Kamran Pasha
Encyclopedia
Kamran Pasha is a Hollywood screenwriter, director and novelist. He recently served as a writer and producer on the NBC
series Kings
, after working as a producer on NBC
's Bionic Woman
. Previously, he served as a co-producer and writer for Sleeper Cell
, Showtime Network's terrorism drama. Sleeper Cell was nominated for the Golden Globe for Best Miniseries in 2005 and for an Emmy for Best Miniseries in 2006.
Pasha is currently rewriting a movie screenplay entitled "The Immaculate" for Sidney Kimmel Entertainment and producer Charles Segars
. The film follows an agnostic government agent assigned to protect a 17-year old boy who some people believe is the Messiah
.
Pasha sold his first two novels to Simon & Schuster
in 2007. The books are entitled Mother of the Believers, a historical epic that follows the birth of Islam from the eyes of Prophet Muhammad
's wife Aisha
, and Shadow of the Swords, a love story set amidst the showdown of Richard the Lionheart and Saladin
during the Third Crusade
.
Pasha wrote his first video game for hip hop artist 50 Cent
in 2008. The game, entitled 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand
, is the sequel to the bestselling title 50 Cent: Bulletproof
and is being distributed by Vivendi Games
.
In 2008, Pasha accompanied his mother on the hajj
, the traditional Islam
ic pilgrimage to Mecca
.
Pasha was voted as the #3 "Coolest Desi
of 2008" by Desiclub.com
, a popular South Asian website. He was also cited as one of the top 10 famous Pakistanis by website Divanee.com.
Pasha blogs regularly for the Huffington Post. Pasha wrote about an account from a Muslim officer at Fort Hood who claims that he prayed with Nidal Malik Hasan
on the day of the Fort Hood shooting
when Hasan "appeared relaxed and not in any way troubled or nervous". Hasan had attended the Dar al-Hijrah
mosque led by imam Anwar al-Awlaki
, and this officer believed that the shootings may be been motivated by religious radicalism.
at the age of three. He was raised in Brooklyn, New York, in the predominantly Hasidic Jewish
neighborhood of Borough Park. He attended Stuyvesant High School
in New York, graduating in 1989. He went on to Dartmouth College
, where he majored in comparative religion
and served as an editor of the college newspaper, The Dartmouth
.
After graduating, Pasha worked as a journalist for the Wall Street
publisher Institutional Investor and the Knight Ridder
financial newsire. During his tenure as a reporter, he interviewed international leaders such as Israel
i Prime Minister
Shimon Peres
, Pakistan
i Prime Minister
Benazir Bhutto
, and Peru
vian President Alberto Fujimori
.
He left the journalism world in 1996 and attended Cornell Law School
. He subsequently enrolled in the MBA program at the Tuck School of Business
at Dartmouth, and graduated with a joint law/business degree in 2000.
law firm
of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison
before moving to Los Angeles
to pursue a career in filmmaking. He attended the MFA
Producers Program at the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television and graduated in 2003.
His first television writing job was as a staff writer on UPN
's remake of the classic series The Twilight Zone
.
In 2003, Pasha set up his first feature film project, a historical epic on the love story of the Taj Mahal
, at Warner Brothers Pictures. He subsequently wrote a screen adaptation of the Japan
ese anime
Kite in collaboration with director Rob Cohen
and producer Anant Singh. He has also written screen adaptations of the Japanese horror film Ghost Actress by director Hideo Nakata
, and adapted Deepak Chopra
's novel Soulmate.
Pasha spent two years as a writer and co-producer for Sleeper Cell
. In 2007, he signed on as a producer of NBC
's Bionic Woman
.
Pasha wrote and directed the short film Miriam, which won the Gaia Award at the Moondance International Film Festival in August 2008. The award is given to those who "elucidate and improve the spiritual quality of all life on the planet, and contribute[...] to the betterment of the world spirit".
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
series Kings
Kings (U.S. TV series)
Kings is an American television drama series which aired on NBC. The series' narrative is loosely based on the Biblical story of King David, but set in a kingdom that culturally and technologically resembles the present-day United States....
, after working as a producer on NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
's Bionic Woman
Bionic Woman (2007 TV series)
Bionic Woman is an American science fiction television drama created by David Eick, under NBC Universal Television Group, GEP Productions and David Eick Productions that aired in 2007...
. Previously, he served as a co-producer and writer for Sleeper Cell
Sleeper Cell (TV series)
Sleeper Cell is a one-hour drama on the Showtime network that began airing on December 4, 2005. The tagline for the first season was "Friends. Neighbors. Husbands. Terrorists." and the tagline for the second season was "Cities. Suburbs. Airports. Targets." The series was nominated for an Emmy award...
, Showtime Network's terrorism drama. Sleeper Cell was nominated for the Golden Globe for Best Miniseries in 2005 and for an Emmy for Best Miniseries in 2006.
Pasha is currently rewriting a movie screenplay entitled "The Immaculate" for Sidney Kimmel Entertainment and producer Charles Segars
Charles Segars
This article refers to the movie producer. For the blues pianist see Charles SegarCharles Segars is a movie producer and a TV and film executive....
. The film follows an agnostic government agent assigned to protect a 17-year old boy who some people believe is the Messiah
Messiah
A messiah is a redeemer figure expected or foretold in one form or another by a religion. Slightly more widely, a messiah is any redeemer figure. Messianic beliefs or theories generally relate to eschatological improvement of the state of humanity or the world, in other words the World to...
.
Pasha sold his first two novels to Simon & Schuster
Simon & Schuster
Simon & Schuster, Inc., a division of CBS Corporation, is a publisher founded in New York City in 1924 by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. It is one of the four largest English-language publishers, alongside Random House, Penguin and HarperCollins...
in 2007. The books are entitled Mother of the Believers, a historical epic that follows the birth of Islam from the eyes of Prophet Muhammad
Muhammad
Muhammad |ligature]] at U+FDF4 ;Arabic pronunciation varies regionally; the first vowel ranges from ~~; the second and the last vowel: ~~~. There are dialects which have no stress. In Egypt, it is pronounced not in religious contexts...
's wife Aisha
Aisha
Aisha bint Abu Bakr also transcribed as was Muhammad's favorite wife...
, and Shadow of the Swords, a love story set amidst the showdown of Richard the Lionheart and Saladin
Saladin
Ṣalāḥ ad-Dīn Yūsuf ibn Ayyūb , better known in the Western world as Saladin, was an Arabized Kurdish Muslim, who became the first Sultan of Egypt and Syria, and founded the Ayyubid dynasty. He led Muslim and Arab opposition to the Franks and other European Crusaders in the Levant...
during the Third Crusade
Third Crusade
The Third Crusade , also known as the Kings' Crusade, was an attempt by European leaders to reconquer the Holy Land from Saladin...
.
Pasha wrote his first video game for hip hop artist 50 Cent
50 Cent
Curtis James Jackson III , better known by his stage name 50 Cent, is an American rapper, entrepreneur, investor, record producer, and actor. He rose to fame with the release of his albums Get Rich or Die Tryin and The Massacre . Get Rich or Die Tryin has been certified eight times platinum by...
in 2008. The game, entitled 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand
50 Cent: Blood on the Sand
50 Cent: Blood on the Sand is a third-person shooting video game developed by Swordfish Studios and published by THQ for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. The game was released on February 20, 2009, in Europe and February 24, 2009, in North America and serves as the sequel to 50 Cent:...
, is the sequel to the bestselling title 50 Cent: Bulletproof
50 Cent: Bulletproof
50 Cent: Bulletproof is a video game for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox platforms. It was developed in response to Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas after 50 Cent was asked to voice the game's protagonist Carl "CJ" Johnson with 50 Cent stating that he will only voice himself in video games...
and is being distributed by Vivendi Games
Vivendi Games
Vivendi Games, formerly known as Vivendi Universal Games, was the holdings company for Sierra Entertainment and Blizzard Entertainment. Vivendi Games was founded as Vivendi Universal Games after Vivendi bought Universal Studios in the early 2000s...
.
In 2008, Pasha accompanied his mother on the hajj
Hajj
The Hajj is the pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia. It is one of the largest pilgrimages in the world, and is the fifth pillar of Islam, a religious duty that must be carried out at least once in their lifetime by every able-bodied Muslim who can afford to do so...
, the traditional Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
ic pilgrimage to Mecca
Mecca
Mecca is a city in the Hijaz and the capital of Makkah province in Saudi Arabia. The city is located inland from Jeddah in a narrow valley at a height of above sea level...
.
Pasha was voted as the #3 "Coolest Desi
Desi
Desi or Deshi refers to the people, cultures, and products of the Indian subcontinent and, increasingly, to the people, cultures, and products of their diaspora. Desi countries include India, Pakistan, Bangladesh...
of 2008" by Desiclub.com
Desiclub.com
Desiclub.com, New York is one of the premier online websites for South Asians worldwide. Being one of the original South Asian niche-focused websites to launch back in 1998, it has sustained its presence and success by offering cutting edge content and services...
, a popular South Asian website. He was also cited as one of the top 10 famous Pakistanis by website Divanee.com.
Pasha blogs regularly for the Huffington Post. Pasha wrote about an account from a Muslim officer at Fort Hood who claims that he prayed with Nidal Malik Hasan
Nidal Malik Hasan
Nidal Malik Hasan, USA is a United States Army officer and sole suspect in the November 5, 2009, Fort Hood shooting, which occurred less than a month before he would have deployed to Afghanistan....
on the day of the Fort Hood shooting
Fort Hood shooting
The Fort Hood shooting was a mass shooting that took place on November 5, 2009, at Fort Hood, the most populous U.S. military installation in the world, located just outside Killeen, Texas. In the course of the shooting, a single gunman killed 13 people and wounded 29 others...
when Hasan "appeared relaxed and not in any way troubled or nervous". Hasan had attended the Dar al-Hijrah
Dar al-Hijrah
The Dar Al-Hijrah Islamic Center is a mosque in Northern Virginia. It is located in Culmore, Lake Barcroft area of unincorporated Fairfax County, Virginia, directly between the Bailey's Crossroads, and Seven Corners, Virginia, US Post Offices.-Background:...
mosque led by imam Anwar al-Awlaki
Anwar al-Awlaki
Anwar al-Awlaki was an American and Yemeni imam who was an engineer and educator by training. According to U.S. government officials, he was a senior talent recruiter and motivator who was involved with planning operations for the Islamist militant group al-Qaeda...
, and this officer believed that the shootings may be been motivated by religious radicalism.
Early career
Pasha was born in Karachi, Pakistan and immigrated to the United StatesUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
at the age of three. He was raised in Brooklyn, New York, in the predominantly Hasidic Jewish
Hasidic Judaism
Hasidic Judaism or Hasidism, from the Hebrew —Ḥasidut in Sephardi, Chasidus in Ashkenazi, meaning "piety" , is a branch of Orthodox Judaism that promotes spirituality and joy through the popularisation and internalisation of Jewish mysticism as the fundamental aspects of the Jewish faith...
neighborhood of Borough Park. He attended Stuyvesant High School
Stuyvesant High School
Stuyvesant High School , commonly referred to as Stuy , is a New York City public high school that specializes in mathematics and science. The school opened in 1904 on Manhattan's East Side and moved to a new building in Battery Park City in 1992. Stuyvesant is noted for its strong academic...
in New York, graduating in 1989. He went on to Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College is a private, Ivy League university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. The institution comprises a liberal arts college, Dartmouth Medical School, Thayer School of Engineering, and the Tuck School of Business, as well as 19 graduate programs in the arts and sciences...
, where he majored in comparative religion
Comparative religion
Comparative religion is a field of religious studies that analyzes the similarities and differences of themes, myths, rituals and concepts among the world's religions...
and served as an editor of the college newspaper, The Dartmouth
The Dartmouth
The Dartmouth is the daily student newspaper at Dartmouth College. Founded in 1799, it is America's oldest college newspaper. It is published by The Dartmouth, Inc., an independent, nonprofit corporation chartered in the state of New Hampshire.-History:...
.
After graduating, Pasha worked as a journalist for the Wall Street
Wall Street
Wall Street refers to the financial district of New York City, named after and centered on the eight-block-long street running from Broadway to South Street on the East River in Lower Manhattan. Over time, the term has become a metonym for the financial markets of the United States as a whole, or...
publisher Institutional Investor and the Knight Ridder
Knight Ridder
Knight Ridder was an American media company, specializing in newspaper and Internet publishing. Until it was bought by The McClatchy Company on June 27, 2006, it was the second-largest newspaper publisher in the United States, with 32 daily newspapers sold.- History :The corporate ancestors of...
financial newsire. During his tenure as a reporter, he interviewed international leaders such as Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
i Prime Minister
Prime Minister of Israel
The Prime Minister of Israel is the head of the Israeli government and the most powerful political figure in Israel . The prime minister is the country's chief executive. The official residence of the prime minister, Beit Rosh Hamemshala is in Jerusalem...
Shimon Peres
Shimon Peres
GCMG is the ninth President of the State of Israel. Peres served twice as the eighth Prime Minister of Israel and once as Interim Prime Minister, and has been a member of 12 cabinets in a political career spanning over 66 years...
, Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
i Prime Minister
Prime Minister of Pakistan
The Prime Minister of Pakistan , is the Head of Government of Pakistan who is designated to exercise as the country's Chief Executive. By the Constitution of Pakistan, Pakistan has the parliamentary democratic system of government...
Benazir Bhutto
Benazir Bhutto
Benazir Bhutto was a democratic socialist who served as the 11th Prime Minister of Pakistan in two non-consecutive terms from 1988 until 1990 and 1993 until 1996....
, and Peru
Peru
Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
vian President Alberto Fujimori
Alberto Fujimori
Alberto Fujimori Fujimori served as President of Peru from 28 July 1990 to 17 November 2000. A controversial figure, Fujimori has been credited with the creation of Fujimorism, uprooting terrorism in Peru and restoring its macroeconomic stability, though his methods have drawn charges of...
.
He left the journalism world in 1996 and attended Cornell Law School
Cornell Law School
Cornell Law School, located in Ithaca, New York, is a graduate school of Cornell University and one of the five Ivy League law schools. The school confers three law degrees...
. He subsequently enrolled in the MBA program at the Tuck School of Business
Tuck School of Business
The Amos Tuck School of Business Administration is the graduate business school of Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire, in the United States...
at Dartmouth, and graduated with a joint law/business degree in 2000.
Move into film industry
Pasha briefly worked as an attorney at the New YorkNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
law firm
Law firm
A law firm is a business entity formed by one or more lawyers to engage in the practice of law. The primary service rendered by a law firm is to advise clients about their legal rights and responsibilities, and to represent clients in civil or criminal cases, business transactions, and other...
of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison
Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison
Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP is a law firm headquartered on Sixth Avenue in New York City. The firm has well-noted expertise in its corporate, personal representation, entertainment law and litigation practices, having long been a leader among national litigation firms...
before moving to Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
to pursue a career in filmmaking. He attended the MFA
Master of Fine Arts
A Master of Fine Arts is a graduate degree typically requiring 2–3 years of postgraduate study beyond the bachelor's degree , although the term of study will vary by country or by university. The MFA is usually awarded in visual arts, creative writing, filmmaking, dance, or theatre/performing arts...
Producers Program at the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television and graduated in 2003.
His first television writing job was as a staff writer on UPN
UPN
United Paramount Network was a television network that was broadcast in over 200 markets in the United States from 1995 to 2006. UPN was originally owned by Viacom/Paramount and Chris-Craft Industries, the former of which, through the Paramount Television Group, produced most of the network's...
's remake of the classic series The Twilight Zone
The Twilight Zone
The Twilight Zone is an American television anthology series created by Rod Serling. Each episode is a mixture of self-contained drama, psychological thriller, fantasy, science fiction, suspense, or horror, often concluding with a macabre or unexpected twist...
.
In 2003, Pasha set up his first feature film project, a historical epic on the love story of the Taj Mahal
Taj Mahal
The Taj Mahal is a white Marble mausoleum located in Agra, India. It was built by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his third wife, Mumtaz Mahal...
, at Warner Brothers Pictures. He subsequently wrote a screen adaptation of the Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese anime
Anime
is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
Kite in collaboration with director Rob Cohen
Rob Cohen
Robert "Rob" Cohen is an American film director, producer and writer.-Early life:Cohen was born in Cornwall, New York. He was raised and spent his childhood in the Town of Newburgh and graduated from Newburgh Free Academy in 1967...
and producer Anant Singh. He has also written screen adaptations of the Japanese horror film Ghost Actress by director Hideo Nakata
Hideo Nakata
Hideo Nakata is a Japanese filmmaker.-Life and career:Nakata was born in Okayama, Japan. He is most familiar to Western audiences for his work on Japanese horror films such as Ring , Ring 2 and Dark Water...
, and adapted Deepak Chopra
Deepak Chopra
Deepak Chopra is an Indian medical doctor, public speaker, and writer on subjects such as spirituality, Ayurveda and mind-body medicine. Chopra began his career as an endocrinologist and later shifted his focus to alternative medicine. Chopra now runs his own medical center, with a focus on...
's novel Soulmate.
Pasha spent two years as a writer and co-producer for Sleeper Cell
Sleeper Cell (TV series)
Sleeper Cell is a one-hour drama on the Showtime network that began airing on December 4, 2005. The tagline for the first season was "Friends. Neighbors. Husbands. Terrorists." and the tagline for the second season was "Cities. Suburbs. Airports. Targets." The series was nominated for an Emmy award...
. In 2007, he signed on as a producer of NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
's Bionic Woman
Bionic Woman (2007 TV series)
Bionic Woman is an American science fiction television drama created by David Eick, under NBC Universal Television Group, GEP Productions and David Eick Productions that aired in 2007...
.
Pasha wrote and directed the short film Miriam, which won the Gaia Award at the Moondance International Film Festival in August 2008. The award is given to those who "elucidate and improve the spiritual quality of all life on the planet, and contribute[...] to the betterment of the world spirit".