About Films, has developed a new biographical web series based on the life of Alakh Pandey, famously known as Physics Wallah. The series is directed and produced by Abhishek Dhandharia and written by Sameer Mishra. It has been in development since March’21.
The project sees the coming together of passionate individuals. Alakh Pandey’s meteoric rise as a teacher was fuelled by his passion towards providing quality education at affordable prices. The steady north star made tough decisions like turning down Unacademy’s Rs. 40 crore package – easy. Abhishek Dhandharia, an IIT Kanpur graduate, who too had declined a lucrative job offer to pursue his dreams of being a filmmaker, sensed the similarity of Alakh’s story to his own, when he heard about the teaching superstar from a friend during a casual conversation at a party.
The story of this eccentric genius stayed with him and the very next day he approached Alakh with the firm belief that stories of passion must be told – he believed there was potential to inspire many more than the millions of children Pandey was already impacting.
Initially Alakh was reluctant – he was unsure if his own story was worth telling. Besides, he was focussed on education. Filmmaking never crossed his mind. But Abhishek was personally inspired by the story and wouldn’t give up. He always had a firm belief in the power of words and knew just the right person to capture Alakh’s journey on paper. Sameer Mishra, a graduate from IIT Bombay, pursuing a career in screenwriting, came on board and worked relentlessly with his friend Abhishek for several months to write the script, reading which, Alakh agreed instantaneously!
The words had done their magic, Abhishek’s vision was right in front of Alakh and thus a decision was made. Abhishek was producing the series on ‘Physics Wallah’ under his banner, About Films.
8 months, 4 cities and 2 lockdowns later, when Abhishek and team flew to Delhi and showcased the first episode to Alakh, he had tears in his eyes. He could see that this was bigger than him alone. “This gives me a chance to relive the love that students have showered on us over the years, and hopefully touch many more potential students and teachers out there. I am excited, it will be an incredible journey for me, my family, and the whole team of Physics Wallah.”
Sharing his experience in creating the show, Abhishek says “It was an exciting opportunity as well as experience to produce and direct this series. The story was close to me since I could relate to a lot. It was a challenging task to complete this series, with the multiple waves of covid interfering in the production and shoot locations changing multiple times, but it turned out wonderful. I can’t wait for the audience to enjoy the show.”