Formerly, he was the creative head of ASA Productions and Enterprises until 2014, when he resigned from the company.[2] Many of his films were produced under Loneranger Productions, which he co-founded.[3]
Early life
Bhatt is the grandson of Vijay Bhatt from (Gujarat, Palitana), one of the pioneers of the Indian film industry, and the son of cinematographer Pravin Bhatt.[4][5]
Career
At the age of 14,[1] in 1982, Bhatt started his career with director Mukul Anand in Anand's first film, Kanoon Kya Karega. Bhatt also assisted Mukul Anand as the chief assistant on the sets of Agneepath. This film turned out to be a cult classic, though not very successful at the box office.
Subsequently, Bhatt worked with director Shekhar Kapur for two and a half years and later with director Mahesh Bhatt for two years approximately. He has been an assistant director on the sets of several successful films including Hum Hain Rahi Pyar Ke and Junoon.
In 2008, Bhatt came back with the horror genre and he delivered three films that were successful at the box office; these include 1920. Shaapit and Haunted – 3D. In 2010, Bhatt introduced stereoscopic 3D for the first time in India with his film Haunted – 3D;[6] the film was released in May 2011 and it then set the record of the highest grossing Hindi horror film of all time, making Rs. 270 million at the box office.
In 2012, Bhatt's Raaz 3: The Third Dimension recorded domestic box office collection of Rs. 729 million after the 3rd weekend and the overseas collection was at 46 million.[7] Riding high with the success, Bhatt is writing another horror-thriller for Bipasha in the central role, with a more shocking image than Raaz 3.[8] Following the success of Raaz 3, Vikram Bhatt's written Hindi horror film 1920: Evil Returns which has been directed by debutant Bhushan Patel topped the first weekend collection chart at the box office and the approximate collection was Rs 124.3 million nett.[9] The movie further collected approx Rs 37.5 million nett in the second Weekend, taking the total to Rs 228.6 million nett. The film has been declared a 'hit'.[10] Soon after, Bhatt signed a deal with Bhushan Kumar's T-Series to produce 5 films of sci-fi, thriller and horror genre. Two of the films will be directed by Bhatt himself.[11]
In early 2013, Bhatt announced his upcoming projects, Creature 3D, India's First 3D Monster Movie with Bipasha Basu in the lead role[12] and 1920 London, third in the 1920 series.[13] Vikram Bhatt will mark his foray into Marathi cinema with 'Ek Doosrey Ke Liye', which will be directed by Ashwini Kumar Patil.
Starting from 16 February 2014, he would be seen hosting the TV Show Ishq Kills based on Real Life Romances on Star Plus.[14]
Notable achievements
Bhatt's movies, 1920: Evil Returns's social media promotion campaign was studied by Indian Institute of Management Bangalore. The management institute assessed Internet activities and campaigns; the team finally establish the connection between box office collections and promotions on social media. This case study is published by Harvard Business Publishing[15] and is being used by students in the United States, Canada, Norway, Slovenia and Sri Lanka.[16][17]
Bhatt was married to his childhood sweetheart, Aditi Bhatt (div. 1998), and they have a daughter, Krishna Bhatt.[19] Bhatt shares a great bond with his daughter and she has been assisting him on his sets.[20]
Bhatt reportedly dated Ameesha Patel for five years and had also reportedly dated Sushmita Sen sometime in the mid 1990s, after she became Miss Universe 1994.[1] He married art connoisseur Shwetambari Soni in 2020.[21]
