Shashank Khaitan

Biography

Shashank Khaitan is an Indian film writer, director, actor, and producer who works in Hindi films. He is known for his association with Dharma Productions.

Khaitan made his directorial debut with Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania and went on to direct its spiritual sequel Badrinath Ki Dulhania (2017). His work on the latter earned him a nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Director.

He also directed the romantic drama Dhadak (2018) and a segment of the anthology film Ajeeb Daastaans (2020). In 2019, he became a producer for Dharma Productions, his first production being Good Newwz.

Khaitan was born in Calcutta and raised in Nashik, Maharashtra, in a Marwari business family. Khaitan was initially more interested in sports, playing in cricket and tennis tournaments. At the age of 17, he decided to pursue a career in entertainment.

He started off as a dance instructor. He soon moved to Mumbai. Khaitan joined Whistling Woods International Institute, a film institute started and supported by veteran filmmaker Subhash Ghai, to break into the film industry.

He credits the institute with giving him the technical background. While at Whistling Woods, Khaitan worked on his first attempted film, Sherwani Kahaan Hai, with some of his fellow students, but it was not successfully completed.

In 2008, Khaitan starred as Manohar in Roorkee By-Pass, a 22-minute drama directed by Arundhati Sen Verma, and assisted on the set of Ghai's films Black & White and Yuvvraaj.[3] He also made a brief appearance in Disney's ABCD 2, a sequel to the dance-drama ABCD: Any Body Can Dance.