Rajkumar Hirani
Biography
Rajkumar Hirani (born 20 November 1962), also called Raju Hirani, is an Indian filmmaker, director, producer, and editor known for his works in Hindi films. He is the recipient of several accolades, including four National Film Awards and eleven Filmfare Awards.
Hirani is referred to as one of the most successful filmmakers of Indian cinema. His movies are often lighthearted but revolve around significant societal issues with humor and emotional intelligence.
Starting his career as a film editor after passing out from FTII in editing, a bad experience forced him to shift to ad films, where he made several successful ads. He edited his first film as a professional editor to Vidhu Vinod Chopra's Mission Kashmir (2000).
Although Hirani wanted to make films, he took a one-year break and came back with the script of Munna Bhai MBBS to Chopra to help him for financing it, and Chopra produced it himself. The film was released in 2003 and became a widespread critical and commercial success.
It won the National Film Award for Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment and the Filmfare Critics Award for Best Film and earned Hirani his first Filmfare Award for Best Screenplay and a nomination for Best Director.
After the success of MBBS, the sequel Lage Raho Munna Bhai (2006) which was the second highest grosser of the year, and the coming-of-age drama 3 Idiots (2009), both of them won National Film Award for Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment and nominated in Filmfare Award for Best Film, Best Screenplay, and Best Director, won all for 3 Idiots, which was also a huge commercial success, became the highest grossing Indian film of its time.
His next is the science fiction religious satire PK (2014) with Aamir Khan as an alien again, the highest-grossing Indian film of its time, and a biography drama Sanju (2018) based on Sanjay Dutt released with critical and commercial success.
Both films were nominated for Best Film, Best Director at Filmfare Awards, won Best Screenplay for PK. Domestically both films are currently the fifth and seventh highest-grossing Bollywood films. Hirani is the founder of the production house Rajkumar Hirani Films. His upcoming film is Dunki with Shah Rukh Khan.
Hirani was born on 20 November 1962 in Nagpur to a Sindhi family. His ancestors originally belong to Mehrabpur, a city now in the Naushahro Firoz District, Sindh, of Pakistan. His father Suresh Hirani ran a typing institute in Nagpur.
Hirani studied at St. Francis DeSales High School, Nagpur, Maharashtra. He did his graduation in commerce. His parents wanted him to be an engineer, but he was more keen on theatre and film.
In his college days, he was involved with Hindi theatre. He had many friends in Nagpur's medical college and hence, spent much time in theatre at the college. Suresh had his son's photographs taken and sent him to an acting school in Mumbai.
However, Hirani could not fit in and returned to Nagpur after three days. His father then asked him to apply to the Film and Television Institute of India in Pune, but the acting course had shut down and his chances of admission to the directorial course looked slim as there were far too many applicants. Hirani opted for the film editing course and earned a scholarship.
Hirani married Manjeet Hirani, a pilot in Air India, in 1994. They have a son, Vir Hirani, who is also pursuing filmmaking.
