Top 10 directors of Bollywood who changed the face of Indian Cinema

Anurag Kashyap : Master of Experimental Cinema
Anurag Kashyap : Master of Experimental Cinema

The only constant thing that Bollywood has is its changing trends. Bollywood has gone more realistic, bolder and better over the last few years. The credit for this goes to some of the names of the Indian Cinema who have got a wonderful vision and art.

Let’s have a look at some names who definitely have changed the face of Indian Cinema globally. It is these names who have made the world realize that Bollywood is much more than just dancing around trees. Here is the list of top 10 directors of Bollywood who changed the face of Indian Cinema with their experimental film-making and emerged as true winners critically and commercially.

Top 10 directors of Bollywood

Anurag Kashyap : One of the most influential directors of all times, Kashyap has got an edge that none of his peers have. From small city of Gorakhpur to Mumbai, this man has seen his share of struggles. Now there is no looking back. His first recognized word was as a story/screenplay writer for Satya(1998). He came into limelight after the unreleased controversial Paanch(2003). He was an award-winning script and story writer for Deepa Mehta’s Water(2005). But his real taste of success came when he directed the controversial award-winning movie Black Friday(2004). Kashyap is known for his depiction of realistic cinema. His other appreciated work includes Dev D(2009), a beautiful attempt to the story of Devdas, Paro and Chandramukhi with a twist, Gulaal(2009) a social drama on University politics, That Girl In Yellow Boots(2011) and the most talked about Gangs of Wasseypur I and II (2012). He is said to be a mentor to veteran actors like Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Huma Qureshi and ex-wife Kalki Koechlin. His future projects include the must awaited Bombay Velvet(2015) starring Ranbir Kapoor, Anushka Sharma and Doga(2015). Kashyap is also directing a TV series Yuddh starring Amitabh Bachchan.

Anurag Kashyap
Anurag Kashyap

Anurag Basu: Kissing and love-making scenes in our movies were shown by moving flowers and glowing lamps. But everything changed since Anurag Basu started his hand in direction. Sex and adultery are no more a taboo in Bollywood movies. A TV series director who was associated with series like X-Zone(1999), Koshish …Ek Aasha(2000), Kyunki saans bhi kabhi bahu thi(2001), Kahaani Ghar Ghar Ki(2002) did not have it easy in films. His earlier attempts Kucch To Hai(2003) with Ekta Kapoor and Saaya(2003) failed miserably at Box-Office. It was only through his third film Murder(2004) that he tasted success. The movie has sex scenes which were a reason of shock to Indian Cinema. But despite this, the movie was a huge success. Then came Gangster(2006), Life in a… Metro(2007) both of which were huge successes with an awesome music by Pritam. Basu returned back to small screen with Love Story(2007). His next movie was Kites(2010), an ambitious project starring Hrithik Roshan which did not flair well at the ticket window. Then came Barfi!(2012) which was well received both by the audiences and critics. His thriller film Jagga Jasoos is expected to release in 2015.

Anurag Basu
Anurag Basu

Rajkumar Hirani: Director Ayaan Mukherjee was asked one thing that Rajkumar Hirani has which he doesn’t in Koffee with Karan. He said EVERYTHING. He wants everything that Hirani has. This explains a lot about this National Award winning director. An FTII graduate, he tried his hand in editing and advertisement. But luck had something else for him and so he associated with Vidhu Vinod Chopra and worked on promos for 1942: A Love Story, Kareeb. His big break was Mission Kashmir as editor. His debut directorial venture was cult classic Munnabhai MBBS(2003) which was trend setter. Tapori and Bhaigiri got a new definition of cuteness. Jadoo ki Jhappi became new healer of your wounds. His second venture was Lage Raho Munnabhai(2006) where he popularized Gandhism in a new way GANDHIGIRI. The movie was a superhit and received overwhelming responses from critics and mass audiences. Then came the comedy 3 Idiots(2009), an adaptation of Chetan Bhagat’s novel Five Point Someone. This movie became highest grosser of Indian Cinema and broke all domestic and overseas records. His upcoming movie PK stars Aamir Khan, Anushka Sharma, Sushant Singh Rajput and Boman Irani and is releasing on 19th Dec 2014.

Top 10 directors of Bollywood : Rajkumar Hirani
Rajkumar Hirani

Imtiaz Ali : No one deals with love stories the way Imtiaz Ali does. Starting his career as writer and director for TV serials, his first directorial venture was Socha Na Tha(2005). Though the film did not do well at the box-office it was highly appreciated by critics. His first commercial success was Jab We Met(2007) which starred than real life couple Shahid Kapoor and Kareena Kapoor. The story of two strangers who met on train and fell in love was loved by one and all. Since then there was no looking back for Imtiaz Ali. With back to back commercial hits like Love Aaj Kal(2009) and Rockstar(2011) Imtiaz has never given his fans a reason to complain. His last work was HighWay(2014) earned a lot of critical acclaim. His next film is Tamasha which will see ex-couple Ranbir Kapoor and Deepika Padukone in lead roles.

Imtiaz Ali
Imtiaz Ali

Dibakar Banerjee: Winner of 2 National Awards, Dibakar Banerjee is a director whose every film is an experiment in itself. His movies are sarcastic, satirical and small budgeted. A daring director, his first work was Khosla ka Ghosla(2006), a crisp comedy drama which performed well at Box-Office. Next work was Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!(2008) loosely based on Delhi infamous thief Bunty / Devinder Singh. The story of a thief who appeared like a hero was worth watching. Then he ventured into the much controversial Love Sex Aur Dhokha(2010). This movie was first in India which was presented as found footage style. This film took a dig at media and its turning into a cheap entertainment, a medium without any ethics and morals. The last work by Banerjee was Shanghai(2012) a critically acclaimed politically thriller based on assassination. His future project is Detective Byomkesh Bakshi(2014). It will be a delight to see Banerjee’s version of India’s most lovable detective.

Dibakar Banerjee
Dibakar Banerjee

Zoya Akhtar: She is much more than Javed Akhtar’s daughter and Farhan Akhtar’s sister. Having worked as an Assistant Director for films like Dil Chahta Hai(2001) and Lakshya(2004) her first work as mainstream director was Luck By Chance(2009). The in and out of the Bollywood industry was beautifully shown in this fun and humorous movie. The movie bombed at the box-office but was appreciated by critics. Her next work was Zindagi Na Milegi Doobara(2012) which was both a commercial and critical success. The way living life was dealt in this movie was inspiring. She even hinted that she is planning a ZNMD sequel. Her future project is again a multi-starer Dil Dhadakne Do which is scheduled to release in 2015.

Zoya Akhtar
Zoya Akhtar

Shoojit Sircar : If we can talk and sperm donation and infertility with zero inhibitions it is only because of Shoojit Sircar. His movie Vicky Donor(2012) was a huge success. Despite its risky subject this movie proved its mettle and spoke openly about subjects that are still considered inappropriate to be talked about. But Vicky Donor was not Sircar’s first hand at direction. His first film was Yahaan(2005), a war drama, romantic film. The film was a critical hit. Shoojit’s latest work was Madras Café(2013), a sensitive film dealing with Sri Lankan Civil war and assassination of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. The movie brought John Abraham Pride of the Nation award by Anti-Terrorist front. His next release is Piku(2015) which has biggies like Amitabh Bachchan, Deepika Padukone and Irrfan Khan.

Shoojit Sircar
Shoojit Sircar

Neeraj Pandey: Neeraj Pandey is known for his brilliant work as a director for the movie A Wednesday!(2008). This movie got him the Indira Gandhi Award for Best First Film of a director. The story of a comman man fed up of the system and taking matter in his own hands was well. It was Neeraj’s directional excellence which adds spark to the movie. The movie was a sleeper hit. His next movie was again an equally acclaimed movie Special 26(2013). Special 26 was based on a real life heist where a group of people posing as CBI officers execute an Income Tax raid. The movie was a perfect showcase of the cat-and-mouse chase between the likes of con men and policemen. The movie was received well both at Box-office and by the critics.

Neeraj Pandey
Neeraj Pandey

Sujoy Ghosh: An unconventional start with a tribute to Pancham Da, Sujoy Ghosh started his direction career with Jhankar Beats(2003). His later ventures Home Delivery (2005), Aladin(2009) were a debacle at the box-office. His 2012 release Kahaani brought him back in the heap. With Vidya Balan in the main lead this movie was a huge success and even got Ghosh a National Award. His probable next venture is Durga Rani Singh which is expected to release in 2015.

Top 10 directors of Bollywood : Sujoy Ghosh
Sujoy Ghosh

Vishal Bhardwaj: If there is one director who can adapt novels and books with utmost ease and add DESIPANA to it, then Vishal Bhardwaj is our man. Having started his career as a music composer, this Vishal made it big with movies like Makdee(2002), The Blue Umbrella(2005), Kaminey(2009), 7 Khoon Maaf(2011). But one thing that he is best at is adaptation of Shakespeare’s work. His best works includes Maqbool(2003) an adaptation of Macbeth, Omkara(2006) from Othello and the upcoming Haider(2014) which took its inspiration from Hamlet. His addition of Indian Tadka is what makes him stand apart his peers. Not only a noted director, he is also a marvelous composer and singer. We expect some great work from him in future.

Vishal Bharadwaj
Vishal Bharadwaj

Other directors of Bollywood whose works are not meant to be unnoticed are Ayan Mukerji, known for Wake Up Sid(2009) and Yeh Jawani Hain Deewani(2013), Farhan Akhtar, known for Dil Chahta Hai(2001) and Lakshya(2004). Well Bollywood always welcome talent and people who dream of making it Big.

5 COMMENTS

  1. good one…thanks for sharing all such details….these people are really doing good and are trendsetters in bollywood 🙂

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