Udai Singh Pawar

Most recently, Pawar was the Writer and the Director of the Netflix Original Feature Film Upstarts, which has been streaming since October 2019.

Upstarts was released in October 2019 as a Netflix-produced Original (streaming at https://www.netflix.com/in/title/80998890), and was well regarded by critics.

Other venues like Outlook (Indian magazine), News18, The Quint, The New Indian Express, SonyBIZ Asia, Common Sense Media, etc., also covered it positively with an average of 3 to 3.5 stars, and even some foreign reviewers. It was also nominated for Radio City (Indian radio station) Hitlist web awards for Best Web Film of 2019.

Pawar is a Physics graduate from IIT Kanpur, with a background blending technology and art. Before shifting to film-making in 2009, Udai had worked extensively in technology research, with multiple patents and publications to his name.

He earned some US patents and key research publications, before taking a sabbatical in 2008 to travel around the world for 13 months, with just a backpack and a guitar. On his return, he worked in the General Elections 2009 as a campaign aide to then-Member of Parliament Jyotiraditya Scindia, before deciding to take the leap full-time to his childhood passion for film-making, in 2009.

Udai started his professional career at Microsoft Research in Bangalore, where he worked on Technologies for Emerging Markets, focusing on education in village schools. There, he invented the acclaimed Multipoint (initially known as MultiMouse) and SplitScreen technologies, and conducted studies on the best ways to use technology to teach kids. He was awarded in 2007 by Wall Street Journal Asia, and his work was also highlighted publicly by Bill Gates himself.