Mayur Puri

Mayur Puri is an Indian screenwriter, lyricist, actor and film-maker working in Mumbai. His film songwriting and dialogue work includes Farah Khan-directed films Om Shanti Om (2007),^[1] and Happy New Year (2014), as well as the 3D dance franchise ABCD: Any Body Can Dance and ABCD: Any Body Can Dance 2.^[2] He directed his first short film, Firdaws, in 2017.

On 17 November 2014, the library of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences selected the screenplay for Happy New Year for its permanent Core Collection.^[3]

Mayur has also worked on the adaptation and translation of several U.S. films and TV shows into Hindi, including Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle (2018), Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales (2017), Thor: Ragnarok (2017), Maleficent: Mistress of Evil, The Lion King (2019), Avengers: Endgame (2019), Orange Is The New Black (2013–19), Jojo Rabbit (2019), Spies in Disguise (2019), and Locke and Key (2020).

Early life

Mayur was born in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, where he completed most of his education, earning a master's degree from the University School of Languages and a one-year diploma in dramatics from the Drama Department of Gujarat College.^[4]

Career

He spent his early years writing and directing for local theatre and television, before moving from Ahmedabad to Mumbai in late 1999, where he began working as chief assistant director to Sanjay Gadhvi at Yash Raj Films. They worked on three films together: Tere Liye, Mere Yaar Ki Shaadi Hai (2002; Mayur's first as a screenwriter), and Dhoom (2004). During his first year in Mumbai, he also wrote and starred as the lead in a Gujarati play, Amastaa Amastaa (2001).

In 2004, Mayur left Yash Raj Films to work as an independent screenwriter and lyricist. His first film as an independent was My Name is Anthony Gonsalves (2008), an adaptation of Julius Caesar.^{[citation needed]} His breakthrough as a screenwriter was Om Shanti Om (2007), from which several phrases entered the film-quote lexicon.^[5]

Puri was the creative director for the animation film Jumbo (2008) produced by Percept Picture Company, and co-wrote Blue (2009), the first Indian film to be shot extensively underwater.^[6] He then wrote the script for Prince (2010), in which he also appeared in a supporting role.

In 2009, Mayur took a sabbatical from Bollywood; in 2010, he founded Story Circus, a theatre production group that creates live theatre and storytelling productions for educational institutions and other clients,^{[citation needed]} and in 2011, he founded FilmGoa, a joint initiative with Goa University which provides training and job support to aspiring film-makers and facilitates film making in Goa.^[7] Mayur's next Bollywood project was Remo D'Souza's directorial debut F.A.L.T.U (2011), the script and screenplay for which he had written a few years previously.

Through his Story Circus project, Mayur reconnected with director Farah Khan, whose children were attending one of the workshops, and began working on the script for her next project Happy New Year. Around the same time, he began working with composer Pritam on songs for Race 2 (2013) and I Love New Year (2013). "Be Intehaan" from Race 2 was later ranked as the 7th most romantic song of 2013, according to a poll in The Times of India.^[8] By 2012, Mayur had returned to full-time writing, contributing additional dialogue and lyrics for Remo D'Souza's next musical ABCD: Any Body Can Dance (2013).

Happy New Year was released in 2014, with a script written by Mayur. On 17 November 2014, the library of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences selected the screenplay for Happy New Year for its permanent Core Collection.^[3] He also worked on the script and song lyrics for ABCD: Any Body Can Dance 2 (2015), and provided lyrics for films including Humshakals, Entertainment (2014), Kick (2014), and All is Well (2015).^[9][10]

Directorial work

In 2017, Mayur directed his first short film, Firdaws, which was entered into the official selection at a number of festivals,^{[citation needed]} winning a number of awards.^[11][12]

Awards and nominations

Filmography

References

1. ^ "Om Shanti Om (2007) Yahoo Movies". Yahoo. Archived from the original on 14 August 2014. Retrieved 18 July 2014.
2. ^ "ABCD2 Full Cast & Crew". Bollywood Hungama. Archived from the original on 6 March 2014. Retrieved 27 August 2014.
3. ^ "HNY in Oscar Library". The Hindu. 17 November 2014. Retrieved 17 November 2014.
4. ^ "Mayur Puri: The man who Indianised Hollywood this year". Livemint. 17 May 2016. Retrieved 3 January 2024.
5. ^ "10 Most Memorable Scenes and Dialogue (2014)". News18. 22 July 2014. Retrieved 22 July 2014.
6. ^ "Blue to be India's first underwater thriller". India Today. 13 April 2009. Retrieved 13 April 2009.
7. ^ "Film workshop to end with making a film". The Times of India. 23 May 2011. Retrieved 3 January 2024.
8. ^ "Tum Hi Ho, the most romantic song of 2013". The Times of India. 27 July 2014. Retrieved 3 January 2024.
9. ^ "स्क्रीन के पीछे का जादूगर: Mayur Puri". 2025-05-28. Retrieved 2025-05-28.
10. ^ Ashrafi, Hyder Ali. "स्क्रीन के पीछे का जादूगर: Mayur Puri". Filmi Wire. Retrieved May 28, 2025.
11. ^ "स्क्रीन के पीछे का जादूगर: Mayur Puri". 2025-05-28. Retrieved 2025-05-28.
12. ^ Ashrafi, Hyder Ali. "स्क्रीन के पीछे का जादूगर: Mayur Puri". Filmi Wire. Retrieved May 28, 2025.
13. ^ "German Public Bollywood Awards". GPBA.EU. Retrieved 29 July 2014.
14. ^ "Star Screen Awards 2008". Indicine. 8 January 2009. Retrieved 29 July 2014.
15. ^ "Star Guild Awards 2014". Indicine. 15 January 2014. Retrieved 29 July 2014.
16. ^ "Feel The Reel International Film Festival 2017". Feel the Reel International Film Festival. Retrieved 16 April 2017.
17. ^ "Roma Cinema DOC 2017". Roma Cinema DOC. April 2017. Retrieved 1 April 2017.
18. ^ "Baretower Forge World Film Competition 2017". Retrieved 4 May 2017. – via Facebook.^{[non-primary source needed]}
19. ^ "Los Angeles Film Awards 2017". Los Angeles Film Awards. Retrieved 7 May 2017.
20. ^ "Festigious International Film Festival 2017". Festigious International Film Festival. Retrieved 8 May 2017.
21. ^ "Top Shorts 2017". Top Shorts. Retrieved 3 June 2017.
22. ^ "Depth of Field International Film Festival 2017". Depth of Field International Film Festival. Retrieved 16 June 2017.
23. ^ "Zindagi Song". Soundcloud. Retrieved 10 October 2014.
24. ^ "Om Shanti Om Credits". redchillies.com. Retrieved 21 September 2014.
25. ^ "Jayantabhai Ki Luv Story (2013) Lyrics". BollyLyrics.com. Retrieved 29 July 2014.
26. ^ "Entertainment Music Review". koimoi.com. 30 July 2014. Retrieved 30 July 2014.
27. ^ "Kick Music Review - BollywoodHungama". Bollywood Hungama. Archived from the original on 18 May 2014. Retrieved 30 July 2014.
28. ^ "I Love New Year (2013) Song List". Bollywood Hungama. Retrieved 29 July 2014.
29. ^ "The Jungle Book(Hindi) - StudioFlicks". StudioFlicks.com. 16 March 2016. Retrieved 18 March 2016.
30. ^ "Captain America: Civil War (Hindi) - Indian Express". The Indian Express. 22 April 2016. Retrieved 23 April 2016.
31. ^ "The Angry Birds Movie (Hindi) - Indian Express". The Indian Express. 24 May 2016. Retrieved 31 May 2016.
32. ^ "Finding Dory (Hindi) - The People Post". thepeoplepost.com. Retrieved 3 June 2016.

External links

• Official website
• Mayur Puri at IMDb