Rajkumar Hirani

Rajkumar "Raju" Hirani (born 20 November 1962) is an Indian filmmaker known for his works in Hindi films. He is the recipient of several accolades, including four National Film Awards and 11 Filmfare Awards. Hirani is referred as one of the most successful filmmakers of Indian cinema. His movies are often lighthearted but revolve around significant societal issues with humour 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. His first film as a professional editor was Vidhu Vinod Chopra's action drama ''Mission Kashmir'' (2000). Although Hirani wanted to make films, he took a one-year break and came back with the script of the comedy-drama ''Munna Bhai M.B.B.S.'' to Chopra to help him finance it, who agreed. Upon release, the film emerged as a widespread critical and commercial success. It won the National Film Award for Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment and the Filmfare Award for Best Film (Critics) and earned Hirani the Filmfare Award for Best Screenplay and his first nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Director.

After the success of'' MBBS'', he helmed its sequel ''Lage Raho Munna Bhai'' (2006), which emerged as the second-highest grosser of the year and the coming-of-age comedy-drama ''3 Idiots'' (2009) emerged as the highest grossing Indian film of its time. Both of them won the National Film Award for Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment and were nominated for the Filmfare Award for Best Film, Best Director, Best Screenplay, with ''3 Idiots'', winning all three categories. His next film, the science fiction religious satire ''PK'' (2014), again emerged as the highest-grossing Indian film of its time and the biographical comedy-drama ''Sanju'' (2018) based on the life of actor Sanjay Dutt released to critical and commercial success. Both films were nominated for Best Film and Best Director at the Filmfare Awards, with ''PK'' winning him the Best Screenplay. Domestically, both films are currently the fifth and seventh highest grossing Bollywood films. He is the founder of the production house Rajkumar Hirani Films. His latest film is ''Dunki'', starring Shah Rukh Khan was released theatrically on 21 December 2023. Provided by Wikipedia