Prashanth Gunasekaran(I)

Prashanth Gunasekaran (Shan), from Klang, Malaysia. Prashanth, along with his family, moved to New Zealand in 2003. Since his early days, Prashanth was involved in numerous theatre productions in Malaysia, and that passion crossed over to NZ, where he excelled in drama studies, picking up the best supporting actor award for the National Sheila Winn Shakespeare Festival. Subsequently, he played a lead role in Fame the musical. The following year, Prashanth picked up Theatre Studies at the University of Otago and further excelled in this field. Prashanth was offered to direct his first stage show while studying theatre direction under the esteemed Dr. Lisa Warrington. He directed and performed in a dark satire comedy, 'Gum & Goo'.

Prashanth transitioned to film as 1st AD on the award-winning indie NZ Indie Urban Turban (2014) and co-directed the Māori feature Destina (2013). He has since directed and produced numerous independent films, including T-Junction 'Dil Na Jaane' (2016), Give Me the Gun (2016), Lady Luck (2016), Come Ride with Me (2016), andMy One and Only (2015), Leaving You Behind (2017), & Don't 'F' with Me (2022) with festival success worldwide.

Mentored by Ken Khan, Prashanth gained extensive experience in production roles at MNC Film Studios, contributing to projects such as Australian Indie gem The Colour of Darkness (2017), line-produced, Pinjamkan Hatiku (2017), Soulmate Hingga Jannah (2017), post-produced/coordinated, award-winning films Suatu Ketika (2019) & Spilt Gravy on Rice (2015). Prashanth served in the roles of 1st AD to Line Producing to Post-Producing and Coordination.

In 2017, Prashanth co-directed NZ-Cook Island film Stranded Pearl (2024) with Ken Khan. Stranded Pearl (2024) had a limited NZ Theatrical release from 12 September 2024 and had a successful festival run, having marked its first official selection at the Okinawa Pan-Pacific Ocean by Sea Film Festival in 2025 and subsequently also picking up Best Oceania Film at the World Film Festival Cannes 2025, Best Feature in the both Hawaii and Melbourne Independent Film Festival. Stranded Pearl also was the first feature film to be premiered at the Third Culture Film Festival in NZ marking the festivals feature presentation. The film had an honorable mention at Misty Flicks Film Festival, NZ's premier central region film festival.

Prashanth is the founder of PG6 Creations and collaborates with Obvious Agency (Jess Denise 1978 on diverse projects. His completed works include Little Buddy (2025), The Trade (NZ 2023) (2025), Falling Apart (2025), The Art of Kung Fu (2021) with current slate titles such as Silent Mile, Hip Hop King (MV), Nearly Departed, Corridors, and Nobody’s Perfect (in development).

Keeping up with his passion for on-screen work, Prashanth is known for films he has featured in Last Star, Brave Love (2024), First Date (2014), Irumanam (2017), The NoteBook (2013) (starring Mulan and The Plane Start Yoson An and his contribution to community theatre.