Srijit Mukherji (born 23 September 1977) is an Indian film director and screenwriter who predominantly works in Bengali cinema.
His regular collaboration with veteran actor
Prosenjit Chatterjee
Prosenjit Chatterjee (born 30 September 1962) is an Indian actor and producer. He is widely regarded as one of the leading actors of modern Bengali cinema. He predominantly works in Cinema of West Bengal, Bengali cinema. He is the son of Bollyw ...
brought him into the limelight. His first feature film '' Autograph'' (2010), was a critical and commercial success, where he had written the script with Chatterjee in mind. His fifth film, '' Jaatishwar,'' won four national awards at India's 61st National Film Awards (2014). He won the National Film Award for Best Direction and
Best Original Screenplay
The Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay is the Academy Award (also known as an Oscar) for the best screenplay not based upon previously published material. It was created in 1940 as a separate writing award from the Academy Award for Best ...
Mukherji was born and brought up in Bhawanipore in Kolkata. He completed his schooling till 10th standard from Dolna Day School, Kolkata and 12th from South Point School,
Kolkata
Kolkata, also known as Calcutta ( its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River, west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary ...
environmental economics
Environmental economics is a sub-field of economics concerned with environmental issues. It has become a widely studied subject due to growing environmental concerns in the twenty-first century. Environmental economics "undertakes theoretical ...
at
Jawaharlal Nehru University
Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU; ISO: Javāharalāla Neharū Viśvavidyālaya) is a public research university located in Delhi, India. It was established in 1969 and named after Jawaharlal Nehru, India's first Prime Minister. The university ...
, parallelly working as a social scientist in the Urban Transport and Pollution Sector with TERI in
New Delhi
New Delhi (; ) is the Capital city, capital of India and a part of the Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the Government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Parliament ...
. He quit his Ph.D. while in his first year, to join IRI Symphony,
Bangalore
Bengaluru, also known as Bangalore (List of renamed places in India#Karnataka, its official name until 1 November 2014), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the southern States and union territories of India, Indian state of Kar ...
as an econometrician and business analyst. After working in Bangalore and a brief stint 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 ...
, he quit his job to actively pursue theatre and films.
Career
Even while working as an economist and statistician, he was actively involved with the English professional theatre circuit 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 Bangalore. He has acted in ''Madness'', adapted from
Paulo Coelho
Paulo Coelho de Souza ( , ; born 24 August 1947) is a Brazilian lyricist and novelist and a member of the Brazilian Academy of Letters since 2002. His 1988 novel '' The Alchemist'' became an international best-seller.
Early life
Paulo Coelho ...
's '' Veronica Decides To Die''; Manoj Mitra's ''The Orchard of Banchharam''; Badal Sircar's ''The Other Side of History''; Sunil Ganguly's ''Pratidwandi – The Adversary'', adapted for the stage from
Satyajit Ray
Satyajit Ray (; 2 May 1921 – 23 April 1992) was an Indian film director, screenwriter, author, lyricist, magazine editor, illustrator, calligraphy, calligrapher, and composer. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest and most influ ...
's film of the same name and ''Lucknow 76''. He wrote and directed ''Mindgame'', an Indian adaptation of Reginald Rose's '' Twelve Angry Men'', at the Alliance Francaise De Bangalore in 2006. In April 2008, he formed his own troupe, Pandora's Act, whose first production, ''Feluda Pherot!'' at Rangashankara in July 2008 was a runaway success and was the first ever non-canonical dramatisation of Satyajit Ray's sleuth
Feluda
Feluda is a fictional detective, private investigator created by Indian director and writer Satyajit Ray. Feluda resides at 21 Rajani Sen Road, Ballygunge, Calcutta, West Bengal, India. Feluda first made his appearance in a Bengali childre ...
Usha Uthup
Usha Iyer Uthup (born 8 November 1947) is an Indian singer known for her deep contralto voice and her versatility across genres and languages. A prominent figure in Indian music since the 1970s, she has received a Filmfare Award, and was honoure ...
.
2010–2012
In 2010 Mukherji directed his debut feature film, the award-winning blockbuster – '' Autograph'' (starring
Prosenjit Chatterjee
Prosenjit Chatterjee (born 30 September 1962) is an Indian actor and producer. He is widely regarded as one of the leading actors of modern Bengali cinema. He predominantly works in Cinema of West Bengal, Bengali cinema. He is the son of Bollyw ...
Nandana Sen
Nandana Dev Sen is an Indian-born American actress, screenwriter, children's author, and child-rights activist. Her first film role in Bollywood was Sanjay Leela Bhansali's ''Black'' (2005), starring Amitabh Bachchan and Rani Mukherjee, in ...
) which was both critically acclaimed and commercially successful. The film won 41 awards and was an official selection at Abu Dhabi International Film Festival 2010, MIAAC Film Festival in New York 2010, Glasgow International Film Festival 2011 and
London Indian Film Festival
London Indian Film Festival is a film festival established in 2010 to showcase Indian independent film.
In the same year he also made his acting debut on Bengali television in the
Rituparno Ghosh
Rituparno Ghosh (; 31 August 1963 – 30 May 2013) was an Indian film director, actor, writer and lyricist. After pursuing a degree in economics, he started his career as a creative artist at an advertising agency. He received recognition for h ...
scripted mega serial '' Gaaner Opare'', produced by Ideas Entertainment.
His work in 2011 included a major role in Anindya Banerjee's ''Chaplin'' starring Rudranil Ghosh and his second film, starring
Prosenjit Chatterjee
Prosenjit Chatterjee (born 30 September 1962) is an Indian actor and producer. He is widely regarded as one of the leading actors of modern Bengali cinema. He predominantly works in Cinema of West Bengal, Bengali cinema. He is the son of Bollyw ...
Raima Sen
Raima Sen (born Raima Dev Varma) is an Indian actress and model, born into the royal family of Tripura to Bharat Dev Varma and Moon Moon Sen. Sen is known for her work in Hindi and Bengali films.
Early life
Raima Sen was born on 7 November ...
, Abir Chatterjee and Gautam Ghose, who returned to acting after a hiatus of 29 years. was recently the official selection at the Dubai International Film Festival and the closing film at the London Indian Film Festival, and had a 105-day run at the box office making it the biggest blockbuster of the year. has won 41 awards. His third feature film was '' Hemlock Society'', a romantic satire set at the backdrop of a school which teaches aspirants how to successfully commit suicide. It featured Parambrata Chatterjee and Koel Mallick and won 21 awards.
Kakababu
Kakababu, or Raja Roy Chowdhury, is a fictional adventurer created by Bengali people, Bengali author Sunil Gangopadhyay. The series debuted in the 1971 Puja issue of Anandamela, Anandamela magazine with ''Bhoyonkor Sundor'', and quickly became ...
with Prasenjit Chattopadhyay playing the lead character and Indraneil Sengupta playing the role of Hani Alkadi, has been declared as one of the biggest blockbusters ever and the highest earning urban mainstream film. He has acted in films like '' Dutta Vs Dutta'', '' Bapi Bari Jaa'' and the national award-winning '' Shobdo''. His fifth film '' Jaatishwar'', featuring
Prosenjit Chatterjee
Prosenjit Chatterjee (born 30 September 1962) is an Indian actor and producer. He is widely regarded as one of the leading actors of modern Bengali cinema. He predominantly works in Cinema of West Bengal, Bengali cinema. He is the son of Bollyw ...
and Jisshu Sengupta, is generally considered to be the best in his career and most critically acclaimed. It is the musical bridge between two centuries of Bengali culture and a biopic cum a musical cum a reincarnation drama. At the 61st National Awards 2014, the highest film honour in India, it won 4 national awards for Music Direction, Playback Singing, Costume and Make up. This was the highest tally for a film in India this year, and the second highest ever for a Bengali film. It also swept the Mirchi Music Awards in 2015 winning 7 awards. The following year at the 62nd National Awards 2015, Chotushkone won him the Best Director and Best Original Screenplay awards, along with winning the Best Cinematography.
He also received the Young Achiever Award from Rotary International, the prestigious Shera Bangali Award from ABP Anando and the Shoilojanando Mukhopadhyay Memorial Award in 2012 for his contribution in the field of film direction. In 2013 he received the Uttam Kumar Memorial Award from the Government of West Bengal becoming the youngest director to achieve this. He has also received the oldest film award in India, the BFJA award, for remarkable contribution to Bengali Cinema in the last few years.
2017–2020
Mukherji has made his directorial debut in
Bollywood
Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, is primarily produced in Mumbai. The popular term Bollywood is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (former name of Mumbai) and "Cinema of the United States, Hollywood". The in ...
with the film '' Begum Jaan'' which is a remake of his earlier Bengali film Rajkahini. Vidya Balan plays the lead role of a brothel's madam during the partition of India in 1947.
He had two releases in 2018, Uma and Ek Je Chhilo Raja. Both featured Jisshu Sengupta and were box office superhits. The former went to 10 film festivals around the world and won 6 awards while the latter won 23 awards and went to 7 film festivals around the world including Palm Springs International Film Festival.
In 2018, it was reported that Mukherji will be directing a Junglee Pictures produced yet to be titled web-series in Hindi, based on the novel of noted novelist and blogger Arnab Ray, The Mahabharata Murders. This will be his first foray into web-series direction.
In 2019, he has three releases Shahjahan Regency, Vinci Da and Gumnaami, the last two being both critical and commercial successes along with being a festival favourite. Gumnaami won the Best Bengali Feature Film and Best Adapted Screenplay Awards at the 67th National Film Awards.
He has also completed another web-series, ''Feluda Pherot'', which is based on two
Feluda
Feluda is a fictional detective, private investigator created by Indian director and writer Satyajit Ray. Feluda resides at 21 Rajani Sen Road, Ballygunge, Calcutta, West Bengal, India. Feluda first made his appearance in a Bengali childre ...
stories written by Satyajit Ray, ''Chhinomostar Obhishaap'' and ''Darjeeling Jomjomat''.
2021–present
After no films in 2020 due to
COVID-19
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic.
The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...
, in 2021 he had 4 releases, out of which 2 were Hindi films. He directed '' Kakababur Protyaborton'', which was based on the third film of the
Kakababu
Kakababu, or Raja Roy Chowdhury, is a fictional adventurer created by Bengali people, Bengali author Sunil Gangopadhyay. The series debuted in the 1971 Puja issue of Anandamela, Anandamela magazine with ''Bhoyonkor Sundor'', and quickly became ...
franchise, it had Prosenjit Chatterjee as Kakababu, Aryann Bhowmik, Anirban Chakrabarti in the lead roles. His next release was '' X=Prem''. A
black and white
Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white to produce a range of achromatic brightnesses of grey. It is also known as greyscale in technical settings.
Media
The history of various visual media began with black and white, ...
neo-noir
Neo-noir is a film genre that adapts the visual style and themes of 1940s and 1950s American film noir for contemporary audiences, often with more graphic depictions of violence and sexuality. During the late 1970s and the early 1980s, the term ...
crime thriller
Crime fiction, detective story, murder mystery, crime novel, mystery novel, and police novel are terms used to describe narratives or fiction that centre on criminal acts and especially on the investigation, either by an amateur or a professiona ...
as the 4th installment Srijit Mukherji's Cop Universe. It served as the prequel crossover of his previous films '' Baishe Srabon'' and '' Vinci Da''. It became a huge box office success emerged as one of the highest grossing Bengali films of 2023. The film received multiple nomination and awards at the Filmfare Awards Bangla and WBFJA Awards.
His first release in 2024 was the
fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction that involves supernatural or Magic (supernatural), magical elements, often including Fictional universe, imaginary places and Legendary creature, creatures.
The genre's roots lie in oral traditions, ...
comedy film
The comedy film is a film genre that emphasizes humor. These films are designed to amuse audiences and make them laugh. Films in this genre typically have a happy ending, with dark comedy being an exception to this rule. Comedy is one of the o ...
'' Oti Uttam''. For the first time ever in Indian Cinema, veteran actor Uttam Kumar appeared in the movie through
Visual effects
Visual effects (sometimes abbreviated as VFX) is the process by which imagery is created or manipulated outside the context of
a live-action shot in filmmaking and video production.
The integration of live-action footage and other live-action fo ...
by using his scenes from his 56 existing old movies. His next release this year was a
biopic
A biographical film or biopic () is a film that dramatizes the life of an actual person or group of people. Such films show the life of a historical person and the central character's real name is used. They differ from docudrama films and histo ...
on the life of
Mrinal Sen
Mrinal Sen ( ; 14 May 1923 – 30 December 2018) was a Bengali film director and screenwriter known for his work primarily in Cinema of West Bengal, Bengali, and a few Hindi cinema, Hindi and Telugu cinema, Telugu language films. Regarded as on ...
. Titled '' Padatik'', it chronicles his active time and contributions to Bengali cinema. His next thriller film titled '' Tekka'' starring Dev and Rukmini Maitra released on the occasion Durga Puja 2024 and earned an 'organic blockbuster' tag. His upcoming venture is ''Feludar Goyendagiri (Season 2)'' which is scheduled to release on the occasion of Christmas 2024, digitally. Also, post-production of his next film ''Shotyi Boley Shotyi Kichhu Nei'' is currently undergoing and is scheduled for a January 2025 release.
Filmography
As director
Web series
As lyricist and actor
Also as an Actor(Cameo Roles) in all the films he directed
Awards
International Awards
* Best Director for '' Ek Je Chhilo Raja'' at 20th Rainbow Film Festival, London (2018)
* Best Story for '' Vinci Da'' at 21st Rainbow Film Festival, London (2019)
* Best Film for '' Ek Je Chhilo Raja'' at 17th Dhaka International Film Festival (2019)
* Best Screenplay for ''Padatik'' at the 24th New York Indian Film Festival (2024)
* Best Director for '' Baishe Srabon'' at International Bangla Film Academy Awards (2011)
* Best Screenplay for '' Baishe Srabon'' at International Bangla Film Academy Awards (2011)
National Awards (Govt. of India)
* Best Director for '' Chotushkone'' at the 62nd National Awards (2014)
* Best Original Screenplay for '' Chotushkone'' at the 62nd National Awards (2014)
* Best Adapted Screenplay for '' Gumnaami'' at the 67th National Awards (2019)
* Best Director (Bengali) for '' Ek Je Chhilo Raja'' at the 66th National Awards (2018)
* Best Director (Bengali) for '' Gumnaami'' at the 67th National Awards (2019)
Filmfare Awards
* Best Story for '' Vinci Da'' (2019)
* Best Film for '' Vinci Da'' (2019)
* Best Screenplay for ''Dwitiyo Purush'' (2020)
* Best Screenplay for ''Padatik'' (2024)
WBFJA Awards (Oldest Film Awards in India)
* Best Director for '' Ek Je Chhilo Raja'' (2018)
* Best Lyricist for '' Ahare Mon'' (2018)
* Best Screenplay for ''Dwitiyo Purush'' (2020)
* Best Director for ''Padatik'' (2024)
State Awards (Govt. Of West Bengal)
* Best Film for ''Autograph'' at the 10th Telecine Awards (2010)
* Best Director for ''Autograph'' at the 10th Telecine Awards (2010)
* Best Director for '' Baishe Srabon'' at the 11th Telecine Awards (2011)
* Best Director for '' Chotushkone'' at the 14th Telecine Awards (2014)
* Best Film for '' Vinci Da'' at the 18th Telecine Awards (2019)
* Best Director (Critics) for '' Vinci Da'' at the 18th Telecine Awards (2019)
* Best Film for '' Gumnaami'' at the 19th Telecine Awards (2019)
* Best Director (Critics) for '' Gumnaami'' at the 19th Telecine Awards (2019)
Personal life
Mukherji was in a relationship with actress Swastika Mukherjee; they broke up after filming ''Jaatishwar'' in 2014. Later he dated
Jaya Ahsan
Jaya Maswood (born 1 July), popularly known as Jaya Ahsan, is a Bangladeshi film actress, model, producer and playback singer. Starting her career as a model and, later, as a film actress, she works mostly in Bangladeshi and Indian Bengali fil ...
around 2017 for a brief period. Media reports speculated a romantic affair between him and actress
Jaya Ahsan
Jaya Maswood (born 1 July), popularly known as Jaya Ahsan, is a Bangladeshi film actress, model, producer and playback singer. Starting her career as a model and, later, as a film actress, she works mostly in Bangladeshi and Indian Bengali fil ...
during the filming of ''Bishorjan'' (2017). Mukherji did not address the rumours directly, but described their relationship being "much more than love".
On 6 December 2019, Mukherji married actress Rafiath Rashid Mithila.