Rajkumar Santoshi

Rajkumar Santoshi (born 17 July, 1956) is an Indian film director, screenwriter and producer, who works in Hindi cinema. A recipient of several accolades including three National Film Awards and six Filmfare Awards, he made his directorial debut with the action drama Ghayal (1990), starring Sunny Deol, Meenakshi Sheshadri and Amrish Puri. The film emerged as a blockbuster and critical success, making Santoshi a household name in the industry. The film also won him the National Film Award for Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment as well as his first Filmfare Award for Best Director.

Santoshi's next film, the universally acclaimed social drama Damini (1993), which again starred Deol, Sheshadri and Puri, also emerged as a blockbuster. It is widely considered the best movie made by Santoshi, garnering him the Filmfare Award for Best Screenplay and his second consecutive Filmfare Award for Best Director. During this period, Santoshi also received praise for directing the comedy Andaz Apna Apna (1994) starring Aamir Khan and Salman Khan together, which despite being a box-office flop has attained cult status. Later, he directed the successful action romance film Barsaat (1995), which marked the film debut of Bobby Deol and Twinkle Khanna. His next action drama Ghatak (1996), again emerged as a commercial blockbuster and critical success. Both Andaz Apna Apna and Ghatak earned him nominations for the Filmfare Award for Best Director.

Although his next films China Gate (1998) and 2000 action thriller Pukar, were not commercially successful; for later, his work was appreciated and he won the Nargis Dutt Award for Best Feature Film on National Integration for it. He followed it by directing two moderate commercial successes—the biopic The Legend of Bhagat Singh (2002) and the action thriller Khakee (2004) — both of which earned him nominations for the Filmfare Award for Best Director. His highest-grossing film of that decade came in 2009 with the romantic comedy Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani starring Ranbir Kapoor and Katrina Kaif, which grossed ₹1.2 billion (US$14 million) worldwide and was declared a Semi-hit at box-office.