Vidhu Vinod Chopra
Indian film director and producer
Renu Saluja
(m. 1976; div. 1983)Shabnam Sukhdev
(m. 1985; div. 1989)Anupama Chopra
(m. 1990)Vidhu Vinod Chopra (born 5 September 1952) is an Indian film director, producer, screenwriter and editor.[1] He is the recipient of several accolades, including four National Film Awards, ten Filmfare Awards and an Academy Award nomination. He is known for directing films such as the crime drama Parinda (1989), the patriotic romantic drama 1942: A Love Story (1994), the action drama Mission Kashmir (2000) and the biographical drama 12th Fail (2023). He is also known for producing the Munna Bhai film series, 3 Idiots (2009), PK (2014), and Sanju (2018) under his banner Vinod Chopra Films.
Early life
Chopra was born and grew up in Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, India.[2] His father was D. N. Chopra and veteran filmmaker Ramanand Sagar was his half-brother.[3] His parents were originally from Peshawar, British India.[4] His mother was Shanti Devi Mahalakshmi, who left Kashmir, due to the Kashmir conflict in 1990. He dedicated his film Shikara to his mother, which was based on the same.[5] He studied film direction at the Film and Television Institute of India in Pune.
Career
Chopra's first student short film, Murder at Monkey Hill (1976), won the National Film Award for Best Short Experimental Film and the Guru Dutt Memorial Award for Best Student Film.[6]
This was followed by a short documentary highlighting the plight of India's destitute children, called An Encounter with Faces (1976), which was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Short Film in 1979. It also won the Grand Prix at the Tampere Film Festival in 1980.[7]
Sazaye Maut, his first full-length feature film, was an adaptation of his previous short, Murder at Monkey Hill. It starred Naseeruddin Shah, Radha Saluja and Dilip Dhawan. Vanraj Bhatia composed the music for the film. For Khamosh, his next directorial venture, Chopra assembled a cast featuring some of the finest acting talent in India. Shabana Azmi, Amol Palekar, Naseeruddin Shah and Pankaj Kapoor, among others, appeared in prominent roles. An inventive meta thriller set in Kashmir, Khamosh remains one of the notable Indian films in the genre.
His next directorial, the crime drama Parinda (1989), proved to be a landmark film in Hindi cinema. It expanded the orbit of the crime drama and the vocabulary of images used in Hindi films while garnering widespread critical acclaim and numerous awards. Several modern Indian filmmakers have expressed their admiration for and drawn inspiration from Chopra's film.
Chopra's next film, 1942: A Love Story (1994), was a patriotic romantic drama set during the decline of the British Raj. With Anil Kapoor and Manisha Koirala in lead roles, it was also the last film to have its music composed by the legendary R. D. Burman. Burman received a Filmfare Award for Best Music Director and the film won a total of nine awards at the 40th Filmfare Awards.
He founded his own production company, Vinod Chopra Films, in 1985. Since then, the company has gone on to produce major Bollywood films, and is currently one of the biggest and most successful film production houses in India. Bengali filmmaker Ritwik Ghatak affectionately gave him the name 'Vidhu'.
Films
His critically acclaimed films include Parinda, 1942: A Love Story, Mission Kashmir, the Munna Bhai series, Parineeta, and 3 Idiots. 3 Idiots went on to become one of the most successful films in India, and became the first film in the country to cross Rs. 200 crore at the boxoffice.[8] It also found popular appeal in markets like Taiwan and Korea. His other films, PK and Sanju were one of the highest grossing Indian films.[8] He also made his Hollywood directorial debut with the film Broken Horses in 2015. However, it received a Rotten Tomatoes rating of 22%,[9] and was a commercial disaster, only making Rs. 60 lakh in its opening weekend.[10]
His latest film, Shikara is a Hindi language historical romance film released on 7 February 2020 marking his return to direction in India after 13 years. His last directorial feature film, Eklavya: The Royal Guard released in 2007.
Filmography
| Year | Film | Credit as | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Director | Writer | Producer | |||
| 1976 | Murder at Monkey Hill | Yes | Yes | No | Diploma film; also Actor |
| 1978 | An Encounter with Faces | Yes | No | No | Documentary film |
| 1981 | Sazaye Maut | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| 1983 | Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro | No | No | Production Controller | also Actor |
| 1985 | Khamosh | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| 1989 | Parinda | Yes | Yes | Yes | Filmfare Award for Best Director |
| 1994 | 1942: A Love Story | Yes | Yes | Yes | Nominated - Filmfare Award for Best Film Nominated - Filmfare Award for Best Director |
| 1998 | Kareeb | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| 2000 | Mission Kashmir | Yes | Yes | Yes | Nominated - Filmfare Award for best film Nominated - Filmfare Award for Best Director |
| 2003 | Munna Bhai MBBS | No | Yes | Yes | Filmfare Award for Best Screenplay |
| 2005 | Parineeta | No | Yes | Yes | Supervising Editor Nominated- Filmfare Award for Best Film |
| 2006 | Lage Raho Munna Bhai | No | Yes | Yes | Associate writer; lyricist |
| 2007 | Eklavya: The Royal Guard | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| 2009 | 3 Idiots | No | Yes | Yes | Screenplay Associate |
| 2012 | Ferrari Ki Sawaari | No | Yes | Yes | |
| 2014 | PK | No | No | Yes | |
| 2015 | Broken Horses | Yes | Yes | Yes | English Film |
| 2016 | Wazir | No | Yes | Yes | also Editor |
| 2018 | Sanju | No | No | Yes | |
| 2019 | Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga | No | No | Yes | |
| 2020 | Shikara | Yes | Yes | Yes | co-writers: Rahul Pandita and Abhijat Joshi |
| 2023 | 12th Fail | Yes | Yes | Yes | Won - Filmfare Award for Best film Won - Filmfare Award for Best Director Won - Filmfare Award for Best Screenplay Nominated - Filmfare Award for Best Dialogue Won - Filmfare Best Editing Award |
Bibliography
| Year | Name | Co Writer(s) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | Unscripted: Conversation on life and cinema | Abhijat Joshi | [11] |
Awards and nominations
IIFA Awards
- 2007: Winner, Best Screenplay for Lage Raho Munna Bhai
- 2001: Nominated, IIFA Award for Best Director for Mission Kashmir
- 2010: Winner, Best Screenplay for 3 Idiots
Stardust Awards
- 2009: Winner, Readers' Choice Award for 3 Idiots
FICCI Awards
- 2009: Winner, Most Successful Film of the Year for 3 Idiots
Screen Awards
- 2006: Winner, Best Film for Lage Raho Munnabhai
- 2006: Nominated, Best Screenplay for Lage Raho Munna Bhai
- 2009: Winner, Best Film, 3 Idiots
- 2009: Winner, Best Screenplay, 3 Idiots
Zee Cine Awards
- 2007: Winner, Best Screenplay for Lage Raho Munna Bhai
- 2005: Winner, Best Dialogue for Parineeta
- 2005: Winner, Best Director for Mission Kashmir
Tampere International Short Film Festival
- 1980: Winner, Grand Prix for An Encounter with Faces
Personal life
He has been married thrice, his first wife was noted editor Renu Saluja (m. 1976–1983), he was then married to filmmaker Shabnam Sukhdev (m. 1985–1989), the daughter of S. Sukhdev (1933–1979) a well known director of documentaries for the Films Division of India. He has a daughter with Shabnam, Ishaa Chopra, who works as a dance instructor and choreographer.[12][13]
He is currently married to Indian film critic Anupama Chopra, whom he married on 1 June 1990.[14] He has two children with her, a son, Agni and a daughter, Zuni Chopra.[15]
References
- ^ "Vidhu Vinod Chopra". IMDb. Retrieved 23 July 2019.
- ^ "Vidhu Vinod Chopra recalls troubled time in Kashmir – NDTV Movies". ndtv.com. 6 February 2013. Archived from the original on 24 July 2015. Retrieved 30 June 2018.
- ^ "In Bollywood, everyone's related!". The Times of India. 14 June 2009. Retrieved 3 February 2016.
- ^ "Vidhu Vinod Chopra: I was arrogant, volatile and violent, living with Anu has changed me". The Times of India. 9 April 2015. Retrieved 30 August 2020.
- ^ "Vidhu Vinod Chopra on Shikara: It is about those who have been refugees in India for over three decades". India Today. 7 January 2020.
{{cite magazine}}: Unknown parameter|agency=ignored (help) - ^ "Murder at Monkey Hill". Rudraa. Archived from the original on 3 October 2009. Retrieved 8 October 2009.
- ^ "Tampere International Short Film Festival (1980)". IMDb. Retrieved 30 June 2018.
- ^ a b "3 Idiots – Lifetime Box Office Collection, Budget, Reviews, Cast, etc". BOTY. 4 July 2018. Retrieved 24 July 2019.
- ^ "Broken Horses". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 30 June 2018.
- ^ "Broken Horses Is An Epic Disaster – Box Office India". boxofficeindia.com. Retrieved 29 June 2018.
- ^ "Vidhu Vinod Chopra's New Book 'Unscripted' 2021". Times Of India. 12 January 2021. Retrieved 12 January 2021.
- ^ Vidhu Vinod Chopra wives. bollywoodshaadis.com.
- ^ Watch: A documentary revisits S. Sukhdev's life and career. Scroll.in.
- ^ "Sleeping with the Enemy". OPEN Magazine. 6 May 2010. Retrieved 23 July 2019.
- ^ "Zuni Chopra, the quirky millennial author, at her candid best". in.com. Archived from the original on 19 October 2018. Retrieved 23 July 2019.
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Vidhu Vinod Chopra.
- Vidhu Vinod Chopra at IMDb
- Official website
- Interview at Rediff
- v
- t
- e
Vidhu Vinod Chopra
- Murder at Monkey Hill (1976)
- An Encounter with Faces (1978)
- Sazaye Maut (1981)
- Khamosh (1985)
- Parinda (1989)
- 1942: A Love Story (1994)
- Kareeb (1998)
- Mission Kashmir (2000)
- Eklavya: The Royal Guard (2007)
- Broken Horses (2015)
- Shikara (2020)
- 12th Fail (2023)
- Munna Bhai M.B.B.S. (2003)
- Parineeta (2005)
- Lage Raho Munna Bhai (2006)
- 3 Idiots (2009)
- Ferrari Ki Sawaari (2012)
- PK (2014)
- Wazir (2016)
- Sanju (2018)
- Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga (2019)
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