Rajkumar Hirani

Rajkumar "Raju" Hirani (born 20 November 1962) is an Indian filmmaker known for his works in Hindi films. He is the recipient of several accolades, including four National Film Awards and 11 Filmfare Awards. A prolific director of Hindi cinema, his movies are often lighthearted but revolve around significant societal issues with humour and emotional intelligence.

Starting his career as a film editor after graduating from FTII in editing, a bad experience forced him to shift to ad films, where he made several successful ads. His first film as a professional editor was Vidhu Vinod Chopra's action drama Mission Kashmir (2000). Although Hirani wanted to make films, he took a one-year break and came back with the script of the comedy-drama Munna Bhai M.B.B.S. to Chopra to finance. Upon release, the film emerged as a critical and commercial success. It won the National Film Award for Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment and the Filmfare Award for Best Film (Critics) and earned Hirani the Filmfare Award for Best Screenplay and his first nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Director. making them the most awarded duo in this category.

After the success of MBBS, he helmed its sequel Lage Raho Munna Bhai (2006), which emerged as the second-highest grosser of the year and the coming-of-age comedy-drama 3 Idiots (2009) emerged as the highest grossing Indian film of its time. Both of them won the National Film Award for Best Popular Film and several Filmfare Awards. His religious satire PK (2014) again emerged as the highest-grossing Indian film of its time and the biographical drama Sanju (2018) based on the life of actor Sanjay Dutt released to commercial success. He is the founder of the production house Rajkumar Hirani Films. In 2019, Hirani directed a two‑minute commemorative short film on Mahatma Gandhi to mark the 150th anniversary of Gandhi's birth. His latest film Dunki, starring Shah Rukh Khan was released theatrically on 21 December 2023 with mixed reviews.