A Director is the main captain of the ship called a
movie. All the other artists like actors, photographers, everyone else work
according to how a director envisions the movie and they work to bring his
vision to a reality.
This year, the Indian cinema is celebrating its 100th anniversary. As a part of
this celebration, allow me to present to you a list recognizing some the top
Directors of Hindi Cinema.
P.S.:
THE LIST IS NOT IN ANY PARTICULAR ORDER.
1. SATYAJIT RAY (2 MAY 1921 – 23 APRIL 1992)
Regarded as one of the greatest auteurs of all time, Satyajit Ray directed 36
films, including feature films, documentaries and shorts.
Ray's first film, Pather Panchali(1955), won
eleven international prizes, including Best Human Documentary at the
Cannes Film Festival. This film, Aparajito (1956), and Apur Sansar
(1959) form The Apu Trilogy. Ray did the scripting, casting, scoring,
and editing, and designed his own credit titles and publicity material. Ray
received many major awards in his career, including 32 Indian National Film
Awards, a number of awards at international film festivals and award
ceremonies, and an Academy Award in 1992. The Government of India honoured him
with the Bharat Ratna in 1992.
DIRECTOR`s CUT :
Satyajit Ray planned his films so meticulously, that most of his movies were
edited right there on the camera. He also considered script writing to be the
most integral part of his film making. His scripts were written by him in
English and then, got them translated in to Bengali and hindi as needed. He
also took deep interest in cinematography and shot most of the movie Charulata all by himself. He also composed music for his
films after working with greats like Pt. Ravi Shankar, Ustad Vilayat Khan and
Ali akbar khan and realizing that, their loyalty was to traditional music and
not films.
NOTABLE FILMS: THE APU TRILOGY , PATHER PANCHALI ,CHARULATA, SHATRANJ KE
KHILADI
2. GURU DUTT (9 JULY 1925 – 10 OCTOBER
1964)
Guru Dutt whose real name was Vasanth
Kumar Shivashankar Padukone , is majorly credited with ushering
in the Golden Era of Hindi cinema.
The decades of 1950s and 1960s were the witness of this cinematic genius`s
masterpieces like Pyaasa, Sahib Bibi aur Gulam, Kagaz ke Phool and Chaudhvin ka
Chand.
Guru Dutt was first mourned and revered as a matinee idol and charming hero.
But, as the time passed by and even today, he is remembered as one of the
greatest directors ever. His movies like CID, Baazi, Pyaasa set a standard,
that is still unmatched in Hindi cinema.
DIRECTOR`s CUT:
His movie Baazi introduced 2 key elements in technicalities in
Hindi cinema. Use of close up shots with 100mm lens, which is known as ‘the
Guru Dutt shot’ and the use of songs to further the narrative of the film.
He was forever saddened by the failure at the box
office of his dream project ‘Kaagaz ke Phool’. ‘Kaagaz ke Phool’ , along with
‘Pyaasa’ are now considered to masterpieces of Hindi film cinema, and were included in the
‘100 movies of all time’ list by the TIME magazine in 2005.
NOTABLE FILMS: PYAASA(1957) , KAAGAZ KE PHOOL(1959), BAAZI(1951), MR.
& MRS. ‘55(1955)
3.RAJ KAPOOR (14 DECEMBER 1924 – 2 JUNE 1988)
Known as the original showman of Indian Hindi cinema, Raj
Kapoor belongs to the first family of
Hindi films, ‘The Kapoors’. He was born in Peshawar to PrithviRaj Kapoor and
quickly established himself as a leading actor with hits like ‘Neel Kamal’ and ‘Andaaz’.
At the age of 24, in 1948, he established his own studio named ‘R.K. Films’ and
directed and starred in ‘Aag’.
He went on to direct and act in blockbusters like ‘Barsaat’,’Awaara’, ‘Shree 420’,’Jis desh mein Ganga Behti Hai’.
In all of the movies mentioned above, he potrayed a character based on
Charlie Chaplin`s The Tramp. His popularity was not limited to India, but also,
to countries like Russia, Africa, Middle East.
He also launched careers of his sons Rishi, Randhir and Rajeev.
DIRECTOR`s CUT :
Raj Kapoor`s signature style was the grandeur he brought in his movies in terms
of locales he chose and the sets that he made for his movies.
He was also blessed with an acute sense of music ,which is evident in his
movies and his partnership with both singer Mukesh and music composer duo
Shankar-Jaikishan and evergreen songs in all of his movies.
He also picked some daring topics to make movies like teenage love in Bobby(1975), widow remarriage in Prem
Rog.
Another signature of his was the sensuality he showed in form of his leading
ladies. The way he portrayed female form in his movies for e.g. Mandakini in Ram Teri Ganga Maili and Zeenat Aman in Satyam Shivam Sunadaram was revolutionary and ahead for those times.
NOTABLE FILMS: AAG(1948),BARSAAT(1949), BOBBY(1973), SANGAM(1964),MERA
NAAM
JOKER(1970),HEENA(1991)
4.HRISHIKESH MUKHERJEE (30 SEPTEMBER 1922–27 AUGUST 2006)
Popularly known as Hrishi-da,
named the pioneer of the 'middle cinema' of India. He directed 42 films during
his career spanning over four decades.
He started out as an editor and worked closely with Bimal Roy in movies like Do Bigha Zameen and Devdas.
He started his innings as a director with Musafir(1957)
starting Dilip Kumar, Kishore Kumar, but struck gold with his second film Anari in 1959 starring Raj Kapoor and
Nutan.
His ability to present a realistic perspective to personal and social problems
stood out in stark contrast to the melodramatic tradition of popular Indian
cinema and in 1970s, his movies provided the same for the middle class of this
nation. His movies encompassed a subtle humor, which was easily recognized by
the common man.
DIRECTOR`s CUT:
HrishiDa`s films were realistic and did not feature crime or violence. The
simple plots contain deeper meaning, but are generally straightforward in form,
theme and treatment. He directed around 50 films most of which were valued by
audiences and critics alike because of their middle-of-the-road accessibility,
heart-warming irony and literary sensibilities. His characters inhabited a
middle-class, urban, educated milieu.
One more characteristic of his films was that they usually include a character
engrossed in music. His movies had humor that was very simple and came from the
everyday events and scenarios.
NOTABLE FILMS: ANARI (1959)
,SATYAKAAM(1968),ANAND(1970),BAWARCHI(1972),CHUPKE
CHUPKE(1973),GOLMAAL(1979),KHOOBSURAT(1980)
5. BIMAL ROY (12 JULY 1909–8 JANUARY 1965)
One of the stalwarts of the early Hindi cinema, Bimal Roy started his career in
Hindi films with Maa (1952) for
Bombay Talkies. In the forthcoming years, he went on to give Hindi cinema
movies that were blockbusters and are now revered as masterpieces.
Movies like Do Bigha Zameen (1953),Parineeta (1953),
Devdas(1955) , Madhumati(1958) and Bandini(1963) proved that he was the new
doyen in the Hindi film industry. His movies showed us that He was a filmmaker
of great and indepth understanding of human strengths and weaknesses. His movies had some of the most unforgettable
music and songs of that era and he worked with most of the top names in the
industry at that time.
He was notable to use
Hrishikesh Mukherjee as his editor , Kamal Bose as the cameraperson, Asit Sen
as the assistant director in most of his ventures. His movies were not only
famous in India, but were also critically and popularly acclaimed in the
western world.
DIRECTOR`s CUT:
He was famous for his
romantic-realist melodramas that took on important social issues while still
being entertaining.
His film Two Acres of Land (1953)
(Do Bigha Zameen)was the first film to successfully stradle art and
commercial cinema. It was a commercial and critical success, winning the
International Prize at the 1954 Cannes Film Festival. The film's success paved
the way for the Indian New Wave as a result.
Bimal Roy`s style can be summed up as : everyday stories of life, real life, with
all its joys and sorrows and mundane happenings.
NOTABLE FILMS : DO BIGHA ZAMEEN
(1953),PARINEETA (1953), DEVDAS(1955) , MADHUMATI(1958),
BANDINI(1963),
YAHUDI(1958) , SUJATA(1959)
6. YASH CHOPRA (27 SEPTEMBER 1932 – 21 OCTOBER 2012)
Yash
Chopra's career spanned more than five
decades and 50 films; and is considered one of the leading filmmakers in the
history of Hindi cinema. He came to be known as the "King of Romance"
of the Indian cinema.
Starting as an assistant to I.S.Johar and his elder brother B.R. Chopra, he
made his first film Dhool ka Phool in 1959. Yash Chopra
started his own production house named Yashraj
Films and built a studio named Yashraj Studios. His first movie under
his own banner was Daag in 1973 starring Rajesh Khanna, Sharmila Tagore and
Mumtaz.
He
continued to give successive hits in coming years including the most iconic
films of Hindi cinema in Deewar (1975).
Yash Chopra is also credited with making the first real mega multistarrer in Waqt in 1965 starring Raaj Kumar, Sunil
Dutt, Shashi Kapoor, Balraj Sahni,Sharmila Tagore among others.
He shared
a personal connection with megastar Amitabh Bachchan, who he directed in hits
like Deewar, Kabhie Kabhie, Silsila and
Trishul. After a lean phase in 1980s, he made a comeback with Chandni in 1989 and Lamhe in 1991. Both
of these movies featured his signature romance and stunning visuals of
wonderful places.
Just as he
shared a quotient with Amitabh Bachchan in 70s and 80s, In 1990s, he found a
new superstar in Shahrukh Khan and made films like Darr, Dil toh Pagal Hai, Veer Zara and Jab Tak Hai Jaan. Jab Tak Hai Jaan in 2012 turned out to
be his last film as he succumbed to illness and multiple organ failure after
spending 10 days in a Mumbai hospital on 21st October 2012.
DIRECTOR`s CUT :
His direction style often focused on
romance between the leading couple of the movie and the twist and turns that
take place in the path of them getting together. Yash Chopra also liked to film
in foreign locations like UK, Switzerland.
His movies portrayed human relationships in the most simple manner even in
complex settings. Yash Chopra also began the trend of ensemble cast in Hindi
movies with his casting of Amitabh Bachchan, Shashi Kapoor, Rajesh Khanna,
Shahrukh Khan along with multiple big name actresses.
His movies
also touched some debatable topics likes polygamy in Daag, Hindu fundamentalism
in Dharmputra, illegitimacy in Deewar. He would always be remembered for using
Yashraj Films as the forefront of the global rise of Bollywood cinema. Yash Raj
Films have expanded their company from locally based Hindi films to global
achievements. They have managed to attract home based and diasporic Indians.
Yash Raj Films have used a smart technique by incorporating foreign locations
as a site which succeeded.
NOTABLE FILMS : DAAG(1973), DEEWAR (1975),WAQT(1965),SILSILA(1981),CHANDNI(1989),LAMHE(1991),
DARR(1993), VEER-ZARA(2004), JAB TAK HAI JAAN(2012)
7. SHYAM BENEGAL (B. 14 DECEMBER 1934)
Shyam Benegal is the pioneer of the
alternate cinema of Indian Hindi Film industry. The alternate cinema deals with
the everyday issues and offering solutions that are most hard-hitting. Benegal
proved this with his first few films like Ankur,
Nishant and Manthan.
For his
independent budgeted movies, Benegal used to bring in actors from FTII (Film
and Television Insititute of India) and has given breaks to actors like
Naseeruddin Shah, Om Puri, Smita Patil, Amrish Puri amongst others.
He entered
mainstream cinema with Zubeidaa in 2001, which featured Karishma Kapoor and
music by A.R. Rahman. Even his last feature Welcome to Sajjanpur featured
Shreyas Talpade and Amrita Rao and was a successful film at box office.
He is the
only alternate filmmaker to survive the collapse of New Cinema in 1980s due to
paucity of financing. He always had financial backing due to the kind of films
he made.
DIRECTOR`s CUT :
His movies
had very unusual topics like economic and sexual exploitation featured in
Ankur, Nishant told the story of deafness of officialdom to pleas of a husband
whose wife is gangraped. Manthan showcased the Dairy revolution in Gujarat, in
which the farmers of Gujarat contributed Rs.2 each towards financing the film
and thus becoming ‘producers’ of the film.
Success of Shyam Benegal lies in the topics that he choose to make his films,
that relate not only to the common man, but to every sect of the population. He
also directed the biggest project on Indian TV Bharat-Ek Khoj (1988) based on JawaharLal Nehru`s book Discovery of
India.
NOTABLE FILMS: ANKUR(1973), NISHANT(1975),MANTHAN(1976), ZUBEIDAA(2001)
8. MAHESH BHATT (B. 20 SEPTEMBER 1948)
Mahesh Bhatt is a filmmaker who has turned to his personal life for
making his films. His personal life became inspiration for his movies and he
made them onto celluloid in an attempt to show viewers what different
conclusion the movie had in comparison to his life.
He made
his first movie Manzilein Aur Bhi
Hai(1974) at the age of 21. But he made himself a force to reckon with his
first major hit Arth(1982), which
showcased his personal life insights of extra marital affair. His most
critically acclaimed movie Saransh(1984),
featured a couple`s struggle to get back the remains of their son in a
situation governed by violence.
He took
insights from his life to make more films like Janam(1985) and Naam(1986). He launched his own production house
‘Vishesh Films’ with his brother Mukesh Bhatt and went on to become one of the
leading directors of 1990s. He made films like Daddy(1989) which debuted his daughter Pooja Bhatt. The biggest
commercial success of Mahesh Bhatt`s career remains Sadak(1991), which was
lauded by critics alike and made Filmfare start the category of Best Villain to
honor Sadashiv Amrapurkar for his role in the movie.
Along with
critical acclaim for Sir(1993), he kept giving hits like Gumraah and
Criminal(1994), Duplicate in 1998 starring Shahrukh Khan. He also directed the
famous TV serial Swabhimaan in 1995,
along with Anurag Kashyup written Kabhie
Kabhie in 1997.
His last 2 films as director were and Kartoos(1998), with former being
controversial for featuring references to Mumbai riots in 1993. He turned to
script writing, giving movies like Dushman,
Raaz, Murder, and Gangster.
DIRECTOR`s CUT:
His
cinematic style includes movies showing engagement with psychological damage
caused by infringement of social norms. Characters in his films are shown to
suffer from deep mental and emotional anguish and trauma. Such characterization
prove to be a challenge for both parallel and mainstream actors that worked
with him, but were immensely helped with the success of the movies. E.g. Sanjay
Dutt resurrected his career with both Naam(1986)
and Sadak(1991), while Ajay Devgan proved his mettle as a serious actor
with a national award for Zakham(1998).
His
serious films demanded strong performances from actors; actors won national and
filmfare awards under Bhatt`s hand. Bhatt transformed his hapless female
protagonists to strong characters in films like Dushman and Dastak. Music of all his films was of top quality and
had memorable songs in all of his movies.
NOTABLE FILMS : ARTH (1982),
SARAANSH(1984),NAAM(1986),DADDY(1989),AASHIQUI(1990),SADAK(1991),
ZAKHAM(1998)
9. SUBHASH GHAI (B. 24 January 1945)
Subhash Ghai, the modern Showman of Indian Hindi cinema. He started his career as a actor, after
winning a talent hunt in Mumbai, but was not successful in making a name for
himself as an actor.
But he began a new journey as a director, when actor Shatrughan Sinha
recommended his name for Kalicharan(1976),
which proved to be a massive success. He reached the peak of his
directorial career in 1980s and 1990s with movies like Vidhaata(1982),Karma(1986) with the legend Dilip Kumar. He also
launched Jackie Shroff in Hero(1983)
and established the career of Anil Kapoor with movies like Karma and Raam Lakhan(1989).
He attained critical acclaim with Khalnayak(1993)
starring Sanjay Dutt,Jackie Shroff and Madhuri Dixit. The 90s also brought
him hits like Shahrukh Khan starrer Pardes(1997)
and Taal(1999), which established Aishwarya Rai as a top actress.
His banner ‘Mukta Arts’ (named after his wife) has produced many movies apart
from Subhash Ghai ventures which include Aitraaz(2004),
36 China Town(2006) and Iqbal(2005) amongst others.
Recently, he returned to direction with Black
and White(2008) and Yuvvraaj(2008), but both the movies proved to be major
failures.
He also has started ‘Whistling
woods academy’, a state-of-art film institute in Mumbai, training aspiring
artists in filmmaking, direction, cinematography etc.
DIRECTOR`s CUT:
As a director, Subhash Ghai is known to make films of epic proportions
and grand sets. Everything portrayed in his movies oozes richness from the sets
built, to the costumes, to the music. He has made movies ranging from
patriotism to musical to a typical Bollywood masala entertainer.
Subhash Ghai has been known to have a very keen ear for music, and all
of his movies have both melodious and versatile music, which have always have
blockbuster songs. He has worked with top music directors with most
collaborations with Laxmikant-Pyarelal (Karma, Vidhaata, Saudagaar,
Khalnaya, Raam-Lakhan, Karz, Hero), R.D.Burman(Krodhi), Nadeem-Shravan(Pardes) to
recent A.R.Rahman(Taal, Yuvvraaj). His other frequent collaborators have been
lyricist Anand Bakshi, Screenplay writer Sachin Bowmick and Dialogue writer Dr.
Rahi Masoom Reza.
He also does cameos in all of his movies similar to Alfred Hitchcock. Also out of 15 films that he has directed
until now, 13 have being classified as super hits and have been profitable
financially.
NOTABLE FILMS : Kaalicharan(1976), Karz(1980),
Vidhaata(1982), Saudagaar(1991), Khalnayak(1993), Pardes(1997)
10. ANURAG KASHYAP (B. 10 SEPTEMBER 1972)
Anurag Kashyap, the baton holder of the new breed of
directors in today`s modern Hindi cinema. Anurag came to Mumbai to become an
actor , but instead became a writer when his was inspired to write by his peers
Shriram Raghavan and Shiv
Subramanian. He proved himself with the script of Auto Narayan, and then was hired by Ram Gopal Varma to write the
script of his underworld drama ‘Satya’, which proved to be a big
blockbuster.
He
directed his first film named ‘Paanch(2005)’,
which still remains unreleased due to censorship problems. Meanwhile he
kept writing scripts and dialogues for movies such as Shool(1999), Yuva(2004) directed by Mani Rathnam.
But then,
he directed DevD in 2009, a modern
retelling of Sharat Chandra`s novel Devdas. DevD
is considered to be amongst path-breaking films in Hindi for the way it
presented itself, and was liked by both critics and public. Another hard
hitting movie made by him based on 1993 Mumbai blasts, Black Friday(2007), proved to be critical success despite being a
quite realistic take on the behind the scenes incidents leading to the blasts
in 1993.
DIRECTOR`s CUT:
Anurag is
mostly termed as an art film maker who likes to make films based on dark and
real concepts. All of his films have a very realistic telling of even fictional
tales. DevD was set in contemporary times and has both real and sensual tones
to the film and revered as a modern masterpiece, even when compared to Bimal
Roy and Sanjay Leela Bhansali`s retellings of this classic.
Even his
scripts have close to real life scenarios and hard hitting dialogues as evident
from his most recent outing in Gangs of
Wasseypur 1&2. It is lauded for its dialogues and wonderful characterisations.
Anurag
also proved his mettle as an actor in Onir`s
I am(2010), where he played a child abuser.
He has
recently announced to turn the comic character DOGA into a movie which is scheduled to release in 2014.
NOTABLE FILMS: DevD(2009),BLACK FRIDAY(2007), GULAAL(2009),GANGS OF WASSEYPUR
1&2(2012)
HONORARY MENTIONS : K.ASIF (MUGHAL-E-AZAM), MEHBOOB KHAN(MOTHER INDIA),
KAMAAL AMROHI(PAKEEZAH), RAMESH SIPPY(SHOLAY,SHAAN),ARDESHIR IRANI, CHETAN
ANAND(HAQEEQAT), VIJAY ANAND (TEESRI MANZIL), VISHAL BHARADWAJ (OMKARA,
MAQBOOL), GULZAR (MACCHIS,MERE APNE), RAM GOPAL VARMA(SATYA,BHOOT), SHEKHAR
KAPOOR(MASOOM, Mr. INDIA),SHAKTI SAMANTHA(ARADHANA,KATI PATANG) and many many
more…..
