Software engineer turned movie director, Soumendra Padhi made his directorial debut in 2016 with the Manoj Bajpayee and Tillotama Shome-starrer Budhia Singh - Born To Run.

Early Life
Born in Bhubaneswar, Odisha, Padhi studied at the Sainik School, Bhubaneswar and Jeypore Public School before completing his graduation from Utkal University. He went on to pursue his IIT training and upon completing his studies worked in an IT firm in Hyderabad. Before directing the movie, Padhi worked for an IT firm in Hyderabad. He then moved to Mumbai in 2006 to receive some formal training in filmmaking and animation. After completing his course, he joined Code Red Films as an assistant director while he parallely directed short films, documentaries, and music videos.

Movie Career
While working as an assistant director at Code Red Films, he began developing the script for Budhia Singh - Born To Run, originally titled Duronto. His directorial venture stars Mayur Patole in the titular role. The movie is based on the real-life story of India’s youngest marathon runner who ran from Bhubaneswar to Puri, a distance of 65 km in just seven hours and two minutes at the mere age of four. The movie co-stars Manoj Bajpayee, who plays the role of his coach Biranchi Das, and Tillotama Shome who plays Budhia Singh’s mother. The movie released in 2016 and went on to win the National Award for Best Children’s Film for the same year.