05 December,2010 12:04 PM IST | | Correspondent
"Matheran ufffd here I come." Just a day after posting this tweet about his impending trip to the hill station, filmmaker Manish Acharya who shot to fame with his first film Loins of Punjab Presents, passed away on December 4. The talented writer-director, who was in his 40s, reportedly died in a freak accident, in Matheran.
Acharya had directed and co-written the Shabana Azmi-starrer Loins of Punjab Presents (2007), which was presented the Dennis Riese Award by the New York University (NYU) faculty, and has won the Best Feature Film award at the 65th Annual First Run Film Festival. The young writer, actor and director went on to be associated with Sita Sings the Blues (narrator) and Luck by Chance.
Acharya was a multiple award winner from the NYU Tisch School of the Arts Graduate Film programme. Along with an MFA in Film Directing, Acharya also had degrees in Physics and Industrial Relations. He was also the founding member of a successful software company that went public in 1998. His film Partner (2001) won the Carl Lerner Award for a Film with Social Significance.
Acharya's last rites were to be performed at Chandanwadi in Marine Lines on December 4.
