Vidhu Vinod Chopra (born 5 September 1952) is an Indian film director, producer, screenwriter and editor. He is the recipient of several accolades, including four

National Film Awards The National Film Awards are awards for artistic and technical merit given for "Excellence within the Cinema of India, Indian film industry". Established in 1954, it has been administered, along with the International Film Festival of India ...

and eleven

Filmfare Awards The Filmfare Awards are annual awards that honour artistic and technical excellence in the Indian cinema.Al The Filmfare ceremony is one of the most famous film events in India. The awards were introduced by Filmfare magazine of The Times G ...

. He is known for directing films such as the crime drama ''

Parinda () is a 1989 Indian Hindi-language crime thriller film directed, produced and distributed by Vidhu Vinod Chopra. The film stars Jackie Shroff, Anil Kapoor, Nana Patekar and Madhuri Dixit. The story and scenario were written by Chopra, while ...

'' (1989), the patriotic romantic drama '' 1942: A Love Story'' (1994), the action drama ''

Mission Kashmir ''Mission Kashmir'' is a 2000 Indian Hindi-language action thriller film directed and produced by Vidhu Vinod Chopra. The film stars Sanjay Dutt, Hrithik Roshan, Jackie Shroff, Preity Zinta, and Sonali Kulkarni. Set against the backdrop of ...

'' (2000) and the biographical drama ''

12th Fail ''12th Fail'' is a 2023 Indian Hindi-language biographical drama film directed, produced and written by Vidhu Vinod Chopra. It is based on the 2019 eponymous non-fiction book by Anurag Pathak about Manoj Kumar Sharma, who overcame extreme pove ...

'' (2023). He is also known for producing the '' Munna Bhai film series'', ''

3 Idiots ''3 Idiots'' is a 2009 Indian Hindi-language coming-of-age comedy-drama film written, edited and directed by Rajkumar Hirani, co-written by Abhijat Joshi and produced by Vidhu Vinod Chopra. The film stars Aamir Khan, R. Madhavan and Shar ...

'' (2009), '' PK'' (2014), and ''

Sanju ''Sanju'' is a 2018 Indian Hindi-language biographical comedy drama film directed and edited by Rajkumar Hirani, written by Hirani and Abhijat Joshi and produced by Hirani and Vidhu Vinod Chopra under the banners Rajkumar Hirani Films and Vi ...

'' (2018) under his banner

Vinod Chopra Films Vinod Chopra Films is an Indian film production company owned and operated by Hindi film-maker Vidhu Vinod Chopra Vidhu Vinod Chopra (born 5 September 1952) is an Indian film director, producer, screenwriter and editor. He is the recipi ...

Early life

Chopra was born and grew up in

Srinagar Srinagar (; ) is a city in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir in the disputed Kashmir region.The application of the term "administered" to the various regions of Kashmir and a mention of the Kashmir dispute is supported by the tertiary ...

Jammu and Kashmir Jammu and Kashmir may refer to: * Jammu and Kashmir (union territory), a region administered by India as a union territory since 2019 * Jammu and Kashmir (state), a region administered by India as a state from 1952 to 2019 * Jammu and Kashmir (prin ...

, India to a

Punjabi Hindu Punjabi Hindus are adherents of Hinduism who identify ethnically, linguistically, culturally, and genealogically as Punjabis and are natives of the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent. Punjabi Hindus are the third-largest religious g ...

family. His father was D. N. Chopra and veteran filmmaker

Ramanand Sagar Ramanand Sagar (born Chandramauli Chopra; 29 December 1917 – 12 December 2005) was an Indian film-television director, producer, and writer. He is best known for his contribution to the television serials '' Ramayan'' (1987–1988) and '' Shr ...

was his half-brother. His brother, Vir K. Chopra, was a scholar of Indian politics and worked as a producer. His parents were originally from

Peshawar Peshawar is the capital and List of cities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa by population, largest city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. It is the sixth most populous city of Pakistan, with a district p ...

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...

. His mother was Shanti Devi Mahalakshmi, who left Kashmir, due to the

Kashmir conflict The Kashmir conflict is a territorial conflict over the Kashmir region, primarily between India and Pakistan, and also between China and India in the northeastern portion of the region. The conflict started after the partition of India in 1 ...

in 1990. He dedicated his film ''

Shikara The shikara is a type of wooden boat found on Dal Lake and other water bodies of Srinagar in Jammu and Kashmir. Shikaras are of various sizes and are used for multiple purposes, including transportation. A usual shikara seats six people, with ...

'' to his mother, which was based on the same. He studied film direction at the

Film and Television Institute of India The Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) is a film institute under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (India), Ministry of Information and Broadcasting of the Government of India and aided by the Central Government of India. ...

in Pune.

Career

Chopra's first student short film, ''

Murder at Monkey Hill ''Murder at Monkey Hill'' is 1976 Indian film written and directed by Vidhu Vinod Chopra. The short film in Black-and-white was made by Vidhu Vinod Chopra as his final project while doing his diploma at FTII. Vinod Chopra, himself, played the l ...

'' (1976), won the National Film Award for Best Short Experimental Film and the Guru Dutt Memorial Award for Best Student Film. This was followed by a short documentary highlighting the plight of India's destitute children, called '' An Encounter with Faces'' (1976), which was nominated for the

Academy Award for Best Documentary Short Film This is a list of films by year that have received an Academy Award together with the other nominations for best documentary short film. Following the Academy's practice, the year listed for each film is the year of release: the awards are announ ...

in 1979. It also won the Grand Prix at the

Tampere Film Festival The Tampere Film Festival () is a short film festival held every March, mostly at the Finnkino Plevna movie theatre, in Tampere, Finland. It is accredited by the film producers' society FIAPF, and together with the short film festivals in Oberhau ...

in 1980. ''

Sazaye Maut ''Sazā-ye Maut'' (English: Death Penalty) is 1981 Indian film directed and produced by Vidhu Vinod Chopra. The films was based on Chopra's diploma film at FTII, '' Murder at Monkey Hill'' (1976). He adapted that into a full-length feature, wi ...

'', his first full-length feature film, was an adaptation of his previous short, ''Murder at Monkey Hill''. It starred

Naseeruddin Shah Naseeruddin Shah (born 20 July 1950) is an Indian actor. He was notable in Indian parallel cinema and has starred in various international productions. He has won numerous awards in his career, including three National Film Awards, three Filmfa ...

Radha Saluja Radha Saluja is an Indian actress who has worked in Hindi cinema, Punjabi cinema and Tamil, Bengali, Malayalam, Telugu and Kannada movies. She was born on September 15, 1951, in Kolkata. An alumna of the Film and Television Institute of Ind ...

and

Dilip Dhawan Dilip Dhawan (1955 – 15 February 2000) was an Indian film and television actor. He started his career as a child in '' Sangharsh'' (1968), featuring Dilip Kumar. Dhawan acted in over 50 films. Career He acted as the lead in the film ''Arvin ...

Vanraj Bhatia Vanraj Bhatia (Hindi: वनराज भाटिया ; 31 May 1927 – 7 May 2021) was an Indian composer best known for his work in Indian New Wave cinema. He was also one of the leading composers of Western classical music in India. Bha ...

composed the music for the film. He founded his own production company,

, in 1985. Since then, the company has gone on to produce major Bollywood films, and is currently one of the biggest and most successful film production houses in India. For , his next directorial venture, Chopra assembled a cast featuring some of the finest acting talent in India.

Shabana Azmi Shabana Azmi (born 18 September 1950) is an Indian actress of film, television and theatre. Her career in the Hindi cinema, Hindi film industry has spanned Shabana Azmi filmography, over 160 films, mostly within independent and neorealist paral ...

Amol Palekar Amol Palekar (born 24 November 1944) is an Indian actor, director and producer of Hindi and Marathi cinema. Early life and education Palekar was born to Kamlakara and Suhasini Palekar in a Marathi language, Marathi speaking middle-class family ...

and

Pankaj Kapoor Pankaj Kapur (born 29 May 1954) is an Indian actor who has worked in Hindi theatre, television and films. Recipient of a Filmfare Award and three National Film Awards, his most acclaimed film roles include that of Inspector P.K. in '' Raakh'' ...

, among others, appeared in prominent roles. An inventive meta

thriller Thriller may refer to: * Thriller (genre), a broad genre of literature, film and television ** Thriller film, a film genre under the general thriller genre Comics * ''Thriller'' (DC Comics), a comic book series published 1983–84 by DC Comics i ...

set in

Kashmir Kashmir ( or ) is the Northwestern Indian subcontinent, northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term ''Kashmir'' denoted only the Kashmir Valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir P ...

, remains one of the notable Indian films in the

genre Genre () is any style or form of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other fo ...

. His next directorial, the crime drama (1989), proved to be a landmark film in

Hindi cinema 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 ...

. It expanded the orbit of the crime drama and the vocabulary of images used in

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

films while garnering widespread critical acclaim and numerous awards. Several modern Indian filmmakers have expressed their admiration for and drawn inspiration from Chopra's film. Chopra's next film, '' 1942: A Love Story'' (1994), was a patriotic romantic drama set during the decline of the

British Raj The British Raj ( ; from Hindustani language, Hindustani , 'reign', 'rule' or 'government') was the colonial rule of the British The Crown, Crown on the Indian subcontinent, * * lasting from 1858 to 1947. * * It is also called Crown rule ...

. With

Anil Kapoor Anil Kapoor (born 24 December 1956) is an Indian actor and producer who works primarily in Hindi cinema, Hindi films, in addition to Indian television and international films. In a career spanning over 40 years as an actor and since 2005 as a ...

and

Manisha Koirala Manisha Koirala (; born 16 August 1970) is a Nepali people, Nepalese actress who works in Cinema of India, Indian films, predominantly in Hindi and Tamil language, Tamil. Born to the politically prominent Koirala family, she is the daughter of ...

in lead roles, it was also the last film to have its music composed by the legendary R. D. Burman. Burman received a

Filmfare Award for Best Music Director The Filmfare Award for Best Music Director is given by the ''Filmfare'' magazine as part of its annual Filmfare Awards for Hindi films, to the best composer/arranger of a soundtrack. This category was first presented in 1954. Naushad Ali was th ...

and the film won a total of nine awards at the

40th Filmfare Awards The 40th Filmfare Awards were held on 25 February 1995. '' 1942: A Love Story'' and '' Hum Aapke Hain Koun..!'', which is one of the most successful films of Bollywood, led the ceremony with 13 nominations each, followed by ''Mohra'' with 9 ...

. His following two films, ''

Kareeb ''Kareeb'' (English: ''Close'') is a 1998 Cinema of India, Indian Hindi-language romance film produced, directed and co-written by Vidhu Vinod Chopra. It stars Bobby Deol and Shabana Raza. Plot Birju Kumar is a young man from an upper-middle ...

'' and ''

'', were also critically and commercially successful. Chopra then produced 5 films with filmmaker

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. Hirani is referred as one of the m ...

for 5 films: '' Munna Bhai MBBS'', ''

Lage Raho Munna Bhai ''Lage Raho Munna Bhai'' (; translation: ''Keep Going, Munna Bhai'') is a 2006 Indian Hindi-language satirical comedy drama film written, edited and directed by Rajkumar Hirani, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Abhijat Joshi, and produce ...

'', ''

'', '' PK'', and ''

''. The first 3, which Chopra also co wrote, each won the

National Film Award for Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment The National Film Award for Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment is one of the National Film Awards presented annually by the National Film Development Corporation of India, and was constituted in the year 1975. This is one of th ...

, and ''

'' also won the

National Film Award for Best Screenplay The National Film Award for Best Screenplay is one of the categories in the National Film Awards presented annually by the National Film Development Corporation of India. It is one of several awards presented for feature films and awarded with ...

. They were all also very commercially successful, with ''3 Idiots'' and ''PK'' becoming the highest grossing Indian films of all time in India and worldwide, also breaking into East Asian markets. He also wrote and produced '' Parineeta'', ''

Ferrari Ki Sawaari ''Ferrari Ki Sawaari'' (translation: ''A Ride In The Ferrari'') is a 2012 Indian Hindi-language sports comedy drama film written and directed by Rajesh Mapuskar and produced by Vidhu Vinod Chopra under the production banners of Eros Internatio ...

'', and '' Wazir''. However, Chopra's next directorials after 2000 were not as successful. His 2007 film '' Eklavya: The Royal Guard'' was a financial disappointment. He also made his Hollywood directorial debut in 2015 with the film ''

Broken Horses '' Broken Horses'' is a 2015 crime thriller film directed by Vidhu Vinod Chopra and starring Anton Yelchin, Chris Marquette, Vincent D'Onofrio, María Valverde, Thomas Jane, and Sean Patrick Flanery. It was released on April 10, 2015. It is a ...

'', a remake of his own film Parinda. However, it received a

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

rating of 22%, and was a commercial disaster, only making Rs. 60 lakh in its opening weekend. His 2020 release ''

'' was a romantic drama about the

Exodus of Kashmiri Hindus The Exodus of Kashmiri Hindus, or Pandits, is their early-1990 * * * * * * * * * migration, or flight, from the Muslim-majority Kashmir valley in Indian-administered Kashmir following rising violence in an insurgency. Of a total Pandit popula ...

. It became his lowest-grossing film since Khamosh. Chopra then saw a return to success with his 2023 release, the biopic ''

''. Despite a low opening day box office, due to great reviews and word of mouth, it became a financial hit, grossing 70 crores on a 20 crore budget. It then won 5

, including Best

Film A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, sinc ...

Director Director may refer to: Literature * ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine * ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker * ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty Music * Director (band), an Irish rock band * ''D ...

Screenplay A screenplay, or script, is a written work produced for a film, television show (also known as a '' teleplay''), or video game by screenwriters (cf. ''stage play''). Screenplays can be original works or adaptations from existing pieces of w ...

, and

Editing Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written language, written, Image editing, visual, Audio engineer, audible, or Film editing, cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information. The editing p ...

for Chopra.

Filmography

Television

Bibliography

Awards and nominations

IIFA Awards The International Indian Film Academy Awards (IIFA) is an annual awards ceremony for Hindi cinema. Produced by Wizcraft International Entertainment Pvt. Ltd, the winners of the awards are decided by fans, who vote online for their favourite ac ...

* 2007: Winner,

Best Screenplay This list of screenwriting awards for film is an index to articles on notable awards given for film screenwriting. The list is organized by region and country of the awards venue or sponsor, but winners are not necessarily restricted to people fro ...

for ''

'' * 2001: ''Nominated'',

IIFA Award for Best Director The IIFA Award for Best Director is chosen by the viewers and the winner is announced at the ceremony. The nominations for the category are given by the film fraternity. Sanjay Leela Bhansali has 4 and Rajkumar Hirani has 3 awards. Rakesh Rosh ...

for ''

'' * 2010: Winner, Best Screenplay for ''

Stardust Awards The Stardust Awards was an award ceremony for Hindi movies, which was sponsored by '' Stardust'' magazine. Here is a list of the award winners and the films for which they won. The first ceremony was held in 2004 for films released in 2003. The ...

* 2009: Winner, Readers' Choice Award for ''

FICCI Awards

* 2009: Winner, Most Successful Film of the Year for ''

Screen Awards The Screen Awards was an annual awards ceremony held in India, honouring professional excellence in Bollywood. The nomination and award selection was done by a panel of distinguished professionals from the industry. The awards were introduced ...

* 2006: Winner,

Best Film The following is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various films, festivals, and people's awards. Best Actor/Best Actress *See Best Actor#Film awards, Bes ...

for ''

Lage Raho Munnabhai ''Lage Raho Munna Bhai'' (; translation: ''Keep Going, Munna Bhai'') is a 2006 Indian Hindi-language satirical comedy drama film written, edited and directed by Rajkumar Hirani, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Abhijat Joshi, and produced ...

'' * 2006: ''Nominated'',

for ''Lage Raho Munna Bhai'' * 2009: Winner, Best Film, ''

'' * 2009: Winner, Best Screenplay, ''3 Idiots''

Zee Cine Awards The Zee Cine Award (ZCA) is an annual Indian awards ceremony for the Hindi film industry. They were instituted in November 1997 to award "Excellence in cinema – the democratic way". They were first held in Mumbai until 2004, when the ZCA w ...

* 2007: Winner,

for ''

'' * 2005: Winner, Best Dialogue for '' Parineeta'' * 2005: Winner,

Best Director Best Director is the name of an award which is presented by various film, television and theatre organizations, festivals, and people's awards. It may refer to: Film awards * AACTA Award for Best Direction * Academy Award for Best Director * As ...

for ''

Tampere International Short Film Festival

* 1980: Winner, Grand Prix for '' An Encounter with Faces''

Personal life

He has been married thrice, his first wife was noted editor

Renu Saluja Renu Saluja (5 July 1952 – 16 August 2000) was an Indian film editor. In the 1980s and 1990s, she worked with both mainstream and art house Hindi cinema directors, including Govind Nihalani, Vidhu Vinod Chopra, Sudhir Mishra, Shekhar Kapoor, ...

(m. 1976–1983), he was then married to filmmaker Shabnam Sukhdev (m. 1985–1989), the daughter of S. Sukhdev (1933–1979) a well known director of documentaries for the

Films Division of India The Films Division of India (FDI), commonly referred as Films Division, was established in 1948 following the independence of India. It was the first state film production and distribution unit, under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting ...

. He has a daughter with Shabnam, Ishaa Chopra, who works as a dance instructor and choreographer. He is currently married to Indian film critic

Anupama Chopra Anupama Vinod Chopra () is an Indian author, journalist and film critic who served as the festival director of the Mumbai Academy of the Moving Image, MAMI Mumbai Film Festival from 2015 to 2023. She is also the founder and editor of the now-de ...

, whom he married on 1 June 1990. He has two children with her, a son,

Agni Agni ( ) is the Deva (Hinduism), Hindu god of fire. As the Guardians of the directions#Aṣṭa-Dikpāla ("Guardians of Eight Directions"), guardian deity of the southeast direction, he is typically found in southeast corners of Hindu temples. ...

and a daughter, Zuni Chopra.

References

External links

* *
Interview
at

Rediff Rediff.com, stylized as rediff.com, is an Indian news, information, entertainment, and shopping website. Founded by Ajit Balakrishnan in 1996, it was the first Indian website to become a mainstream news media organization. It is headquartered i ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chopra, Vidhu Vinod Living people 1952 births Film directors from Jammu and Kashmir Hindi-language film directors People from Srinagar Telstra People's Choice Award winners Film and Television Institute of India alumni Film producers from Jammu and Kashmir Indian documentary filmmakers Indian male screenwriters Filmfare Awards winners Hindi film editors Film editors from Jammu and Kashmir Best Original Screenplay National Film Award winners Producers who won the Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment National Film Award Producers who won the Best Debut Feature Film of a Director National Film Award