Govind Nihalani Biography

Govind Nihalani is one of Indian cinema's foremost directors,cinematographer, and also a screenwriter and film producer who was born on 19 August, 1940. He has been directing Hindi films since the late 70's, and worked in the television medium.Nihalani like mentor Benegal is well known for their socially relevant and diligent films.




He started out as a cinematographer. He was associated with all the earlier films of Shyam Benegal and with the cinematography of Richard Attenborough's Oscar-winning epic Gandhi.

His first directorial venture was Aakrosh starring Om Puri, Naseeruddin Shah, the late Smita Patil and the late Amrish Puri. This was based on a real story which was converted into a film script by the eminent Marathi playwright Vijay Tendulkar and it made a huge impact on audiences all over India. It shared the Golden Peacock for best film at the International Film Festival of India held in New Delhi in 1981.

His film Ardh Satya, based on a story by Dilip Chitre, is still remembered by film lovers. It changed forever the way in which Indian cinema portrayed the police and it exposed in stark detail the police-politician-criminal nexus.

Come 1997, and he adapted Bengali novelist, Mahasweta Devi's acclaimed novel by the same name to Hazaar Chaurasi Ki Maa.

Over the years he has directed many films which are known for the manner in which they grab the viewer's attention, and his most recent work is the 2004 film Dev.

Shaad Ali the real Hanuman

In Mani Ratnam’s Raavana, Govinda plays Hanuman, while Vikram, the star from the south, plays Ram. After directing films like Saathiya, and Bunty Aur BubliJhoom Barabar Jhoom, Shaad Ali should ideally be concentrating on getting his next with Yash Raj Films. Instead, Shaad prioritised his mentor Mani Ratnam’s film and rushed to the south to assist him.




Shaad Ali’s involvement goes deeper than the professional commitment. He also plays Mani’s nursemaid and right-hand man. When Mani Ratnam was hospitalised for his heart problem, Shaad Ali was at his bedside constantly.

As far as his YRF film is concerned, it was supposed to take off early next year. Mani Ratnam’s health has delayed that project. An unperturbed Shaad has informed Aditya Chopra to push back the plans as well. Shaad’s new film has three heroes and three heroines, newcomers in all probability.

Sanjay Gupta Smoky trouble

Sanjay Gupta, the director of all new film Acid Factory learns a bitter lesson. The makers of Acid factory went an extra mile to promote their film. Earlier, it was the team Acid factory to make their presence feel at prestigious ‘Durand Cup Final’. And now, the star cast and the director will be walking the ramp of ‘Roy Costa’.




Aftab Shivdasani and Manoj Bajpayee will be walking the ramp with cigars. Interestingly, a straight NO came from Sanjay Gupta’s end as he has already faced the music for the No smoking standees, which were returned.

Sanjay has frequently worked with Sanjay Dutt. The two started White Feather Films, a production company located in Mumbai, together. Both have publicly admitted they consider each other real brothers and are very close friends.

Much of his work has been criticised as interpretations of other films, both Hollywood and other international pieces.

Well, it seems like ‘once bitten twice shy’!

Nostalgia struck "Karan Johar

Filmmaker Karan Johar is certainly nostalgia struck. Karan is often heard to get into nostalgia trips. His personal traits are indeed reflected in his films, which he directs or produce. We guess he will be remembered as one of the most successful directors of contemporarytimes off late.




Last time, he was seen to get nostalgic about the title of his much-celebrated film titled Dostana because of the word dostana (friendship).

And this time yet again, Karan could not withhold his emotions on the celebration day of 50 years of completion of HR College, which incidentally has been his alma mater. Exclaims Karan, After wrapping up with loads of media interactions, "I took some time out to enjoy 50 years celebration of my college…HR College! The event at HR College was dignified and nostalgic. HR truly has emerged as the leading education power house".

Karan Johar is ready to release under his Dharma productions, a refreshing tale of a young and aimless guy in Wake up Sid starring Ranbir Kapoor and Konkona Sen Sharma and directed by Ayan Mukerji. We will also see Kurbaan and My Name is Khan a little later, all his very ambitious projects that are truly anticipated.

Wonder, what in these films are going to make him nostalgic this time around?

Shaad Ali Sehgal Biography

Shaad Ali Sehgal, the renouned name of a bollywood director, is the son of Muzaffar Ali (a noted film producer and director) and Subhashini Ali Sehgal (an Indian politician and a member of the Communist Party of India (Marxist)) and grandson of Azad Hind Fauj commander Lakshmi Sahgal. He completed his school education at Welham Boys' School, Lucknow.




Ali started his career as an assistant director to Mani Ratnam, and assisted him on the film Dil Se (1998).

He made his directorial debut under Yash Raj Films, with Saathiya (2002), starring Rani Mukerji. The film was a remake of Mani Ratnam's Tamil film Alaipayuthey (2000). Saathiya's script was written by Ratnam. The film starring a newcomer Vivek Oberoi made great buisness and established Shaad Ali in the industry.

His second film was Bunty Aur Babli which for the first time brought together real-life father and son Amitabh Bachchan and Abhishek Bachchan alongside Rani Mukerji was one of the biggest hits of the year 2005.

Shaad Ali's third film released on 15 June, 2007. The film, titled Jhoom Barabar Jhoom starred Abhishek Bachchan, Preity Zinta, Bobby Deol and Lara Dutta in leading roles but made no great impact and shattered on box-office.

As Director, he has directed some hugely successful and some average films like Saathiya (2002), Bunty Aur Babli (2005), Jhoom Barabar Jhoom (2007) and Aitraaz (2004) For Dil Se (1998) and Guru (2007), Shaad had donned the role of Assistant Director.

Kylie praises Farah Khan

Two fantastic and amazing stars in their respective countries, Farah Khan in Bollywood and Hollywood's beauty Kylie Minogue got along very well on the sets of Blue for the item number ‘Chiggy Wiggy’, so much so that the ladies now can’t withhold praising about each other.



Kylie is a well known and a big star in the US, Farah was amazingly taken by surprise seeing Kylie's professionalism, when the lady arrived for the rehearsals three days prior to the shooting day. On the other hand, Kylie too was all praises for Farah’s talent.

Well, Kylie Minogue and Akshay Kumar too is entitled for praises as appeared for the rehearsals for the first time. Choreographer turned director, Farah Khan is the true film maker who has laid the foundation of the industry with the wide range of genres and style.

They asked me to cast Shahid in Aamras, says Rupali

Rupali Guha, the debutant director, cast four girls in her first film 'Aamras'. And for this the 'Chak De' film director Abhimanyu has been her protector. The film 'Chak De' has been her inspiration for directing her first film with totally new faces. She said that the four girls are the backbone of her film.




Rupali had to go from door to door to get the approval for her first screenplay from UTV onwards. She says, “ 'All of them said that who will watch this film? Cast Shahid Kapoor as a boyfriend in the film'. But how can I take Shahid in the film of four 18 years old girls to show the bonding among them”.

The idea of the film 'Aamras' came to her mind by the experiences of her 13 year old daughter Jonaki. She says, “ My daughter has a cirlcle of 11 friends from different groups of society but when I was growing I only had one close friend and my family. Everyday she comes with different experiences with her friends. And 'Aamras' has given me a chance to explore my daughter's world.

Next, Rupali is working on the script of 'Cindrella', a girl's dream of finding a Prince charming.

Anurag Kashyap to judge at Venice Film Festival

After making unconventional movies like Gulaal, Dev D and Black Friday its time for Anurag to turn into a judge. Anurag Kashyap has been invited to be a part of
International Jury at the 66th Venice Film Festival. Although he has been a jury member for lot of film festivals this will be the first time he will be judging an
International film festival. He will be the only first timer at the festival, rest of the jury members are regulars.


The Venice Film Festival commenced from September 2 and the Jury will be headed by Academy –winning “Ang Lee” and they will be judging the films screened.
He will also be making an appearance at the London Film Festival with the likes of Todd Solondz and Wes Anderson.

Anurag's Dev D has also got rave reviews . The Hollywood Reporter called Dev.D "a daring twist to an oft-beaten classic story" adding that, "a new twist in the end lifts the age-old tale of tragic defeatism to a refreshing new high."

With so much appreciation lets wait and watch what Anurag has in store for us. Rumors are abuzz that he will be directing a super hero film 'Doga' starring Kunal Kapoor which will be larger than life.

Gowarikers make it to the Facebook to promote What's Your Rashee

Ashutosh Gowariker adopts a different strategy to promote his film 'What's Your Rashee' among viewers. Gowarikers use a modern facebook application to approach the viewers and make the film popular among people. Priyanka Chopra- Harman Baweja starrer film 'What's Your Rashee' is youth oriented and giving them an idea to look for their compatible partners.




An application has been developed on the Facebook website for the film 'What's Your Rashee' so that the youth can check their Zodiac sign, find their compatibility with other users and also make friends based on their compatibility. Through this application users are asked to answer some personal questions and based on the answers, they are able to see their compatible partners and make them friends depending on their choice.


The film producer, Sunita A Gowariker said that the Facebook website has offered them an ideal platform to link with the youth and has also given an opportunity to interact with the users encouraging them to know and meet people whom they may not know.


The film is based on the Madhu Rey's gujarati novel Kimballs Ravenswood and is Ashutosh Gowariker's first romantic comedy.

Aziz Mirza - Talented Filmmaker

Aziz Mirza is an Indian film director and writer who began his career in 1985 and joined his brother Saeed Mirza and famous director Kundan Shah to set a new production company called Iskra.




He made his directional debut with the 1989 TV serial Circus starring Ashutosh Gowariker and Shahrukh Khan, who was a newcomer at that time. Since then, he has casted Shahrukh Khan and Juhi Chawla in every other project in his career.

He made his first cinematic debut with Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman (1992) starring Shah Rukh Khan and Chawla. The movie was inspired by Raj Kapoor's classic comedy Shree 420 (1955). The movie did pretty well at the box office. However, his next project, Yes Boss (1997) did fairly well at the box office and was well received overall.

In 1999, he set up a production company called Dreamz Unlimited with Juhi Chawla and Shahrukh Khan. Their first movie Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani (2000) was directed by Mirza and failed to do well at the box office. However, in 2003 Mirza directed the third film, Chalte Chalte starring SRK and Rani Mukerji in lead roles. The movie was the first box office hit from this production house. After this he took a hiatus from film directing due to the death of his wife.

Mirza returned to directing and his last release was a film titled Kismet Konnection which did average business in 2008 and boasted of stars like Shahid Kapoor and Vidya Balan in lead roles.

Yash Chopra will be honoured the Asian Filmmaker of The Year Award

Yash Chopra one of the top directors and producers of Bollywood who has directed and produced numerous movies including Lamhe, Kabhi Kabhi, Dhoom 2 and New York has been named Asian Filmmaker of The Year by South Korea's Pusan International Film Festival.

The organization in a statement said that Yash Chopra's “tireless five-decade-long devotion has made considerable contributions to enhance the global status of Indian films as well as Asian cinema.”

Yash Chopra will be presented the award during the 8-16 October festival at the South Korean beach resort city of Pusan. Taiwan's art-house directors Hou Hsiao-hsien, Edward Yand and Hong Kong actor and singer Andy Lau were also the winners of this prestigous award.

Kabir Khan

Kabir Khan is a Indian film screenwriter, camera operator of documentary and Bollywood films and a film director. Kabir Khan who is married to TV anchor Mini Mathur started his career as a cinematographer for the documentary film, Beyond the Himalayas (1995) which was directed by Gautam Ghosh and the documentary later aired on Discovery Channel.




As a director Kabir Khan made his debut with the documentary, The Forgotten Army (1999) based on Subhas Chandra Bose's Indian National Army. These films were followed by The Taliban Years and Beyond, and The Titanic Sinks in Kabul' (2001). Kabir Khan later made two Bollywood films, Kabul Express in 2006 and New York in 2009.

Kunal Kohli, bollywood director

Kunal Kohli is a bollywood director with just four movies in his kitty to talk about yet because of his association with Yash Raj Films, he has become famous. His debut film under the Yash Raj banner was Mujhse Dosti Karoge! (2002) which did not fare too well at the box office. The film starred Hrithik Roshan, Rani Mukerji and Kareena Kapoor.




His second venture Hum Tum (2004) was one of the biggest hits of 2004 and established him as a known director. The film won five Filmfare awards including Best Director for Kohli. He won against his own mentor Yash Chopra who was nominated for Veer-Zaara.

His film Fanaa, starred Aamir Khan and Kajol who made her comeback after a four year break from the industry and earned her a Filmfare Best Actress award. The film was released in May 2006. Fanaa became one of the biggest hits of all time. This film was found controversial, and was banned in the state of Gujarat due to protests against the lead actor Aamir Khan.


He also directed some music videos, Bally Sagoo's 'Mera Laung Gawacha', Bali Brahmabhatt's 'Tere Bin Jeena Nahin', Shiamak Davar's 'Jaane Kisne', Hema Sardesai's 'Bole Humse Kuch Na Gori' and Rajshri Music's 'Yeh Hai Prem', a song for Alisha Chinoy with Milind Soman.

He started his production house Kunal Kohli Productions in 2007 to make films for himself and launch new directors too. He wrote, directed and co-produced Thoda Pyaar Thoda Magic, starring Saif Ali Khan, Rani Mukerji, Rishi Kapoor and Amisha Patel that was not received well at the box-office and did not meet with the success of Hum Tum and Fanaa. He has also considered Imran Khan and Sonam Kapoor for his next film.

Kunal Kohli has directed the following films-

* Thoda Pyaar Thoda Magic (2008)
* Fanaa (2006)
* Hum Tum (2004)
* Mujhse Dosti Karoge! (2002)

He has also scripted the films he has directed, all on his own.