Rajiv Gulshan Rai (born 18 July 1955) is an Indian film director, screenwriter and film editor. He is the son of the producer

Gulshan Rai Gulshan Madhosh Rai (2 March 1924 – 11 October 2004) was an Indian film producer and distributor. He produced successful films in the 1970s and 1980s directed by Vijay Anand, Yash Chopra and Subhash Ghai and thereafter directed by his son Raji ...

. He has directed many films under his father's production company ''

Trimurti Films Trimurti Films Pvt. Ltd. was an Indian film production house founded by Gulshan Rai in 1970. After Rai's death, his son Rajiv Rai took over as the head of the company. The company's first production was '' Johny Mera Naam'' (1970). The company ...

''. He made his debut as a director with the 1985 action film '' Yudh''. He went on to write and direct several hit films in the

action Action may refer to: * Action (narrative), a literary mode * Action fiction, a type of genre fiction * Action game, a genre of video game Film * Action film, a genre of film * ''Action'' (1921 film), a film by John Ford * ''Action'' (1980 fil ...

and thriller

genres Genre () is any form or type of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially-agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other for ...

: ''

Tridev ''Tridev'' () is a 1989 Indian action thriller film directed by Rajiv Rai. It stars Sunny Deol, Naseeruddin Shah, Jackie Shroff, Madhuri Dixit, Sangeeta Bijlani, Sonam, Anupam Kher and Amrish Puri. The film was critically and commercial ...

'' (1989), ''

Vishwatma ''Vishwatma'' is a 1992 Indian Hindi-language thriller film directed by Rajiv Rai and produced by Gulshan Rai. It stars an ensemble cast of Sunny Deol, Naseeruddin Shah, Chunky Pandey, Divya Bharti (in her major Hindi debut), Sonam, Jyostna ...

'' (1992), ''

Mohra ''Mohra'' () is a 1994 Indian Hindi-language action thriller film co-written, edited and directed by Rajiv Rai and produced by his father Gulshan Rai. It stars Akshay Kumar, Sunil Shetty, Raveena Tandon in the lead roles, along with Naseeruddin ...

'' (1994), and ''

Gupt ''Gupt: The Hidden Truth'' () is a 1997 Indian Hindi-language thriller film directed by Rajiv Rai and featuring Bobby Deol in the lead role along with Manisha Koirala, Kajol, and Om Puri, with Raj Babbar and Kulbhushan Kharbanda in an extended c ...

'' (1997). His films are also notable for their hit music composed by Kalyanji-Anandji (in ''Tridev'') and Viju Shah in all his subsequent films. He married Bollywood actress

Sonam Sonam is a given name. It is a Tibetan name meaning "merit" (). Separately, it is also a name in various Indo-Aryan languages (Devanagari script: ). People with this name include: Buddhism * Sönam Choklang, 2nd Panchen Lama (1438–1505) * Son ...

, whom he had directed in ''Tridev'' and ''Vishwatma'' in 1989 and 1992 respectively. He has one child with her. They divorced in 2016. In 1997, he had to leave India with his family for the UK after a failed attempt to kill him by

hitmen Contract killing is a form of murder or assassination in which one party hires another party to kill a targeted person or persons. It involves an illegal agreement which includes some form of payment, monetary or otherwise. Either party may be ...

believed to be working for the Mumbai

underworld The underworld, also known as the netherworld or hell, is the supernatural world of the dead in various religious traditions and myths, located below the world of the living. Chthonic is the technical adjective for things of the underwor ...

leader Abu Salem. After a four-year hiatus from the

Bollywood 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 ...

industry, he returned to directing by introducing

Arjun Rampal Arjun Rampal (born 26 November 1972) is an Indian actor, model, film producer and television personality who works in Hindi films. He made his acting debut in Rajiv Rai's romance film '' Pyaar Ishq Aur Mohabbat'' (2001) and has since gone on t ...

with his comeback venture ''

Pyaar Ishq Aur Mohabbat ''Pyaar Ishq Aur Mohabbat'' (English: ''Love, Amour and Romance'') is a 2001 Indian Hindi romance film written and directed by Rajiv Rai and produced by Gulshan Rai under the Trimurti Films banner. The film was released on 3 August 2001, introd ...

'' (2001). This was an attempt by Rai at directing a romantic drama, a change from his previous action films. The film failed at the box office and Rai returned to the action genre with his next film ''

Asambhav ''Asambhav'' (translation: Impossible) is a 2004 Indian Hindi action thriller film directed by Rajiv Rai and produced by Gulshan Rai under Trimurti Films banner. It was released on 23 July 2004, starring Arjun Rampal, Naseeruddin Shah and Priy ...

'' (2004), again starring Arjun Rampal, which also failed to do well. Shortly after the release of ''Asambhav'' his father died at the age of 80 of a prolonged illness. He was not active in Bollywood between 2004 and 2021, and returned to film making in 2022. Rai is currently working on his next, action thriller titled Zora. Th
filming began
on August 11, 2022, in Jaipur. The film is all set to be released in July 2023.

Filmography

References

External links

* *Rajiv Rai'
Zora
(Official Instagram handle for the film) 1955 births Filmfare Awards winners Hindi-language film directors Film directors from Mumbai Living people 20th-century Indian film directors {{India-film-director-stub