Bollywood: The New and Young Directors

It will not be out of place to make a mention of Abhinav Kashyap here. He directed the film Dabbang which is the highest grosser of 2010. Industry estimates indicate that the film has bagged at least Rs 250 crore. Abhinav Kashyap is the young brother of ace film maker Anurag Kashyap.
Another young director who made his mark in Bollywood this year is Habib Faisal. Faisal directed yesteryears super star Rishi Kapoor and Neetu Kapoor in the film Do Dooni Char. Besides, directing films, the talented Habib Faisal has written the story for Salaam Namaste and Band Baaja Barat.

 

Let’s congratulate Abhinav Kashyap heartily!!!! The success of Dabangg speaks volumes of his understanding of commercial cinema and mass psychology!! I think he is here to stay. Habib Faisal is also very talented indeed!

December 2010 saw the untimely demise of another young and talented director of Bollywood. I am talking about Manish Acharya who had directed movies like “Loins of Punjab” and had also acted in Farhan Akhtar’s “Luck By Chance”. Manish, 40, had gone to Matheran where he fell from the horse and got hit on the head. He was rushed to the Ambani Hospital in Nerul where he was declared dead.

 

Reema Kagti is another young Bollywood director to watch out for. She is presently the toast of Bollywood circles because she is directing none else than Amir Khan himself for her next movie.Her script which she co wrote with Zoya Akhtar must have attracted the extremely choosy and talented Aamir Khan.
Reema Kagti is best known for writing and directing the movie Honeymoon Travels Pvt Ltd in 2007.Reema has honed her skills while working as an assistant to directors like Ashutosh Gowarikar ( for the film Laagan), Farhan Akhtar ( for the films Dil Chahta Hai, Lakshya) and even Mira Nair ( for the film Vanity Fair).Obviously, all her hard work is paying off.
All of Bollywood is looking forward to see her film.

 

Isn’t it a great achievement for the one-film-old Reema to bag Aamir Khan for her next project? Her project featuring “Mr Perfectionist” is slated to begin shooting in February 2011.

Another great news is that Aamir is not only acting in her yet-to-be titled movie, but also has stepped in to co-produce the movie along with Farhan Akhtar and Ritesh Sadhwani’s Excel Entertainment.
Aamir had not signed a film for ages and his last release was 3 Idiots a year back work for which had begun two and a half years ago.

Reema, the young filmmaker, hails from Assam. She says that it was not very tough to convince Aamir on her script.

 

The other day I was reading an article on and interview of Reema Kagti. Her first film, Honeymoon Travels Pvt Ltd, has garnered considerable critical acclaim and she says that she is not daunted by the challenge of directing Aamir, who has a reputation of being quite intruding on sets.
Reema knows that many are surprised at her getting a green signal over other filmmakers, although she herself is not surprised. She was in talks with Aamir for quite some time and after having locked the script, it is time for Light, Camera and Action!

Reema is also the co-scriptwriter of “Zindagi Naa Milegi Dobara” which is going to star Hrithik Roshan.

 

It is good to see so much information on the new directors in Bollywood. Many of these young directors brought in new ideas.They offered a fresh perspective and were welcomed by the audience. For example Tere Bin Laden looked at the urban craze for migrating to America with humour and Band Baja Baarat is about a new enterprise ( wedding management) set up by new graduates. If we look around we can easily spot such new ventures started by ambitious young people.
Another interesting fact is that many of the young film directors who have tasted success hardly have any film legacy -- they are striking out on their own.

 

I must say that Bollywood is a fiercely competitive world. You are only as good as your last film. It is common knowledge that the year 2010 was a bad year for Bollywood. Films featuring established stars or films backed by big production houses bombed and it was only in the latter part of the year that we got a real big hit with Dabanng.
It is not that every film directed by a young director succeeded in Bollywood. For example, films like We are Family directed by Siddharth P Malhotra ( and backed/produced by Karan Johar) Break ke Baad directed by Danish Aslam and Allah ke Banday directed by Faruk Kabir got tepid responses at the box office.
Some succeed and some fail.