Vidhu Vinod Chopra (born 5 September 1952) is an Indian film director, producer, editor, screenwriter, lyricist and actor. His well-known films as director are '' Parinda'' (1988), '' 1942: A Love Story'' (1994). He is also known for producing '' Munna Bhai film series'', ''

3 Idiots ''3 Idiots'' (stylized as ''3 idiots'') is a 2009 Indian Hindi-language coming-of-age comedy-drama film written, edited and directed by Rajkumar Hirani, co-written by Abhijat Joshi and produced by Vidhu Vinod Chopra. Adapted loosely from Ch ...

'' (2009), '' PK'' (2014), ''

Sanju ''Sanju'' is a 2018 Indian Hindi-language biographical film directed and edited by Rajkumar Hirani, written by Hirani and Abhijat Joshi and produced by Hirani and Vidhu Vinod Chopra under the banners Rajkumar Hirani Films and Vinod Chopra Film ...

'' (2018) under his banner

Vinod Chopra Films Vinod Chopra Films is an Indian film production company owned and operated by Hindi film-maker Vidhu Vinod Chopra Vidhu Vinod Chopra (born 5 September 1952) is an Indian film director, producer, editor, screenwriter, lyricist and actor. ...

Early life

Chopra was born and grew up in

Srinagar Srinagar (English: , ) is the largest city and the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir, India. It lies in the Kashmir Valley on the banks of the Jhelum River, a tributary of the Indus, and Dal and Anchar lakes. The city is known for its ...

Jammu and Kashmir Jammu and Kashmir may refer to: * Kashmir, the northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent * Jammu and Kashmir (union territory), a region administered by India as a union territory * Jammu and Kashmir (state), a region administered ...

, India. His father was D. N. Chopra and veteran filmmaker

Ramanand Sagar Chandramauli Chopra ( ; 29 December 1917 – 12 December 2005) known professionally as Ramanand Sagar, was an Indian filmmaker, editor, playwright, poet and an author. He is best known for making the television show ''Ramayan'' (1987-1988). The ...

was his half-brother. His father's family originally came from

Peshawar Peshawar (; ps, پېښور ; hnd, ; ; ur, ) is the sixth most populous city in Pakistan, with a population of over 2.3 million. It is situated in the north-west of the country, close to the International border with Afghanistan. It is ...

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

. His mother was Shanti Devi Mahalakshmi who left Kashmir with him and family after the exodus and mass killings of Kashmiri Pandits due to the

Kashmir conflict The Kashmir conflict is a territorial conflict over the Kashmir region, primarily between India and Pakistan, with China playing a third-party role. The conflict started after the partition of India in 1947 as both India and Pakistan claimed ...

in 1990. He dedicated his movie ''

Shikara The shikara is a type of wooden boat found on Dal Lake and other water bodies of Srinagar in Jammu and Kashmir Shikaras are of various sizes and are used for multiple purposes, including transportation. A usual shikara seats six people, with t ...

'' to his mother which is based on the same theme. He studied film direction at 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 ...

in Pune.

Career

Chopra's first student short film, ''

Murder at Monkey Hill ''Murder at Monkey Hill'' is 1976 Indian film written and directed by Vidhu Vinod Chopra. The short film in Black-and-white was made by Vidhu Vinod Chopra as his final project while doing his diploma at FTII. Vinod Chopra, himself, played the ...

'', won the

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 ...

for Best Short Experimental Film and the Guru Dutt Memorial Award for Best Student Film. This was followed by a short documentary highlighting the plight of India's destitute children, called '' An Encounter with Faces'', which was nominated for an

Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

in the Documentary Short Subject category in 1979. It also won the Grand Prix at the

Tampere Film Festival The Tampere Film Festival ( fi, Tampereen elokuvajuhlat) is a short film festival held every March, mostly at the Finnkino Plevna movie theatre, in Tampere, Finland. It is accredited by the film producers' society FIAPF, and together with the sho ...

in 1980. ''

Sazaye Maut ''Sazā-ye Maut'' (English: Death Penalty) is 1981 Indian film directed and produced by Vidhu Vinod Chopra. The films was based on Chopra's diploma film at FTII, ''Murder at Monkey Hill'' (1976). He adapted that into a full-length feature, with ...

'', his first full-length feature film, was an adaptation of his previous short, ''

''. It starred

Naseeruddin Shah Naseeruddin Shah (born 20 July 1950) is an Indian actor. He is notable in Indian parallel cinema. He has also starred in international productions. He has won numerous awards in his career, including three National Film Awards, three Filmfare ...

Radha Saluja Radha Saluja is an Indian actress who has worked mainly in Hindi cinema, Punjabi cinema and Tamil, with a few Bengali, Malayalam, Telugu and Kannada movies. An alumna of the Film and Television Institute of India, she is known for her films op ...

and

Dilip Dhawan Dilip Dhawan (1955 – 15 February 2000) was an Indian film and television actor. He started his career as a child in '' Sangharsh'' (1968), featuring Dilip Kumar, Dhawan acted in over 50 films. Career He acted as the hero in the movie ''Arvi ...

Vanraj Bhatia Vanraj Bhatia (Hindi: वनराज भाटिया ; 31 May 1927 – 7 May 2021) was an Indian composer best known for his work in Indian New Wave cinema. He was also one of the leading composers of Western classical music in India. Bha ...

composed the music for the film. For '' Khamosh'', his next directorial venture, Chopra assembled a cast featuring some of the finest acting talent in India.

Shabana Azmi Shabana Azmi (born 18 September 1950) is an Indian actress of Hindi film, television and theatre. One of India's most acclaimed actresses, Azmi is known for her portrayals of distinctive, often unconventional female characters across several ge ...

Amol Palekar Amol Palekar (born 24 November 1944) is an Indian actor, director and producer of Hindi and Marathi cinema. Career Palekar studied fine arts at the Sir JJ School of Arts, Mumbai, and commenced his artistic career as a painter. As a painter, h ...

and

Pankaj Kapoor Pankaj Kapur (born 29 May 1954) is an Indian actor who has worked in Hindi theatre, television and films. He has appeared in several television serials and films. He is the recipient of several awards, including a Filmfare Award and three Nati ...

, among others, appeared in prominent roles. An inventive meta

thriller Thriller may refer to: * Thriller (genre), a broad genre of literature, film and television ** Thriller film, a film genre under the general thriller genre Comics * ''Thriller'' (DC Comics), a comic book series published 1983–84 by DC Comics i ...

set in

Kashmir Kashmir () is the northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term "Kashmir" denoted only the Kashmir Valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir Panjal Range. Today, the term encompas ...

, ''Khamosh'' remains one of the notable Indian films in the

genre 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 f ...

. '' Parinda'' (1989), is a landmark film 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 ...

. It expanded the orbit of the crime drama and the vocabulary of images used in

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been ...

films while garnering widespread critical acclaim and numerous awards. Several modern Indian filmmakers have expressed their admiration for and drawn inspiration from Chopra's film. Chopra's next film, '' 1942: A Love Story'', was a patriotic romantic drama set during the decline of the

British Raj The British Raj (; from Hindi ''rāj'': kingdom, realm, state, or empire) was the rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent; * * it is also called Crown rule in India, * * * * or Direct rule in India, * Quote: "Mill, who was him ...

. With

Anil Kapoor Anil Kapoor (born 24 December 1956) is an Indian actor and producer who works primarily in Hindi films, besides television and international films and television. In a career spanning over 40 years as an actor and since 2005 as a producer, Kapo ...

and

Manisha Koirala Manisha Koirala (; born 16 August 1970) is a Nepalese actress who works in Indian films, predominantly in Hindi and Tamil films and has also worked in few Telugu, Bengali, Malayalam, Nepali and English films. Known for her work in both commer ...

in leading roles, it was also the last film to have its music composed by the legendary

R. D. Burman Rahul Dev Burman (27 June 1939 – 4 January 1994) was an Indian music director who is considered one of the most influential composers of India. From the 1960s to the 1990s, Burman composed musical scores for 331 films. Burman did major work w ...

. Burman received a

Filmfare Award for Best Music Director The Filmfare Best Music Album Award is given by the ''Filmfare'' magazine as part of its annual Filmfare Awards for Hindi films, to the best composer/arranger of a soundtrack. This category was first presented in 1954. Naushad Ali was the fi ...

and the film won a total of nine awards at the

40th Filmfare Awards The 40th Filmfare Awards were held on 25 February 1995. '' 1942: A Love Story'' and '' Hum Aapke Hain Koun..!'', which is one of the most successful films of Bollywood, led the ceremony with 13 nominations each, followed by ''Mohra'' with 9 n ...

. He founded his own production company,

, in 1985. Since then, the company has gone on to produce major Bollywood films, and is currently one of the biggest and most successful film production houses in India. Bengali filmmaker

Ritwik Ghatak Ritwik Kumar Ghatak (; 4 November 19256 February 1976) was a noted Indian film director, screenwriter, and playwright. Along with prominent contemporary Bengali filmmakers Satyajit Ray, Tapan Sinha and Mrinal Sen, his cinema is primarily rememb ...

affectionately gave him the name 'Vidhu'.

Films

His critically acclaimed films include '' Parinda'', '' 1942: A Love Story'', ''

Mission Kashmir ''Mission Kashmir'' is a 2000 Indian Hindi-language action thriller film directed and produced by Vidhu Vinod Chopra. The film stars Sanjay Dutt, Hrithik Roshan, Jackie Shroff, Preity Zinta, and Sonali Kulkarni. It deals with terrorism and t ...

'', the ''

Munna Bhai Murliprasad Sharma, better known as Munna Bhai, is an Indian fictional character who appears in the ''Munna Bhai'' film series. The character is created by Rajkumar Hirani and portrayed by Sanjay Dutt. Films overview Murli Prasad Sharma (por ...

'' series, '' Parineeta'', and ''

''. ''3 Idiots'' went on to become one of the most successful films in India, and became the first film in the country to cross Rs. 200 crore at the boxoffice. It also found popular appeal in markets like Taiwan and Korea. His other films,PK and Sanju were one of the highest grossing Indian films. He also made his Hollywood directorial debut with the film ''

Broken Horses '' Broken Horses'' is a 2015 American mystery thriller film directed by Vidhu Vinod Chopra and starring Anton Yelchin, Chris Marquette, Vincent D'Onofrio, María Valverde, Thomas Jane, and Sean Patrick Flanery. It was released on April 10, 2015 ...

'' in 2015. However, it received a

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...

rating of 22%, and was a commercial disaster, only making Rs. 60 lakh in its opening weekend. His latest film, ''

'' is a Hindi language historical romance film released on 7 February 2020 marking his return to direction in India after 13 years. His last directorial feature film, '' Eklavya: The Royal Guard'' released in 2007.

Filmography

Bibliography

Awards and nominations

Vidhu Vinod Chopra has received one nomination at the

Academy Awards The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

, six

National Film Awards 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 Directorat ...

, and five awards from fourteen nominations at the

Filmfare Awards 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 ...

IIFA Awards The International Indian Film Academy Awards, popularly known as IIFA, is an annual awards ceremony for Bollywood. Produced by Wizcraft International Entertainment Pvt. Ltd, the winners of the awards are decided by fans, who vote online for th ...

* 2007: Winner, IIFA Best Screenplay Award for ''

Lage Raho Munna Bhai ''Lage Raho Munna Bhai'' (; ) is a 2006 Indian Hindi-language satirical comedy drama film written, edited and directed by Rajkumar Hirani, who co-wrote the screenplay with Abhijat Joshi and produced by Vidhu Vinod Chopra. It is the follow-up ...

'' * 2001: ''Nominated'', IIFA Best Director Award for ''

'' * 2010: Winner, IIFA Best Screenplay Award for ''

Stardust Awards The Stardust Awards was an award ceremony for Hindi movies, which was sponsored by '' Stardust'' magazine. Here is a list of the award winners and the films for which they won. The first ceremony was held in 2004 for films released in 2003. The ...

* 2009: Winner, Readers' Choice Award for ''

FICCI Awards

* 2009: Winner, Most Successful Film of the Year for ''

Zee Cine Awards The Zee Cine Award (ZCA) is an Indian awards ceremony for the Hindi film industry. They were instituted in November 1997 to award "Excellence in cinema - the democratic way". They were first held in Mumbai until 2004, when the ZCA went internat ...

* 2007: Winner, Best Screenplay Award for ''

'' * 2005: Winner, Best Dialogue Award for '' Parineeta'' * 2005: Winner, Best Director Award for ''

Tampere International Short Film Festival

* 1980: Winner, Grand Prix for '' An Encounter with Faces''

Star Screen Awards The Screen Awards is an annual awards ceremony held in India honouring professional excellence in Bollywood. The nomination and award selection is done by a panel of distinguished professionals from the industry. The awards were introduced by t ...

* 2006: Winner,

Best Film This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards. Best Actor/Best Actress *See Best Actor#Film awards, Best Actress#F ...

for '' Lage Raho Munnabhai'' * 2006: ''Nominated'',

Best Screenplay Best or The Best may refer to: People * Best (surname), people with the surname Best * Best (footballer, born 1968), retired Portuguese footballer Companies and organizations * Best & Co., an 1879–1971 clothing chain * Best Lock Corporation, ...

for ''

'' * 2009: Winner, Star Screen Award for Best Film, ''3 Idiots'' * 2009: Winner, Star Screen Award for Best Screenplay, ''3 Idiots''

Personal life

He has been married thrice, his first wife was actress

Renu Saluja Renu Saluja (5 July 1952 – 16 August 2000) was an Indian film editor. In the 1980s and 1990s, she worked with both mainstream and art house Hindi cinema directors, including Govind Nihalani, Vidhu Vinod Chopra, Sudhir Mishra, Shekhar Kapoor, ...

(m. 1976–1983), he was then married to filmmaker Shabnam Sukhdev (m. 1985–1989), the daughter of S. Sukhdev (1933–1979) a well known director of documentaries for the

Films Division of India The Films Division of India (FDI), commonly referred as Films Division, was established in 1948 following the independence of India. It was the first state film production and distribution unit, under the Ministry of Information and Broadcastin ...

. He has a daughter with Shabnam, Ishaa Chopra, who works as a dance instructor and choreographer. He is currently married to Indian film critic

Anupama Chopra Anupama Chopra () is an Indian author, journalist, film critic and director of the MAMI Mumbai Film Festival. She is also the founder and editor of the digital platform Film Companion, which offers a curated look at cinema. She has written sev ...

, whom he married on 1 June 1990. He has two children with her, a son, Agni and a daughter, Zuni Chopra.

References

External links

*
Official Website

at

Rediff Rediff.com (stylized as ''rediff.com'') is an Indian news, information, entertainment and shopping web portal. It was founded in 1996. It is headquartered in Mumbai, with offices in Bangalore, New Delhi and New York City. , it had more than 300 e ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chopra, Vidhu Vinod Living people 1952 births Film directors from Jammu and Kashmir Hindi-language film directors People from Srinagar Telstra People's Choice Award winners Film and Television Institute of India alumni Film producers from Jammu and Kashmir Indian documentary filmmakers Indian male screenwriters Filmfare Awards winners Punjabi people Hindi film editors Film editors from Jammu and Kashmir Best Original Screenplay National Film Award winners Producers who won the Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment National Film Award Producers who won the Best Debut Feature Film of a Director National Film Award