Rajkumar Hirani
Rajkumar Hirani (born 20 November 1962) is an Indian film director, producer, screenwriter, distributor and editor. Hirani has directed five Hindi films, including Munna Bhai M.B.B.S. (2003), Lage Raho Munnabhai (2006), 3 Idiots (2009), PK (2014) and Sanju (2018), and all of which have been one of the highest grossing Indian films.[2] Most of them have won several awards, including the National Film Awards.[3][4] Among his awards, include 11 Filmfare Awards. He is the founder and owns the Hindi films production house Rajkumar Hirani Films.
Hirani was born on 20 November 1962 in Nagpur to a Sindhi family. His ancestors originally belong to Mehrabpur, a city now in the Naushahro Firoz District, Sindh, of Pakistan.[5] His father Suresh Hirani ran a typing institute in Nagpur. Rajkumar Hirani studied at St. Francis De’Sales High School, Nagpur, Maharashtra. He did his graduation in commerce. His parents wanted him to be a chartered accountant, but he was more keen on theatre and film.[6]
In his college days he was involved with Hindi theatre. He had many friends in Nagpur’s medical college and hence, spent much time in theater at the college. Suresh had his son’s photographs taken and sent him to an acting school in Mumbai. However, Hirani could not fit in and returned to Nagpur after three days. His father then asked him to apply to the Film and Television Institute of India in Pune, but the acting course had shut down and his chances of admission to the directorial course looked slim as there were far too many applicants.[7] Hirani opted for the film editing course, and earned a scholarship.[8]
Hirani tried his luck as a film editor for many years. Bad experiences forced him to shift to television advertising,[9] and he gradually established himself as a director and producer of advertising films. He was also seen in a Fevicol ad where some men and elephants were trying to pull and break a Fevicol plank, saying “Jor laga ke Haisha”.[10] He was also seen in the Kinetic Luna ad campaign created by Ogilvy & Mather.
