
  3. ↑ Wannabe Studios (December 2009). "Certain Chapters". The Stepping Stone Film Festival. Retrieved 19 February 2010.
  4. ↑ Administrator (7 November 2009). "List of Selected Films". Kathmandu International Mountain Film Festival. Retrieved 19 February 2010.
  5. ↑ Singapore Malay Film Society (October 2009). "Certain Chapters". Purnama 2 – A Screening of Short Films. Retrieved 20 February 2010.
  6. ↑ Businessofcinema.com Team (24 November 2009). "Tamil film nominated Best Short Film at Asian Festival". Businessofcinema.com. Retrieved 19 February 2010.
  7. ↑ Mogana Pillay (3 September 2009). "Certain Chapters – World Class". Tamil News, MediaCorp Vasantham. Retrieved 21 February 2010.
  8. ↑ Asian American Film and Theater Project (October 2009). "2009 Films". New Jersey Independent South Asian Cinefest 2009. Retrieved 21 February 2010
  9. ↑ MTV Asia (1 June 2010). "Dejavu". MTV Asia.com. Retrieved 9 April 2010.
  10. ↑ "TODAYonline | Entertainment | Television | Vettai wins big at Vasantham awards show". 1 July 2011. Archived from the original on 1 July 2011. Retrieved 28 December 2015.
  11. ↑ "Details about the upcoming Tamil Movie Chennai to Singapore". www.behindwoods.com. Retrieved 28 December 2015.
  12. ↑ "'Chennai Singapore' makers hope to popularise Singapore". The Indian Express . 15 September 2014. Retrieved 28 December 2015.
  13. ↑ [ dead link ]
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.