Aruna Raje (born 1946) is an Indian film director and editor known for her works in

Hindi cinema Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry based in Mumbai, engaged in production of motion pictures in Hindi language. The popular term Bollywood, is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (fo ...

Early life

Aruna Raje was born on 17 October in 1946 in

Pune Pune (; ; also known as Poona, (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name from 1818 until 1978) is one of the most important industrial and educational hubs of India, with an estimated population of 7.4 million ...

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 ...

Education and career

Aruna enrolled initially at

Grant Medical College The Grant Government Medical College, Mumbai, is a public medical college, affiliated to the Maharashtra University of Health Sciences. Founded in 1845, it is one of the oldest institutions teaching medicine in South Asia. Its clinical affil ...

in Pune to study medicine but later quit to join 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 of the Government of India and aided by the Central Government of India. It is situated on the premises of the erstwhile ...

(FTII). She passed out of FTII with a gold medal in 1969 becoming the first trained woman technician in the industry. At the beginning of her career Aruna Raje worked jointly with her ex-husband Vikas Desai in the name of Aruna-Vikas. She co-edited acclaimed films like '' Giddh'' and '' Masoom''. The duo later took to direction making films like ''

Shaque ''Shaque'' ( en, italic=yes, Suspicion) is a 1976 Bollywood drama film directed by Aruna-Vikas. The film stars Vinod Khanna, Shabana Azmi and Utpal Dutt. Plot Vinod Joshi lives a middle-class existence with his wife, Meena, and a young son. H ...

'', ''

Gehrayee ''Gehrayee'' () is a 1980 Indian horror thriller film directed by Vikas Desai and Aruna Raje based on a script by Vijay Tendulkar, Desai and Raje, and starring Anant Nag, Padmini Kolhapure, Sriram Lagoo and Indrani Mukherjee with Amrish Puri in ...

'' and ''

Sitam Situm is a 1982 Hindi film directed by Aruna Raje and Vikas Desai starring Naseeruddin Shah, Smita Patil, Vikram and Asrani among others. The then husband-wife duo worked together in the name of Aruna-Vikas jointly, before Aruna went her separate ...

''. After separating from her husband she began independent film-direction, making hard hitting feminist movies. She has also made national award-winning documentaries on the well-known classical dancer

Mallika Sarabhai Mallika Sarabhai (born 9 May 1954) is an activist and Indian classical dancer and actress from Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India. Daughter of a classical dancer Mrinalini Sarabhai and space scientist Vikram Sarabhai, Mallika is an accomplished Kuchip ...

and special children, ''The New Paradigm''. She has won 5 National Awards for her films.

Personal life

Aruna was married to Vikas Desai. They had a son and a daughter. The daughter aged nine died of cancer. The couple later divorced.

Filmography

Writer

*2009 '' Red Alert: The War Within'' (story) *2004 '' Tum – A Dangerous Obsession'' (screenplay and story) *1996 ''

Bhairavi Bhairavi ( sa, भैरवी) is a Hindu goddess, described as one of the Mahāvidyas, the ten avatars of the mother goddess. She is the consort of Bhairava. Etymology The name ''Bhairavi'' means "terror" or "awe-inspiring". She is the ...

'' (screenplay) *1988 '' Rihaee'' (screenplay and story) *1982 ''

'' (co-written) *1980 ''

'' (script)(co-written) *1976 ''

'' (script)(co-written)

Director

*2019 '' Firebrand'' *2004 '' Tum – A Dangerous Obsession'' *1996 ''

'' *1993 ''Shadi Ya...'' (TV Series) *1992 ''Patit Pawan'' *1988 '' Rihaee'' *1982 ''

'' (co-directed) *1980 ''

'' (co-directed) *1976 ''

'' (co-directed)

Editor

*2004 '' Tum – A Dangerous Obsession'' *1996 ''

'' *1988 '' Rihaee'' *1984 '' Giddh'' (co-edited) *1984 '' Masoom'' (co-edited) *1982 ''

'' (co-edited) *1980 ''

'' (co-edited) *1976 ''

'' (co-edited)

References

External links

*
Arunaraje Patil
o
Shift Focus, a school for Cinema and Life
{{DEFAULTSORT:Raje, Aruna 1946 births Living people Indian women film directors Hindi-language film directors 20th-century Indian film directors Indian women screenwriters Indian documentary filmmakers Indian women television directors Indian television directors Hindi screenwriters 20th-century Indian women writers 20th-century Indian dramatists and playwrights 21st-century Indian film directors Film directors from Maharashtra Artists from Pune Women artists from Maharashtra Screenwriters from Maharashtra Indian women documentary filmmakers