Ketan Mehta (born 21 July 1952) is an Indian film director who has also directed documentaries and television serials since 1975.

Early life and education

Born on 21 July 1952 in

Navsari Navsari is the ninth biggest city in the state of Gujarat in India. It is the administrative headquarters of Navsari District. Navsari is situated between Surat & Mumbai. Navsari is a twin city of Surat. It is located 37 km south of Sura ...

Gujarat Gujarat (, ) is a state along the western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the fifth-largest Indian state by area, covering some ; and the ninth ...

, Mehta did his schooling from

Sardar Patel Vidyalaya Sardar Patel Vidyalaya (SPV) is an education school located in Lodhi Estate, New Delhi, India. The school is named after a leader of the Indian independence movement, and independent India's first Home Minister and Deputy Prime Minister, Sarda ...

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 ...

and later graduated in film direction from

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 ...

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 ...

Career

During his career, Mehta has made ten feature films, seven documentaries and two television serials – ''

Captain Vyom ''Captain Vyom'' is an Indian television series aired on DD National in 1998. It was directed by Ketan Mehta and starred Milind Soman. Plot By 2123, humans have conquered the solar system and established space stations on several planets. The ...

'' and '' Mr. Yogi''. His repertoire of themes includes comedy, satire, romance, violence and rebellion. After graduating from the Film and Television Institute of India, Mehta joined the

Indian Space Research Organisation The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO; ) is the national space agency of India, headquartered in Bengaluru. It operates under the Department of Space (DOS) which is directly overseen by the Prime Minister of India, while the Chairman ...

as a television producer. There, he was given almost total freedom in what to create. In an interview years later, Mehta remarked about how influential this was to his development: “It was an incredible experience. Traveling all over Gujarat, meeting people, making programs on whatever you felt like, whatever you came across. It was real, genuine experimentation with medium, with people. That experience has been vital to films that I’ve made.” Mehta's first film, ''

Bhavni Bhavai ''Bhavni Bhavai'' ( gu, ભવની ભવાઈ; ''The Tale of the Life'') is a 1980 Gujarati film directed by Ketan Mehta, starring Naseeruddin Shah, Om Puri, Smita Patil, Mohan Gokhale, Benjamin Gilani. It tells the story of untouchabilit ...

'', a

Gujarati film Gujarati cinema, also known as Gollywood or Dhollywood, is the Gujarati language film industry. It is one of the major regional and vernacular film industries of the cinema of India, having produced more than one thousand films since its inc ...

, won him acclaim. His films have been selected for various international film festivals such as

Nantes Nantes (, , ; Gallo: or ; ) is a city in Loire-Atlantique on the Loire, from the Atlantic coast. The city is the sixth largest in France, with a population of 314,138 in Nantes proper and a metropolitan area of nearly 1 million inhabita ...

(France) and the Moscow Film Festival, where they have won numerous awards over the years. ''

Mirch Masala ''Mirch Masala'' (Translation: Hot Spice) is a 1987 Hindi psychological thriller film directed by Ketan Mehta. It stars Naseeruddin Shah and Smita Patil in the lead roles. On the centenary of Indian cinema in April 2013, ''Forbes'' included Smita ...

'' was one of Mehta's notable efforts, and won him the Best Film Award at Hawaii. It was released to 52 cinemas in the United States. Mehta has also had the honour of serving as a member of the jury in various national and international film festivals. Mehta directed a biopic ''

Sardar Sardar, also spelled as Sardaar/Sirdar ( fa, سردار, , 'commander', literally 'headmaster'), is a title of royalty and nobility that was originally used to denote princes, noblemen, chiefs, kings and other aristocrats. It has also been u ...

'', on the life of

Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Vallabhbhai Jhaverbhai Patel (; ; 31 October 1875 – 15 December 1950), commonly known as Sardar, was an Indian lawyer, influential political leader, barrister and statesman who served as the first Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister of I ...

, in 1993. His latest two films ''

Rang Rasiya ''Rang Rasiya'' (English title: Colours of passion) is an Indian erotic drama film based on the life of the 19th-century Indian painter Raja Ravi Varma. Made as a bilingual, the film is titled ''Rang Rasiya'' in its Hindi version and ''Colours of ...

'', 2014 and '' Manjhi the Mountain Man'', 2015 both opened to tepid box office and universally positive critical reviews. ''Manjhi the Mountain Man'' starred

Nawazuddin Siddiqui Nawazuddin Siddiqui (; born 19 May 1974) is an Indian actor known for his work in Hindi cinema. He is an alumnus of the National School of Drama. Siddiqui's feature film debut was alongside director Prashant Bhargava in ''Patang'' (2012). He ga ...

Awards and recognition

National Film Award The National Film Awards is the most prominent film award ceremony in India. Established in 1954, it has been administered, along with the International Film Festival of India and the Indian Panorama, by the Indian government's Directora ...

** 1981:

Best Feature Film on National Integration The Nargis Dutt Award for Best Feature Film on National Integration is one of the National Film Awards presented annually by the Directorate of Film Festivals, the organization set up by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, India. It is one ...

: ''

'' ** 1994:

: ''

'' * 15th Moscow International Film Festival: Nominated Golden Prize: ''

'' * 2010:

Ordre des Arts et des Lettres The ''Ordre des Arts et des Lettres'' (Order of Arts and Letters) is an order of France established on 2 May 1957 by the Minister of Culture. Its supplementary status to the was confirmed by President Charles de Gaulle in 1963. Its purpose is ...

(French Government) *

Filmfare Award The Filmfare Awards are annual awards that honour artistic and technical excellence in the Hindi-language film industry of India.Al The Filmfare ceremony is one of the most famous film events in India. The awards were first introduced by th ...

** 1993: Best Documentary: ''All in the Family'' * 2010 Honoured with Life Membership of International Film And Television Club of

Asian Academy of Film & Television Noida Film City houses the Asian Academy of Film & Television and Marwah Films & Video Studios along with prominent news channels from India. It is located in Sector 16-A Noida, India. It was founded in 1988 by Sandeep Marwah, an Indian film pro ...

by Sandeep Marwah * 2015: Honoured with Global Cinema Award by Sandeep Marwah at 8th Global Film Festival Noida. * 2015: Honoured with Standing Ovation Award by

Siby Malayil Siby may refer to: * Siby (name), a given name and surname (including lists of people with the name) * Siby, Mali, a village and rural commune in the Cercle of Kati, Koulikoro Region, Mali * Siby Department, a commune of Balé Province, Burkina ...

All Lights India International Film Festival All Lights India International Film festival (ALIIFF), is an annual film festival of India conducted in Hyderabad. It is usually conducted in December every year. The 4th edition was held from Dec 1-4, 2018 at PVR Inorbit Mall, Hyderabad. Popular M ...

Personal life

He is married to actress

Deepa Sahi Deepa Sahi (born 30 November 1962) is an Indian actress and producer from an Army background, who is best known for her role as Maya in the 1993 movie ''Maya Memsaab'', opposite actor Farrukh Sheikh. She made her directorial debut with the mov ...

who has acted in three of his films, ''

Maya Memsaab ''Maya Memsaab'' (also known as ''Maya'' and ''Maya: The Enchanting Illusion'' in English) is a 1993 Indian mystery drama film directed by Ketan Mehta and starring Deepa Sahi, Farooq Shaikh, Raj Babbar, Shah Rukh Khan, and Paresh Rawal. The fi ...

'', ''

Oh Darling! Yeh Hai India ''Oh Darling Yeh Hai India'' () is a 1995 Indian musical parody film directed by Ketan Mehta, starring Shah Rukh Khan, Deepa Sahi, Jaaved Jaffrey and Amrish Puri. It also stars Anupam Kher in a supporting role. Plot Don Quixote ( Amrish P ...

'' and ''

Aar Ya Paar ''Aar Ya Paar'' (English: Now or never) is a 1997 Bollywood mystery crime thriller film produced and directed by Ketan Mehta. It stars Jackie Shroff, Deepa Sahi, Ritu Shivpuri, Kamal Sidhu and Paresh Rawal. The music is by Viju Shah. The movi ...

''. Together they founded the

Maya Academy of Advanced Cinematics Maya may refer to: Civilizations * Maya peoples, of southern Mexico and northern Central America ** Maya civilization, the historical civilization of the Maya peoples ** Maya language, the languages of the Maya peoples * Maya (Ethiopia), a populat ...

and Maya Digital Studios. He is the nephew of Gandhian and freedom fighter,

Usha Mehta Usha Mehta (25 March 1920 – 11 August 2000) was a Gandhian and freedom fighter of India. She is also remembered for organizing the Congress Radio, also called the ''Secret Congress Radio'', an underground radio station, which functioned for f ...

. His younger brother, Dr. Yatin Mehta, is Chairman of

Medanta Global Health Limited, d/b/a Medanta, is an Indian hospital chain based in Gurgaon, India. The chain was started in 2009 by cardiac surgeon Naresh Trehan and Sunil Sachdeva. History In 2004, cardiac surgeon Naresh Trehan began working on Me ...

Institute of Critical Care and Anesthesiology, Gurgaon, Haryana. His youngest brother is Dr. Nirad Mehta, Consultant Radiologist at

Hinduja Hospital The P. D. Hinduja National Hospital and Medical Research Centre is a multi-specialty, tertiary-care hospital in Mumbai, India. It was founded in 1951 by Parmanand Deepchand Hinduja, in collaboration with the Massachusetts General Hospital, the ...

, Mumbai.

Filmography

Director

*''

'' (1980) *''

Holi Holi (), also known as the Festival of Colours, the Festival of Spring, and the Festival of Love,The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) p. 874 "Holi /'həʊli:/ noun a Hindu spring festival ...". is an ancient Hindu religious festival ...

'' (1984) *''

'' (1985) *'' Mr. Yogi'' (TV series) (1988) *''

Hero Hiralal ''Hero Hiralal'' is a 1988 Indian film directed by Ketan Mehta, starring Naseeruddin Shah and Sanjana Kapoor in leading roles. It is a movie about an auto rickshaw driver who falls in love with a film actress. The movie showcased performances b ...

'' (1989) *''

'' (1993) *''

'' (1995) *''

'' (1997) *''

'' (TV series) (1998) *'' Mangal Pandey: The Rising'' (2005) *''

Time Bomb 9/11 ''Time Bomb 9/11'' or just ''Time Bomb'' was a Hindi political thriller that aired on Zee TV from 20 June 2005 to 28 November 2005. It used to air every Monday at 10:00pm, and the show had a similar format to " 24". The story focuses on Osama ...

'' (TV series) (2005) *''

'' (2014) *'' Manjhi: The Mountain Man'' (2015) *''

Toba Tek Singh Toba Tek Singh ( pnb, , ur, ) is a city and capital of Toba Tek Singh District in the Pakistani province of Punjab. It is surrounded by cities of Gojra, Kamalia, Rajana, Pir Mahal and Shorkot. History The city and district is named afte ...

'' (2018) * ''Freedom Radio'' (2022)

Producer

*''

'' (1984) *''

'' (1993) *''

'' (TV Series) (2005) *'' Ramayana: The Epic'' (2010) *'' Tere Mere Phere'' (2011) *''

'' (2014) *'' Motu Patlu: King of Kings'' (2016)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mehta, Ketan Film and Television Institute of India alumni People from Navsari district Hindi-language film directors Living people Indian male screenwriters 1952 births Gujarati-language film directors 20th-century Indian film directors Film producers from Gujarat 21st-century Indian film directors Film directors from Gujarat Special Jury Award (feature film) National Film Award winners Directors who won the Best Film on National Integration National Film Award