After the success of MBBS, he helmed its sequel Lage Raho Munna Bhai (2006), which emerged as the second-highest grosser of the year and the coming-of-age comedy-drama 3 Idiots (2009) emerged as the highest grossing Indian film of its time. Both of them won the National Film Award for Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment and were nominated for the Filmfare Award for Best Film, Best Director, Best Screenplay, with 3 Idiots, winning all three categories. His next film, the science fiction religious satirePK (2014), again emerged as the highest-grossing Indian film of its time and the biographical comedy-drama Sanju (2018) based on the life of actor Sanjay Dutt released to critical and commercial success. Both films were nominated for Best Film and Best Director at the Filmfare Awards, with PK winning him the Best Screenplay. Domestically, both films are currently the fifth and seventh highest grossing Bollywood films.[4]During the MeToo movement in India, he was accused of sexual assault.[5][6][7][8] He is the founder of the production house Rajkumar Hirani Films. His latest film is Dunki, starring Shah Rukh Khan was released theatrically on 21 December 2023 with mixed reviews.
In his college days, he was involved with Hindi theatre. He had many friends in Nagpur's medical college and hence, spent much time in theatre at the college. Suresh had his son's photographs taken and sent him to an acting school in Mumbai. However, Hirani could not fit in and returned to Nagpur after three days. His father then asked him to apply to the Film and Television Institute of India in Pune, but the acting course had shut down and his chances of admission to the directorial course looked slim as there were far too many applicants.[11] Hirani opted for the film editing course, and earned a scholarship.[12]
Career
Early work (1994–2000)
Hirani tried his luck as a film editor for many years. Bad experiences forced him to shift to television advertising,[13] and he gradually established himself as a director and producer of advertising films. He was also seen in a Fevicol ad where some men and elephants were trying to pull and break a Fevicol plank, saying "Jor laga ke Haisha".[14] He was also seen in the Kinetic Luna ad campaign created by Ogilvy & Mather.
He was doing fairly well in the advertising industry, but he wanted to make movies, so he took a break from advertisement and started working with Vidhu Vinod Chopra. He worked on promos and trailers for Chopra's patriotic romance 1942: A Love Story (1994).[15] He edited promotions for Chopra's romance Kareeb (1998).[16] He got his first opportunity as a film editor with Chopra's action drama Mission Kashmir (2000).[17]
Directorial debut and breakthrough (2003–09)
Hirani winning the Bharat Asmita National Award in 2007
In 2006, Hirani directed the second installment of the Munna Bhai franchise, titled Lage Raho Munna Bhai, which retained some of the original cast, including Sanjay Dutt, Warsi, and Boman Irani, and added Vidya Balan as the female lead replacing Gracy Singh. The film proved to be Hirani's highest-grossing release to that point, grossing ₹1.2 billion (US$14 million) worldwide, ranking as the third highest-grossing film of the year. Just like the previous instalment, it won Hirani his second National Film Award for Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment, his second Filmfare Award for Best Film (Critics), his first Filmfare Award for Best Story and Best Dialogue, and his second nomination for Best Director.
Widespread success (2009–present)
Hirani at the 41st International Film Festival in 2010
Hirani's next directorial venture was the coming-of-age comedy-drama 3 Idiots (2009), loosely adapted from the novel Five Point Someone by Chetan Bhagat. Starring an ensemble cast of Aamir Khan, Kareena Kapoor Khan, R. Madhavan, Sharman Joshi, and Boman Irani, it follows the friendship of three engineering students, and was a satire about social pressures under an Indian education system. 3 Idiots received widespread critical acclaim upon release, and emerged as the highest-grossing Indian film up until then, earning ₹4.60 billion (US$54 million) in global ticket sales. Hirani won his third National Film Award for Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment, his first Filmfare Award for Best Film and Best Director, and his second Filmfare Award for Best Story and Best Screenplay. 3 Idiots established Hirani as one of Hindi cinema's most prominent filmmakers.
After a 5-year hiatus, Hirani returned to direction with the science fictionsatiricalcomedy dramaPK (2014). Upon release, the film received positive reviews, with praise directed towards Aamir Khan's performance and the film's humour, though certain criticism was received for "hurting religious sentiments". It received 8 nominations at the 60th Filmfare Awards, winning two. Additionally, it won five Producers Guild Film Awards, and two Screen Awards. PK garnered the Telstra People's Choice Award at the Indian Film Festival of Melbourne. Produced on a budget of ₹850 million (approx. $12 million), PK was the first Indian film to gross more than ₹7 billion and US$100 million worldwide. At the time, it emerged as the highest-grossing Indian film of all time and ranks as the 70th highest-grossing film of 2014 worldwide. The film's final worldwide gross was ₹854crore (US$140million). It currently stands as the 5th highest-grossing Indian film worldwide and 7th highest-grossing film in India.
When someone says to me, ‘Our minds are preconditioned to believe things, and you gave us a different viewpoint to think,’ I feel like I’ve done something worthy.
Hirani's films are often based on themes that explore particularly different critical social issues like middle-class aspirations, reforms, self-conviction and relationships, albeit with healthy humour and an immense emotional quotient. Hirani is the editor of all of his films; he has himself admitted that he enjoys editing films more than anything else.[19]Rajeev Masand wrote, in a review, "[L]ike those good old-fashioned Hrishikesh Mukherjee films, [Rajkumar] Hirani's film reinforced importance of human goodness and basic niceties".[20] Hirani cites Mukherjee's Anand (1971) as his favourite film.
Munna Bhai MBBS (2003) deals with the corruption of hospitals and the cruelty of doctors, Lage Raho Munna Bhai (2006) deals with Gandhi's thinking and reforming people with soft-hearted behaviour, 3 Idiots (2009) with the education system, pressure on students for marks and passion of individuals, PK (2014) with religion and superstition and Sanju (2018) with relationships and media outrage.[21] Film critic Komal Nahta called Hirani "a magician more than a director" while reviewing Sanju, adding that he "narrates the complex story of a misdirected, ignorant, and foolish young man with such sensitivity that the human drama becomes quite a masterpiece of a film."[22]
I believe in God and I believe in religion. But I am against any religion that instills fear. God is misused by many who wish to mint money by scaring people. I believe in the great Hindu principle: 'Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam' - the whole world is a family. Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, and indeed all religions, teach us brotherhood and love.
— Hirani on religion during PK controversies.[23][24]
All of Hirani's films were co-produced by Vinod Chopra Films till Sanju, after which they broke their ties owing to creative differences.[25] He had edited one of Chopra's films Mission Kashmir (2000) professionally. Hirani has worked consistently with writer Abhijat Joshi since Lage Raho Munna Bhai, and has often cast the same actors in his projects, particularly Sanjay Dutt, who has collaborated with Hirani on three feature films and one film which itself is based on Dutt. Aamir Khan has collaborated on two films with Hirani, one also starring Dutt. Boman Irani has featured in all of Hirani's films in pivotal supporting roles.
Hirani is considered a pioneer of his own cinematic style. He has garnered appraisal from several industry's successful makers and his contemporaries like Karan Johar who said,
I've been pitted against everyone and I feel envious, not jealous. I am envious of Rajkumar Hirani. I've never managed to do what he does. His movies have genius ideas. I don't have the ability perhaps. I would love to make those kinds of movies. He has strong screenplays. I hope I get such screenplays. [26]
Director Anurag Kashyap called him the bravest filmmaker, he added: Generally, we filmmakers get into our subject to prove its poignancy so much that we end up making it less effective for the audience. But Raju didn't do that.[27]
SS Rajamouli said during the promotion of Baahubali: The Beginning (2015) that he is a huge fan of Hirani's films and that he "cannot make one scene the way [Rajkumar] Hirani does".[28]
Screenwriter Javed Akhtar praised Hirani's work saying,
"I am a huge admirer of Rajkumar Hirani. He does really good work and now again, he has done an amazing job. I always say one thing about him, that to make such kind of films, you not only have to be a really good director or writer, you have to be really a good human being as well.[29]
Personal life
Hirani married Manjeet Hirani, a pilot in Air India, in 1994. They have a son, Vir Hirani, who is also pursuing filmmaking.
The budgets and box-office figures are all estimates collated from various sources with reputed film portals. All values in Indian Rupees (₹) are converted to US Dollars ($) based on the average yearly exchange rate data from World Bank.
,_at_Panaji,_Goa_on_November_24,_2010.jpg)
