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| Home > Luminaries of the Indian Film Industry > Directors
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| | Directors of Indian Films
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Mehboob Khan (1906-64):
Born as Ramjan Khan, Mehboob Khan began his career as an extra at the Imperial Film Company then took to acting and then directing (the last, at Sagar Film Company). His films characteristically dwelt on social issues and the schism between capitalism or modernism and the non-self righteous goodness of the tribal/underprivileged folk. Highly successful and critically acclaimed, Mehboob`s films often derive from clash between pre-capitalist ruralism and an increasingly modernised state with its commercial-industrial practices and values.
In 1942, he launched Mehboob Productions. Then started a string of his films, and some of his best works were:
Roti: The film encapsulated the manipulation and subsequent degenenration of a starving man, the generous tribals and their misfortunes in the city - the evil of bonded labour - and the final reckoning. This is considered one of the more important of Khan`s films (second only to Mother India) and had Akhtari Faizalbadi (Begum Akhtar, the legendary ghazal singer) excel in the role of a woman who accepts her part in the scheme of things although her heart isn`t in it.
1946 - Anmol Ghadi: A love triangle that had fine performances by the singer-actresses Nurjehan and Suraiya.
1948 - Anokhi Ada: The story of an amnesiac who has two men fighting for her love - one belongs to her past and the other, to her post-amnesia life. The film was shot with a very effective use of chiaroscuro.
1952 - Aan: Khan`s first colour film that was perfect in its technique, spectacular in its sets and fights, and dubbed in French as the film Mangala Fille des Indes.
 1957 - Mother India: The immortal story of a woman who endures and endures while bringing up her children - harsh poverty, a runaway husband, a plotting moneylender, and later, a wayward son whom she is compelled to shoot. Mehboob remade his film Aurat (1940) in colour and with drastically different imagery as Mother India (1957), which was a massive success and later even acquired an epic status.
Mehboob made his films down to earth, dramatic, even melodramatic. Roti made in the early 1940s inspired by the German Expressionism, is a real critique of Indian society with prophetic insight. It deals with two models - one of a millionaire, possessed by money and power in an industrial civilisation, the other of a tribal couple living in a primeval state of nature. The millionaire is saved by the couple after an air crash, the tribal couple immigrates to the city, do not find happiness and return. The millionaire is ruined in the city, tries futilely to find salvation among the tribal.
Bimal Roy: 
Born in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Bimal Roy entered the field of cinema as a camera assistant. His directorial debut was with Udayer Pathey (1944). He introduced a new era of post World War romantic-realist melodramas that was an integration of the Bengal School style with that of De Sica.
Do Bigha Zamin (1953) and Sujata were two of the most notable films of Bimal Roy, who basically was a reformist, a humanist liberal. Do Bigha Zamin was one of the Indian first films to chart mass migration of rural people to cities and their degradation in urban slums. Though the situation was tragic, Roy sought to relieve the starkness by brave and hopeful songs and dances. Sujata dealt with the disturbances created to a lost soul from the world of untouchable underclass who escaped accidentally to the world of the urban middle class.
Guru Dutt:
A director and actor, Guru Dutt (real name : Gurudatta Padukone) was born in Calcutta. He was a student of dance at Uday Shankar`s India Cultural Centre at Almora, and later worked as a telephone operator in Calcutta. He began his film career in 1944. While his first film as an actor was Lakhrani, he came into his own as director with Baazi (1951), produced by Navketan. The ties with Navketan were close - Dutt was one of the former IPTA members at the studio. He set up his own production unit and produced and directed CID (1956)- the film that introduced Waheeda Rehman, one of India`s finest actresses and believed to be Dutt`s muse. Pyaasa, the 1957 hit derived from Saratchandra`s novel Srikanta, was a shadowy romance that established Dutt`s reputation.
Kaagaz Ke Phool (1959) - the first CinemaScope film - was a critical success but failed at the box office. The film seemed to have foretold his suicide : a director`s fall from glory but his inability to break away from the world that he knew and loved so well; his love for his leading lady and his eventual suicide. It`s failure hit him hard - Dutt did not sign his films subsequent to this debacle. Nonetheless he continued producing and acting in films.
In 1960, Chaudhvin Ka Chand and in 1962, Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam (on the moral degradation and collapse of a zamindar i.e. landowning, family) were very successful.
Guru Dutt`s films all had distinctive female protagonists. Waheeda Rehman in Pyaasa, Kaagaz Ke Phool and Chaudhvin Ka Chand, Meena Kumari in Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam, Geeta Bali in the 1952 Jaal - landmark performances in landmark roles. His wife, Geeta Dutt, sang for many of his films and the songs of Pyaasa and Kaagaz Ke Phool are favourites to date.
In 1953, Dutt married Geeta Roy, a well-known playback singer. They had been engaged for three years and had to overcome a great deal of family opposition to marry. They had three children, Tarun, Arun, and Nina. Unfortunately, the marriage was unhappy, since he smoked, drank and he kept odd hours. On October 10, 1964, Guru Dutt was found dead in his bed. He is said to have been mixing alcohol and sleeping pills. His death may have been suicide, or just an accidental overdose. At the time of his death, he had separated from Geeta and was living alone.
Raj Kapoor (1924-1988):
Ranbirraj Kapoor, born in Peshwar, now in Pakistan as son of Prithviraj Kapoor, Raj Kapoor acted the role of a megastar, successful producer and a director. He began his career as a clapper boy (for Bombay Talkies) and later assistant director (at Bombay Talkies and Ranjit Movietone).
1948 he launched R.K. Films. The studio`s films were synonymous with unforgettable music and the fine performances by Raj Kapoor and Nargis. Kapoor excelled in his roles as the loveable, ultimately innocent tramp. Most of the musical scores were by Shanker Jaikishen, the lyrics by Hasrat Jaipuri and Shailendra, and under Kapoor`s able direction, the studio was a force to reckon with. his notable works were:
1948 - Aag: The film launched Raj Kapoor as actor and director. It was the story of youth consumed by the desire for a brighter and more intense life. A beautiful film on the dreams of a disfigured boy. It contained many of the elements that were to become hallmarks of his style - imagery and chiaroscuro (use of shadows).
1949 - Barsaat: The memorable music of the film has rendered it an all-time favourite (along with Shri 420).
1951 - Awara: The loss of innocence but inability to belong are the themes of the film, representing too the dilemmas of a newly independent nation. The 9-feet dream sequence was filmed over 3 months!
 1955 - Shri 420: This film has the wonderful song of love - ``Pyar hua ikraar hua``! The vagabond of Awara was once again a loveable character, and Shanker Jaikishen`s music maintained its high.
1956 - Jaagte Raho: A riveting film that takes a close, critical look at middle-class life. The peasant searching for water, and the final denouement when Nargis pours him the much-needed water - purity and simplicity were the ideals in Raj Kapoor`s early films.
1958 - Phir Subah Hogi: Along the lines of Dostoevsky`s novel Crime and Punishment, the film offers, again, a social comment. The line `Woh subah kabhi to aayegi` serves as refrain and plaintive longing.
Chhalia: The film depicts the story of a woman left behind in Pakistan after the Partition, the havens provided to her by two supposedly notorious characters - one in Pakistan and one in India, and her final reconciliation with her husband. A telling statement on the thought processes of the `good folk` and the underlying decency of those society chooses to condemn.
1964 - Sangam: Among the first films to be shot abroad, the film glorifies the friendship between men even as the heroine appeals for justice in love.
1966 - Teesri Kasam: The lyrical quality of the film made it special.
 1970 - Mera Naam Joker: Raj Kapoor`s magnum opus, six years in the making, that failed at the box-office but is definitely a favourite with cinema-goers. The clown doll, Kapoor`s circus finale, and the songs are factors that have not been forgotten. However, the failure of this film is seen as the reason for Kapoor`s emphasis on sexuality in his later films.
1973 - Bobby: A mega-hit that introduced Rishi Kapoor (Raj Kapoor`s son) and Dimple Kapadia (now hailed as one of India`s best).
1978 - Satyam Shivam Sundaram.
1985 - Ram Teri Ganga Maili
With Kapoor`s death, the R.K. banner is in the hands of his eldest son Randhir Kapoor. The film Henna (1991), shot in India and Pakistan, was an attempt at encouraging friendlier ties between the two countries and pointing out the futility of hatred.
Khwaja Ahmad Abbas (1914-87): 
K.A. Abbas was a director and scenarist, but he was also a journalist and while studying law, he set up the newspaper `Aligarh Opinion`. As a journalist, he was a political correspondent and film critic for the `Bombay Chronicle` and the author of "The Last Page` - a political column that ran from 1941-86, India`s longest lasting column! He was also the founder member of IPTA and contributed two plays - Yeh Amrit Hai and Zubeida. Abbas sold his first screenplay Naya Sansar to Bombay Talkies and in 1944 directed his first film Dharti Ke Lal, derived from Nabanna, Bijou Bhattacharya`s play on the 1943 Bengal famine.
In 1951, he launched his own production unit Naya Sansar, but his best scripts were the ones he wrote for R.K. Films (Awaara, Shri 420, Jagte Raho, Mera Naam Joker, Bobby and Henna) and for V. Shantaram (Dr. Kotnis Ki Amar Kahani, based on Abbas` own novel `And One Did Not Come Back`. The documentary Char Shaher Ki Kahani (1968) on the origins of 4 cities ran into censorship problems but was saved by the landmark judgement of the Supreme Court upholding the constitutional right to free speech.
Hemen Gupta (1914-67): 
A director born in Rajasthan, Hemen Gupta had been the private secretary to the nationalist icon Subhashchandra Bose. Gupta was particularly radical in the Midnapore area of Bengal and hence he had been arrested and imprisoned from 1932-38, and was reported to have been sentenced to death. This period of his life has been immortalized in his films Bhuli Nai (1948) and `42 (1949).In 1956, he directed Taksaal, a film with a nationalist theme; followed by the Bimal Roy film Kabuliwala (1961), based upon Rabindranath Tagore`s story; Netaji Subhashchandra Bose (1966), his tribute to the great leader; and the incomplete Anamika (1967). One of his films, Insaaf Kahan Hai (1959), never reached the silver screen.
Shyam Benegal (1934): 
Guru Dutt`s nephew, Shyam Benegal was a student of Economics before founding the Hyderabad Film Society. He had a short stint in the advertising world - Lintas Advertising (1959-63) and Advertising and Sales Promotion (1963-73), and then it was followed by a Homi Bhabha fellowship. This allowed him to work as associate producer for Children`s Television Workshop in New York and Boston WGBHTV (1969-72). He had the script for 10 years before his first film Ankur (1973) was produced. An independently financed film, it marked the debut of Shabana Azmi and Anant Nag, and was a widely acclaimed effort.
Other famous films : Nishant (1975), Manthan (1976) commissioned by the National Dairy Development Board, Bhumika (1977) - a fictional account of Marathi film star Hansa Wadkar`s life, Junoon (1978), Kalyug (1980), Aarohan (1982) commissioned by the Government of Bengal, Trikaal (1985) on the collapse of a Goan Portuguese family, Susman (1986) - a master weaver`s art and soul, Yatra (1986), and in 1992 Antarnaad and Suraj Ka Satwan Ghoda. Benegal has a number of documentaries to his credit as well - in 1967, A Child of the Streets and Close to Nature; in 1968 - Indian Youth: An Exploration and Path to Immortality; in 1972, Sruti and Graces in Indian Music. An oft-repeated assertion is that Benegal simply presented in an exquisitely clear manner what Mani Kaul interpreted for his audience.
Yash Chopra (1932): He is a writer, director and producer of Bollywood movies. He has directed hit movies such as Deewar, Lamhe, Yeh Dillagi , Darr, Dil To Pagal Hai and Veer-Zaara. Yash Chopra was born in Lahore, now in Pakistan, during British Raj. He was the youngest of the eight children fathered by Shri Vilayati Raj Chopra. His brother Baldev Raj Chopra was a film journalist, who later began directing movies. Initially Yash worked as an assistant to I. S. Johar; then he worked for his brother. Later he setup his film production company Yash Raj Films. Baldev gave him his first directorial opportunity in Dhool Ka Phool. Daag in 1971 was Yash`s first film under the Yash Raj banner. Yash Chopra`s son Aditya Chopra is also a film director. A second son, Uday Chopra, is an actor.
Awards for Directors of Indian Films
Dadasaheb Phalke Award 2001. Apart from this Yash Chopra was honoured along with the Egyptian comedy superstar Adel Imam and the Oscar Winning actor Morgan Freeman as the Asian, Arab and Hollywood honorees in the Dubai Film Festival "In the Spotlight", which honors the work of eminent actors, producers and directors from around the world for their distinguished service to the film industry.
Filmfare Awards
1965, Filmfare Best Director Award, Waqt.
1969, Filmfare Best Director Award, Ittefaq.
1973, Filmfare Best Director Award, Daag.
1975, Filmfare Best Director Award, Deewar.
1975, Filmfare Best Movie Award, Deewar.
1991, Filmfare Best Movie Award, Lamhe.
1995, Filmfare Best Movie Award, Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge.
1997, Filmfare Best Movie Award, Dil To Pagal Hai.
2004, Filmfare Best Movie Award, Veer-Zaara.
2005, Filmfare Power Award.
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