Amar Kaushik is an Indian director and actor working in Hindi cinema. He is best known for directing the critical and commercial blockbusters '' Stree'' (2018) and '' Bala'' (2019).

Early life

Amar Kaushik grew up in Medo,

Arunachal Pradesh Arunachal Pradesh (, ) is a state in Northeastern India. It was formed from the erstwhile North-East Frontier Agency (NEFA) region, and became a state on 20 February 1987. It borders the states of Assam and Nagaland to the south. It shares ...

where his father was a forest ranger who worked for the

Indian Forest Service The Indian Forest Service (IFS) is one of the three All India Services of the Government of India. The other two All India Services being the Indian Administrative Service and the Indian Police Service. It was constituted in the year 1966 und ...

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

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh (; , 'Northern Province') is a state in northern India. With over 200 million inhabitants, it is the most populated state in India as well as the most populous country subdivision in the world. It was established in 1950 ...

. 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, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders ...

and moved to Mumbai in 2006. In 2009, Kaushik was attacked on a bus by Maharashtra Navnirman Sena members who mistakenly believed he was director Anurag Kashyap. MNS leader Raj Thackeray had criticised Kashyap for calling his film '' Bombay Velvet'' and had unsuccessfully demanded that he change the name to ''Mumbai Velvet''.

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 Hindi cinema. He made his directorial debut with the critically acclaimed '' Aamir'' (2008). He then went on to write and direct ''No One Killed Jessica'' (2011), base ...

's assistant director on '' Aamir''. He teamed up with Gupta again to serve as associate director for ''

No One Killed Jessica ''No One Killed Jessica'' is a 2011 Indian Hindi-language crime thriller film directed and written by Raj Kumar Gupta. It stars Vidya Balan and Rani Mukerji in lead roles, with Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub and Myra Karn in supporting roles. The fi ...

'' 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 Onir (born Anirban Dhar, 1 May 1969) is an Indian film and TV director, editor, screenwriter and producer. He is best known for his film '' My Brother…Nikhil'', based on the life of Dominic d'Souza, starring Sanjay Suri and Purab Kohli ''i ...

films ''

Sorry Bhai! ''Sorry Bhai'' is an Indian Hindi romance drama film starring Shabana Azmi, Boman Irani, Sanjay Suri, Sharman Joshi and Chitrangada Singh. It was directed by Onir and released on 28 November 2008. Plot Siddharth Mathur (Sharman Joshi), a sh ...

'', ''

I Am I Am or I'm may refer to: Language and literature * " I Am that I Am", a common English translation of the response God used in the Hebrew Bible when Moses asked for His name ** I am (biblical term), a Christian term used in the Bible * "I Am" (p ...

'' and ''

Shab Moed ( he, מועד, "Festivals") is the second Order of the Mishnah, the first written recording of the Oral Torah of the Jewish people (also the Tosefta and Talmud). Of the six orders of the Mishna, Moed is the third shortest. The order of M ...

'', Kaushik ventured into solo directing with his short film "Aaaba". The script was written by Kauhsik and based on a story by his mother. It was funded with loans from his friends, including Raj Kumar Gupta. Shot entirely in

Ziro Ziro is a town and the district headquarters of the Lower Subansiri district in the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh. It is included the Tentative List for UNESCO's World Heritage Site for the '' Apatani cultural landscape''. The part of the ...

, "Aaba" was screened at the

Toronto International Film Festival The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the largest publicly attended film festivals in the world, attracting over 480,000 people annually. Since its founding in 1976, TIFF has grown to become a perman ...

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

Berlin International Film Festival The Berlin International Film Festival (german: Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin), usually called the Berlinale (), is a major international film festival held annually in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1951 and originally run in June, the fest ...

. Kaushik began shooting his feature film ''Stree'' in January 2018. Starring

Rajkummar Rao Rajkummar Rao (born Raj Kumar Yadav; 31 August 1984) is an Indian actor known for his work in Hindi films. He has appeared in more than 30 films since 2010, and is the recipient of several accolades including a National Film Award, three ...

and Shraddha Kapoor, the horror film released on 31 August 2018. ''Stree'' became a surprise hit, earning 125.57 crore by 1 October. Kaushik's upcoming projects include an untitled film on the subject of surrogacy and the sequel to ''Stree'', ''Stree 2''. Most Notable and commercial successful movie of Kaushik is 2019 movie"Bala" starring Ayushman, Bhumi & Yami.

Filmography

With Major Credits

As Assistant Director

Awards and nominations

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kaushik, Amar Living people Indian film directors People from Arunachal Pradesh Year of birth missing (living people) Filmfare Awards winners