Vidhu Vinod Chopra
Producer - Director Vidhu Vinod Chopra made his directorial debut with Murder At Monkey Hill in 1976 that won him the National Award, which is the top honor given by the Government of India. Two years later, in 1978, this young FTII (Film & Television Institute of India) graduate made a documentary film called An Encounter with Faces, which was nominated for the Academy Awards in 1979. The poignant documentary highlighting the plight of India's destitute children, also won the Grand Prix at the Tampere International Short Film Festival. While critical praise and recognition came to him with these early works, Chopra then went on to make his first mainstream Hindi film called Sazaaye Maut (Death Row) in 1981. Critical and popular acclaim is hard to come by simultaneously, Chopra is one producer - director who has perfected the art and his body of work is testimony to this. Movies like Khamosh, Parinda, 1942: A Love Story, Kareeb and Mission Kashmir, which were directed by Chopra, were hailed by critics and audiences alike - thus bridging the gap between critical and popular cinema. The year 2003 was a year of firsts for Chopra. Moving away from direction, he wrote his first script, handed over the directorial reigns to a débutant and also made his first solo production under his banner with Munna Bhai M.B.B.S. The movie, directed by Rajkumar Hirani, went on to become one of the most popular films Indian cinema has ever seen. So impressed was the West by this movie that leading Hollywood studio Twentieth Century Fox acquired the rights of the film's screenplay from Chopra and will be adapting it into an English film. The second movie in the Munna Bhai series, Lage Raho Munna Bhai (2006) propagated Mahatma Gandhi's principles and portrayed them in a new light. The 'Gandhisim' wave that spread across India, post the release of the movie was unprecedented. Also in the pipeline is the third installment in the series called Munna Bhai Chale Delhi. Munna Bhai is the first ever successful Indian movie franchise. A firm believer in encouraging talent, Chopra also wrote and produced another débutant director's film