An Extraordinary Film Director & How He got it Right!
Fondly known by everyone within the Bollywood industry as 'Hirani', Rajkumar is also known as Raju outside the industry and is currently the toast of Bollywood!
This video explains his filmmaking style.
https://youtu.be/l_650e1Clr4
Every single
actor and actress from Arjun Kapoor to Parineeti Chopra, Abhishek Bachchan to
Ranveer Singh and more – ALL just want to be directed by this phenomenal
man! Known as one of the most established and acclaimed Indian film
director, producer, screenwriter and Hirani is also a film- editor.
There is a lot more to be known about this director & editor that makes him stand apart from others. These include:
- He was born in Nagpur to a Sindhi family and his father owned a typing institute there in Nagpur.
- He is a Sindhi refugee from what is now Pakistan.
- He dabbed in theatre in school and college - and writing in plays which bears the imprint of the work that he does now.
- He studied in St Francis De'Sales High School, Nagpur and graduated in commerce.
- Munnabhai MBBS was his first directorial debut and broke all formulaic conventions associated with Bollywood. It was a cult in itself.
However, not many are
aware of this, but his early professional
life was not as he predicted. For many years he tried his luck at being a film
editor but failed.
This forced him to shift to advertising
where he established himself as a director and even a producer of advertising
firms. He was seen in a Fevicol ad where some elephants and men were trying to pull and break a Fevicol plan saying "Jor laga ke Haisha". In addition to this he was even seen in
an ad campaign created by Ogilvy Mather, the Kinetic Luna ad.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xep4RftkRdo
A turn of events happened after this and he decided to break free from advertising and began working with Vidhu Vinod Chopra.
Some of his early works included the promos and trailers of 1942: A Love Story and he even edited Kareeb. This led him to his big opportunity Mission Kashmir.
What differentiates him from other
filmmakers is his ability to create a story where he has a clear idea of using
humour as a tool to break the mindset of the audience. Raju Hirani is known as
the Christopher Nolan of India – only because they both have
the distinction of being critically and commercially acclaimed directors with
only a limited number of movies in their kitty.
An expert at understanding the psyche of
the Indian moviegoer, his movies are lighthearted but revolve around
significant issues such as those, which deal with the society and abound the
society.
Each and every single one of his films
has been a success – a super-hit blockbuster, each one bigger than the
previous. This made him the only director at the box office to have a 100%
success rate. What is really special about Hirani is that his films don't
just do well at the box-office, but they also have a good shelf life.
There are two types of directors that
can be found in the industry – one who directs the movie in their own style and
the other who directs the movie as per the script style. In almost all of his
films there is one protagonist who is afraid to tell the female protagonist
that he loves her.
There is always a father who is fed up
with their son or daughter and at the same time there is always an antagonist
who at the end of the movie becomes good. There is always a gigantic challenge
that the protagonist has to face; which of course –he/she succeeds in doing
so. However, there are way too many characters in his films and they
perpetually end on a positive and happy note.
According to him, "Our minds are preconditioned
to believe things and you gave us a different viewpoint to think," I think
I've done something worthy.
Every film is like a first film for him and it gets incredibly harder to capture the attention of the audience - for ever single sound effect and music element, content and changing technology. Cinema is an an entire experience in itself.
As a film director, one might wonder
what really makes his film strike such a chord with the audience; but if you
look back at some of his movies such as 3 Idiots, Munna Bhai MBBS, Lage Raho Munna Bhai or even
Peekay.
He has been able to
take the uncanny elements of life and weave them together in a film and make
them magical.
What some film directors say about him?
· Karan
Johar on ‘An Afternoon Film Bazaar with Rajiv Masand’
I love the fact that he (Hirani) is the country’s biggest filmmaker and he has been making good films time after time. He is making socially-relevant blockbusters. I hope I come up with a brilliant idea of a movie with a social relevance.
I love the fact that he (Hirani) is the country’s biggest filmmaker and he has been making good films time after time. He is making socially-relevant blockbusters. I hope I come up with a brilliant idea of a movie with a social relevance.
·
Writer-lyricist
Javed Akthar says the reason
why Rajkumar Hirani is able to make cinema that touches the heart is because he
is a good human being. "I am huge admirer of Rajkumar Hirani.
He does
really good work and now again, he has done an amazing job. I always say one
thing about him that to make such kind of films you not only have to be really
good director or writer, but you have to be really good human being."He is
really good human being and that's what works for him".
· Anurag Kashyap has
even been impressed by Rajkumar Hirani's film 'PK', saying that the filmmaker
is one of the bravest directors.
Moreover, there are plenty of new
directors coming up such Anurag Kashyap Farhan
Akhtar, Vishal Bhardwaj, Dibakar
Banerjee, Aparna Sen, Zoya Akhtar, Meghna Guna Gulzar, Konkan Sen Sharma, Deepa
Mehta, Gauri Shinde as well.
To make every scene entertaining and
engaging has been the most challenging part and this can be assumed to be easy
as has been seen in movies such as Bhaag Milkha Bhaag, Gandhi or
even Dhoni; and even the biopic of Lincoln.
For Sanju though, it has been far trickier than expected because of his association with drugs right from an early age, the tragedy of losing his first wife - Richa, the 1993 bomb blasts where he was accused of being a terrorist.
It does not rest on stars or even opulence but on sheer good writing! Rajkumar has been able to entertain the audience despite the prejudice and duplicity that is ingrained within the Indian society.
However, Rajkumar claims that
there are auteurs such as Shyam Benegal, Satyajit Ray, Guru Dutt, Hrishikesh
Mukherjee, Ritwik Ghatak, Prakash Mehra, Yash Chopra, etc. who have been able to
redefine Indian cinema and place Bollywood on the international
map, each one bigger than the previous. This made
him the only director at the box office to have a 100% success rate.
What was once a male-dominated industry has more and more women who challenge the status quo, voice their opinions and refuse to be silenced. Is this the spark of a new revolution, with movies showing a female-dominant side such as Raazi, Queen, Bol, Highway, Mary Kom, That Girl in Yellow Boots and the likes?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fOSYciZ-6U
As of now his latest film is a departure from his usual 'track record' of quintessential comedies and is actually a biopic about the troubled life of Sanjay Dutt; along with a social message.
Sanju trailer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fOSYciZ-6U
For Sanju though, it has been far trickier than expected because of his association with drugs right from an early age, the tragedy of losing his first wife - Richa, the 1993 bomb blasts where he was accused of being a terrorist.
Its just been a matter of days of the movies release and Sanju has set the box office on fire!
Although films such as 3 Idiots have come out almost 7 years ago, it has managed to stay in our hearts right up till now and this has even given rise to a discussion of sequel on the same being made.This film is not even directly linked with India and Indianness.
Its just been a matter of days of the movies release and Sanju has set the box office on fire!
That's a beautiful and well researched article
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