Amar Kaushik is an Indian filmmaker. He is best known for directing the Maddock Horror Comedy Universe films '' Stree'' (2018), '' Bhediya'' (2022), and '' Stree 2'' (2024), as well as the satire '' Bala'' (2019).

Early life

He was born in

Kanpur Kanpur (Hindustani language, Hindustani: ), originally named Kanhapur and formerly anglicized as Cawnpore, is the second largest city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Uttar Pradesh after Lucknow. It was the primary ...

city in the state of

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh ( ; UP) is a States and union territories of India, state in North India, northern India. With over 241 million inhabitants, it is the List of states and union territories of India by population, most populated state in In ...

in a Gaur Brahmin family. Amar Kaushik grew up in Medo,

Arunachal Pradesh Arunachal Pradesh (; ) is a States and union territories of India, state in northeast India. It was formed from the North-East Frontier Agency (NEFA) region, and India declared it as a state on 20 February 1987. Itanagar is its capital and la ...

where his father was a forest ranger who worked for the

Indian Forest Service The Indian Forest Service (IFS) is the premier forest service of India. .The IFS is one of the three All India Services along with the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) & the Indian Police Service (IPS). It was constituted in the year 1966 un ...

and his mother Shashi was a school teacher. When he was 10 years old, the family moved to

. He later studied mass communications in

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, but spread chiefly to the west, or beyond its Bank (geography ...

and moved to Mumbai in 2006.

Career

Kaushik began his film career in 2008, working as

Raj Kumar Gupta Raj Kumar Gupta is an Indian film writer and director, known for his work in Bollywood, Hindi cinema. He made his directorial debut with the acclaimed ''Aamir (film), Aamir'' (2008) and has since directed the critically and commercially success ...

's assistant director on '' Aamir''. He teamed up with Gupta again to serve as associate director for '' No One Killed Jessica'' and '' Ghanchakkar''. In addition to crew duties, Kaushik had small acting roles in each of the three films. After working as an associate director on the Onir films '' Sorry Bhai!'', '' I Am'' and '' Shab'', Kaushik ventured into solo directing with his short film "Aaaba". The script was written by Kaushik and based on a story by his mother. It was funded with loans from his friends, including Raj Kumar Gupta. Shot entirely in Ziro,

, "Aaba" was screened at the

Toronto International Film Festival The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the most prestigious and largest publicly attended film festivals in the world. Founded in 1976, the festival takes place every year in early September. The organi ...

and won the Special Jury Prize for Best Short Film at the 2017

Berlin International Film Festival The Berlin International Film Festival (), usually called the Berlinale (), is an annual film festival held in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1951 and originally run in June, the festival has been held every February since 1978 and is one of Europ ...

. Kaushik began shooting his feature film ''Stree'' in January 2018. Starring Rajkummar Rao and Shraddha Kapoor, the horror film was released on 31 August 2018. ''Stree'' became a surprise hit, earning 125.57 crore by 1 October. The sequel to Stree titled '' Stree 2'' was theatrically released worldwide on 15 August 2024, garnering positive critical reception. The film grossed over 873.70 crore* at the box office. Kaushik's upcoming projects include an untitled film on the subject of

surrogacy Surrogacy is an arrangement whereby a woman gets pregnant and gives birth on behalf of another person or couple who will become the child's legal parents after birth. People pursue surrogacy for a variety of reasons such as infertility, danger ...

. One of the most notable and commercially successful movies directed by Kaushik is the 2019 movie "'' Bala''" starring

Ayushmann Khurrana Ayushmann Khurrana (born Nishant Khurrana; 14 September 1984) is an Indian actor and singer who works in Hindi films. Known for his portrayals of ordinary men often battling social norms, he is the recipient of several awards, including a Na ...

, Bhumi Pednekar and Yami Gautam.

Filmography

Feature films

Other credits

Television

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kaushik, Amar Living people Indian film directors People from Arunachal Pradesh Filmfare Awards winners 1983 births