Amit Ravindernath Sharma is an Indian

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 ...

and producer working predominantly as a director of

television commercial A television advertisement (also called a television commercial, TV commercial, commercial, spot, television spot, TV spot, advert, television advert, TV advert, television ad, TV ad or simply an ad) is a span of television programming produce ...

s. In feature films, he is best known for the 2018 film ''

Badhaai Ho ''Badhaai Ho'' (; ) is a 2018 Indian Hindi-language comedy drama film directed by Amit Ravindernath Sharma and produced by Sharma, Aleya Sen and Hemant Bhandari under Chrome Pictures and Vineet Jain under Junglee Pictures. It stars Ayushmann ...

'', which was one of the highest grossing Bollywood films of 2018, having earned ₹220.34

crore A crore (; abbreviated cr) denotes ten million (10,000,000 or 107 in scientific notation) and is equal to 100 lakh in the Indian numbering system. It is written as 1,00,00,000 with the local 2,2,3 style of digit group separators (one lakh is e ...

( $31 million) as of December 2018.

Biography

Early life and career

Sharma was born 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 w ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

to parents who worked for the

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...

. While still in school, he connected with film director

Pradeep Sarkar Pradeep Sarkar (born 30 April 1955) is a writer and director who works in Bollywood. He began his career with Vinod Chopra Productions, the production company of director and producer Vidhu Vinod Chopra. Personal life From a young boy lis ...

, and was invited to shoot an advert in Manali. After graduating, he worked with Sarkar for six years before moving to

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

in 2001. Two years later, he left the tutorship of Sarkar, and in 2004 he set up his own company, Chrome Pictures, with

Aleya Sen Aleya Sen is an Indian director, producer and writer of Bollywood films. She made her directorial and writing debut with the film '' Dil Juunglee'' (2018). She also produced the film ''Badhaai Ho'' in 2018. Career Sen started her career as an a ...

and Hemant Bhandari. Later that year, he was offered an assistant role on Sarkar's film, ''Parineeta'', which he turned down.

Advertising

Between 2005 and 2015, Sharma directed over 900 advertisements, including those for

Google Google LLC () is an American multinational technology company focusing on search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, artificial intelligence, and consumer electronics. ...

Coca-Cola Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a carbonated soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. Originally marketed as a temperance drink and intended as a patent medicine, it was invented in the late 19th century by John Stith Pemberton in Atlanta ...

and

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology c ...

. In 2011, he directed an advert entitled 'The Silent National Anthem' featured

deaf Deafness has varying definitions in cultural and medical contexts. In medical contexts, the meaning of deafness is hearing loss that precludes a person from understanding spoken language, an Audiology, audiological condition. In this context it ...

and

mute Muteness is a speech disorder in which a person lacks the ability to speak. Mute or the Mute may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''Mute'' (2005 film), a short film by Melissa Joan Hart * ''Mute'' (2018 film), a scien ...

'singing' the

Jana Gana Mana "" (Sanskrit: जन गण मन) is the national anthem of the Republic of India. It was originally composed as '' Bharoto Bhagyo Bidhata'' in Bengali by polymath Rabindranath Tagore. The first stanza of the song ''Bharoto Bhagyo Bidhata' ...

through sign language, and won a silver award at the

Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity (formerly the International Advertising Festival) is a global event for those working in creative communications, advertising, and related fields. It is considered the largest gathering of the ...

. A 2013 advert for

Lifebuoy A lifebuoy is a life-saving buoy designed to be thrown to a person in water, to provide buoyancy and prevent drowning. Some modern lifebuoys are fitted with one or more seawater-activated lights, to aid rescue at night. Other names Other nam ...

focused on hygiene in Indian villages, and won Gold at the Spikes Asia awards later that year. The most well-known advert he directed is perhaps the Google

Reunion Reunion may refer to: * Class reunion * Family reunion Reunion, Réunion, Re-union, Reunions or The Reunion may also refer to: Places * Réunion, a French overseas department and island in the Indian Ocean * Reunion, Commerce City, Colorado, U ...

advert from November 2013, which told the fictional story about the reunion of two elderly men, one from

and one from

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

, who were childhood friends but were separated as children during the

Partition of India The Partition of British India in 1947 was the Partition (politics), change of political borders and the division of other assets that accompanied the dissolution of the British Raj in South Asia and the creation of two independent dominions: ...

. The ad had a strong impact in both countries, leading to hopes that travel restrictions between the two countries might be eased, and the video garnered over 1.6 million views on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

before debuting on television. His work during this time was described by ''

The Economic Times ''The Economic Times'' is an Indian English-language business-focused daily newspaper. It is owned by The Times Group. ''The Economic Times'' began publication in 1961. As of 2012, it is the world's second-most widely read English-language bus ...

'' as a "contemporary greatest hits of Indian advertising"''.''

Early film career and breakthrough

In 2014, Sharma was invited by producer

Boney Kapoor Achal Surinder "Boney" Kapoor (born 11 November 1955) is an Indian producer primarily associated with Hindi cinema in addition to Tamil and Telugu cinema. Early life Kapoor was born as Achal Surinder Kapoor in 1955, the son of Surinder Kapoor ...

to direct ''

Tevar ''Tevar'' () is a 2015 Indian Hindi-language action film directed by debutante Amit Ravindernath Sharma and produced by Boney Kapoor, Sanjay Kapoor, Sunil Lulla, Naresh Agarwal and Sunil Manchanda, based on a script by Sharma and Shantanu Shri ...

'', a remake of the 2003 Telugu film ''

Okkadu ''Okkadu'' ( ''The One'') is a 2003 Indian Telugu-language romantic action film written and directed by Gunasekhar. It stars Mahesh Babu, Bhumika Chawla and Prakash Raj. The film was produced by M.S. Raju while music was composed by Mani Sharm ...

,'' starring

Arjun Kapoor Arjun Kapoor (born 26 June 1985) is an Indian actor working in Hindi films. Born to the Surinder Kapoor family, he is the son of film producer Boney Kapoor and Mona Shourie. Kapoor made his acting debut in 2012 with romance '' Ishaqzaade'' whic ...

. The film generally received poor reviews. In 2016, Sharma was elected on the Cannes Lions Craft Jury. Sharma worked as the director on ''

'', which began shooting in late 2017, and starred Ayushmann Khurrana and

Neena Gupta Neena Gupta (born 4 June 1959) is an Indian actress and television director who works in Hindi films and television. Known for her work in both art-house and commercial films, she won the National Film Award for Best Supporting Actress for pl ...

. Sharma's production company Chrome Pictures produced the film alongside

Junglee Pictures Junglee Pictures is a film production and distribution company that was established by Vineet Jain of The Times Group in 2014. As of 2022, the company has produced nine Hindi films Their first release came in 2015 with Zoya Akhtar's family dra ...

, and it was released on 18 October 2018. The film became the seventh-highest opening weekend grosser of 2018, and earned ₹220.34

($31 million) worldwide. Sharma was set to direct an upcoming film about the life and career of

Syed Abdul Rahim Syed Abdul Rahim (17 August 1909 – 11 June 1963), popularly known as Rahim Saab, was an Indian football coach and manager of the Indian national team from 1950 until his death in 1963, and a former player. He is regarded as the architect of ...

, also produced by Boney Kapoor. The filming started in 2019, but was delayed due to the pandemic. The film featuring music by

A. R. Rahman Allah Rakha Rahman (; born A. S. Dileep Kumar; 6 January 1967) is an Indian music composer, record producer, singer and songwriter, popular for his works in Indian cinema; predominantly in Tamil and Hindi films, with occasional forays in int ...

is currently in post-production.

Filmography

Awards

* 2011 Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity – Silver ('The Silent National Anthem') * 2013 Spikes Asia – Gold ('Help A Child Reach 5', for

)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sharma, Amit Indian art directors Living people 21st-century Indian film directors Hindi-language film directors Indian advertising directors Film directors from Delhi Year of birth missing (living people) Directors who won the Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment National Film Award