Rajkumar Hirani

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.

Rajkumar Hirani
Hirani in 2014
Born	(1962-11-20) 20 November 1962 (age 61) Nagpur, Maharashtra, India
Other names	Raju
Alma mater	Film and Television Institute of India
Occupation(s)	Film director, Film producer, Screenwriter, Film editor, Film distributor
Years active	1993–present
Spouse	Manjeet Hirani
Children	Vir Hirani
Awards	Full list

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.

Hirani was born on 20 November 1962 in Nagpur to a Sindhi family. His ancestors originally belonged 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 De'Sales 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.

Early work (1994–2000)

Hirani tried his luck as a film editor for many years. Bad experiences forced him to shift to television advertising, and he gradually established himself as a director and producer of advertising films. He was also seen in a Fevicol ad where some men and elephants were trying to pull and break a Fevicol plank, saying "Jor laga ke Haisha". He was also seen in the Kinetic Luna ad campaign created by Ogilvy & Mather.

He was doing fairly well in the advertising industry, but he wanted to make movies, so he took a break from advertisement and started working with Vidhu Vinod Chopra. He worked on promos and trailers for Chopra's patriotic romance 1942: A Love Story (1994). He edited promotions for Chopra's romance Kareeb (1998). He got his first opportunity as a film editor with Chopra's action drama Mission Kashmir (2000).

Directorial debut and breakthrough (2003–09)

 

Hirani made his directorial debut with the comedy-drama Munna Bhai M.B.B.S. (2003) starring Sanjay Dutt, Arshad Warsi, Boman Irani, Gracy Singh, Jimmy Sheirgill and Sunil Dutt in lead roles. The first film of the Munna Bhai film series, it revolved around the titular protagonist (played by Dutt), a goon going to a medical school who is helped by his sidekick, Circuit (played by Warsi). The film received positive reviews from critics upon release, with particular praise for Hirani's direction and screenplay. It emerged as a commercial success at the box-office, with a worldwide total of ₹330 million (US$4.1 million), ranking as the eighth highest-grossing Hindi film of the year. Munna Bhai M.B.B.S. won the National Film Award for Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment and the Filmfare Award for Best Film (Critics), and earned Hirani his first Filmfare Award for Best Screenplay and his first nomination for Best Director.

In 2006, Hirani directed the second installment of the Munna Bhai franchise, titled Lage Raho Munna Bhai, which retained some of the original cast, including Sanjay Dutt, Warsi, and Boman Irani, and added Vidya Balan as the female lead replacing Gracy Singh. The film proved to be Hirani's highest-grossing release to that point, grossing ₹1.2 billion (US$15 million) worldwide, ranking as the third highest-grossing film of the year. Just like the previous instalment, it won Hirani his second National Film Award for Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment, his second Filmfare Award for Best Film (Critics), his first Filmfare Award for Best Story and Best Dialogue, and his second nomination for Best Director.

Widespread success (2009–present)

 

Hirani's next directorial venture was the coming-of-age comedy-drama 3 Idiots (2009), loosely adapted from the novel Five Point Someone by Chetan Bhagat. Starring an ensemble cast of Aamir Khan, Kareena Kapoor Khan, R. Madhavan, Sharman Joshi, and Boman Irani, it follows the friendship of three engineering students, and was a satire about social pressures under an Indian education system. 3 Idiots received widespread critical acclaim upon release, and emerged as the highest-grossing Indian film up until then, earning ₹4.60 billion (US$58 million) in global ticket sales. Hirani won his third National Film Award for Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment, his first Filmfare Award for Best Film and Best Director, and his second Filmfare Award for Best Story and Best Screenplay. 3 Idiots established Hirani as one of Hindi cinema's most prominent filmmakers.

After a 5-year hiatus, Hirani returned to direction with the science fiction satirical comedy drama PK (2014). Upon release, the film received positive reviews, with praise directed towards Aamir Khan's performance and the film's humour, though certain criticism was received for "hurting religious sentiments". It received 8 nominations at the 60th Filmfare Awards, winning two. Additionally, it won five Producers Guild Film Awards, and two Screen Awards. PK garnered the Telstra People's Choice Award at the Indian Film Festival of Melbourne. Produced on a budget of ₹850 million (approx. $12 million), PK was the first Indian film to gross more than ₹7 billion and US$100 million worldwide. At the time, it emerged as the highest-grossing Indian film of all time and ranks as the 70th highest-grossing film of 2014 worldwide. The film's final worldwide gross was ₹854 crore (US$140 million). It currently stands as the 5th highest-grossing Indian film worldwide and 7th highest-grossing film in India.

He also directed the biographical drama Sanju (2018). The film follows the life of actor Sanjay Dutt (one of Hirani's closest collaborators), his addiction to drugs, arrest for alleged association with the 1993 Bombay bombings, relationship with his father, comeback in the industry, the eventual drop of charges from Bombay blasts, and release after completing his jail term. Upon release, it received generally positive reviews from critics and was praised for Ranbir Kapoor's performance; some criticised its image-cleansing of its protagonist. With a worldwide gross of ₹586.85 crore (US$73 million), Sanju ranks as the highest grossing Hindi film of 2018, the fifth highest-earning Hindi film in India of all time, and one of the highest-grossing Indian films. Sanju earned seven nominations at the 64th Filmfare Awards, including Best Film and Best Director for Hirani. It won two; Best Actor for Kapoor (who played Dutt) and Best Supporting Actor for Kaushal.

Hirani directed Dunki (2023), a comedy-drama film on immigration produced by himself and Red Chillies Entertainment (with whom he is working with for the first time) and written by him and Joshi.

 

Hirani's films are often based on themes that explore particularly different critical social issues like middle-class aspirations, reforms, self-conviction and relationships, albeit with healthy humour and an immense emotional quotient. Hirani is the editor of all of his films; he has himself admitted that he enjoys editing films more than anything else. Rajeev Masand wrote, in a review, "[L]ike those good old-fashioned Hrishikesh Mukherjee films, [Rajkumar] Hirani's film reinforced importance of human goodness and basic niceties". Hirani cites Mukherjee's Anand (1971) as his favourite film.

Munna Bhai MBBS (2003) deals with the corruption of hospitals and the cruelty of doctors, Lage Raho Munna Bhai (2006) deals with Gandhi's thinking and reforming people with soft-hearted behaviour, 3 Idiots (2009) with the education system, pressure on students for marks and passion of individuals, PK (2014) with religion and superstition and Sanju (2018) with relationships and media outrage. Film critic Komal Nahta called Hirani "a magician more than a director" while reviewing Sanju, adding that he "narrates the complex story of a misdirected, ignorant, and foolish young man with such sensitivity that the human drama becomes quite a masterpiece of a film."

All of Hirani's films were co-produced by Vinod Chopra Films till Sanju, after which they broke their ties owing to creative differences. He had edited one of Chopra's films Mission Kashmir (2000) professionally. Hirani has worked consistently with writer Abhijat Joshi since Lage Raho Munna Bhai, and has often cast the same actors in his projects, particularly Sanjay Dutt, who has collaborated with Hirani on three feature films and one film which itself is based on Dutt. Aamir Khan has collaborated on two films with Hirani, one also starring Dutt. Boman Irani has featured in all of Hirani's films in pivotal supporting roles.

Hirani is considered a pioneer of his own cinematic style. He has garnered appraisal from several industry's successful makers and his contemporaries like Karan Johar who said,

I've been pitted against everyone and I feel envious, not jealous. I am envious of Rajkumar Hirani. I've never managed to do what he does. His movies have genius ideas. I don't have the ability perhaps. I would love to make those kinds of movies. He has strong screenplays. I hope I get such screenplays.

Director Anurag Kashyap called him the bravest filmmaker, he added: Generally, we filmmakers get into our subject to prove its poignancy so much that we end up making it less effective for the audience. But Raju didn't do that.

SS Rajamouli said during the promotion of Baahubali: The Beginning (2015) that he is a huge fan of Hirani's films and that he "cannot make one scene the way [Rajkumar] Hirani does".

Screenwriter Javed Akhtar praised Hirani's work saying,

"I am a 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 a really good director or writer, you have to be really a good human being as well.

Hirani married Manjeet Hirani, a pilot in Air India, in 1994. They have a son, Vir Hirani, who is also pursuing filmmaking.

The budgets and box-office figures are all estimates collated from various sources with reputed film portals. All values in Indian Rupees (₹) are converted to US Dollars ($) based on the average yearly exchange rate data from World Bank.