by John Mc Donald

Juggling firesticks, singing, and dancing across a tightrope is versatility. But even without those feats, Pankaj Upadhayay more than earns the title Mr Versatility.

He’ s danced between worlds from planning officer and management consultant to self-taught filmmaker, documentary maker, visual artist, poet, and photographer. His creative talents and community spirit were recognised recently when Blacktown City Council named him a recipient of its Creative Arts Fund.

“ I see so many jewels and gems not yet discovered, and I think Blacktown Arts Centre is one of them,” Pankaj said.

Through his company Euphony Xpressions, he’ s now producing an audiovisual podcast celebrating the city’ s artists and the vibrant creative scene that thrives within the district.

“ There are many senior, respected artists living in the Blacktown community who deserve to be recognised and applauded,” he said.

Now based in Marsden Park, Pankaj’ s creative journey began far from Western Sydney. Born in India, he developed an early fascination with cinema and storytelling, later training in filmmaking at St Jesuits Chitrabani in Kolkata.

Despite this passion, filmmaking wasn’ t the path his family envisioned. Following expectations, he pursued higher education and built a career in project management that took him across the UK, Europe and the United States. Yet, the lure of film never faded.

“ Once bitten, it never left me,” he said.“ I’ ve self-learnt the technical aspects.”

In 2016, after relocating from London to Canberra, encouragement from a fellow film enthusiast reignited his passion. He produced his first short film, Smile, which debuted at the 22nd Canberra Short Film Festival. That success opened the door to further creative projects, festival screenings, and awards, launching his life as an independent filmmaker and visual artist.

These days, Pankaj still balances creativity with practicality, working in the power tools and project management industry while pursuing his art.

“ Essentially, I’ m a writer,” he said.“ All the other skills I taught myself. My message is simple, you only learn by doing.”

Following Smile, Pankaj’ s second short film, Not Alone, was a finalist in the SmartFone Flick Fest( SF3) short-film festival in 2019. That recognition caught the attention of NSW Police, who were developing a multicultural outreach

project across the Blacktown, Parramatta, and Bankstown precincts.

Pankaj was invited to co-produce, shoot, and edit two short anti domestic violence videos for police training, works that continue to be used today.

“ Coercive control wasn’ t well understood at the time,” he said.“ Our work helped officers understand the cultural nuances in Indian communities and the complex barriers faced by victims.”

The project wasn’ t sparked by any specific community issue, but it arrived after several tragic domestic incidents within Sydney’ s multicultural population.

“ It helped police see the human side of the problem,” he said.“ One element

that still haunts me is the two per cent of missing children who are never found.”

A recent highlight for Pankaj was directing and editing the music video Kasmakash, a song about life’ s eternal struggles, composed and written by Satyajeet Roy-Joy, with rap lyrics by Somwrita Sarkar and vocals by Rahul Dutta.

“ This was my third collaboration with Joy’ s Jamroom,” he said.

“ Satyajeet and Mayank gave me their vision and brilliant song, and I simply acted on it as director of photography and editor. I’ m so happy the video turned out the way it did.”

Reviewers praised his artistry, one noting,“ Euphony Films truly captured the