Rise of Manoj Night Shyamalan – Successful Indian in Hollywood

Manoj Nelliyattu Shyamalan, popularly known as Manoj Night Shyamalan, is a film director, screen writer, an occasional actor and a producer. He was born on August 6, 1970 in Pondicherry. His family immigrated to United States when he was six weeks old. He received his early education at a Catholic Private School and Philadelphia's Episcopal Academy. Later he decided to study film making at Tisch School of Arts at New York University. Passionate Shyamalan began film making at the age of 10 and made over 45 short films by the time he was 16.

He chased the first opportunity to write, direct and act in his full length feature film 'Praying With Anger', in his final year at NYU. He made his second film 'Wide Awake' in 1997. In 1999, Shyamalan wrote and directed “The Sixth Sense”, which became a commercial success. Shyamalan gained international recognition for this film which was about an 11 year old disturbed boy who can see the dead. This film got nominated for six Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Original Screenplay.

The film also won two Golden Globe nominations and 26th annual People's Choice Award for the favourite dramatic film. His major works include supernatural thriller 'Unbreakable', science fiction thriller ‘Signs’, and psychological thriller ‘The Village’. He has also worked on his project called ‘The Life of Pi’. Undoubtedly, Shyamalan has become the most recognised Indian in Hollywood.

References: wikipedia.org

By- Anuja Arora