Rajkumar Hirani

Rajkumar "Raju" Hirani (born 20 November 1962) is an Indian filmmaker known for his works in Hindi films. He is the recipient of several accolades, including four National Film Awards and 11 Filmfare Awards. Hirani is referred as one of the most successful filmmakers of Indian cinema. His movies are often lighthearted but revolve around significant societal issues with humour and emotional intelligence.

Starting his career as a film editor after graduating from FTII in editing, a bad experience forced him to shift to ad films, where he made several successful ads. His first film as a professional editor was Vidhu Vinod Chopra's action drama Mission Kashmir (2000). Although Hirani wanted to make films, he took a one-year break and came back with the script of the comedy-drama Munna Bhai M.B.B.S. to Chopra to help him finance it, who agreed. Upon release, the film emerged as a widespread critical and commercial success. It won the National Film Award for Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment and the Filmfare Award for Best Film (Critics) and earned Hirani the Filmfare Award for Best Screenplay and his first nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Director. Rajkumar Hirani and his longtime collaborator Abhijat Joshi have jointly won the IIFA Award for Best Dialogue three times, making them the most awarded duo in this category.

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 satire PK (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. He is the founder of the production house Rajkumar Hirani Films. In 2019, Hirani directed a two‑minute commemorative short film on Mahatma Gandhi to mark the 150th anniversary of Gandhi's birth. Commissioned as part of a government initiative, the star‑studded video featured leading actors such as Aamir Khan, Salman Khan, Shah Rukh Khan, Ranbir Kapoor and others, and focused on Gandhi's key principles like non‑violence and truth.

His latest film Dunki, starring Shah Rukh Khan was released theatrically on 21 December 2023 with mixed reviews.

Hirani was born on 20 November 1962 in Nagpur to a Sindhi Hindu family. His ancestors originally belonged to Mehrabpur, a city now in the Naushahro Firoz District, Sindh, of Pakistan. His father Suresh Hirani ran a typing institute in Nagpur. Hirani studied at St. Francis De'Sales High School, Nagpur, Maharashtra. He did his graduation in commerce. His parents wanted him to be an engineer, but he was more keen on theatre and film.

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. Hirani opted for the film editing course, and earned a scholarship.

At a public event in 2025, Hirani described himself as a “huge fan” of filmmaker Satyajit Ray, recalling that during his time in film school he would spend “weeks and months” watching Ray’s films to study their craft and storytelling.

Hirani tried his luck as a film editor for many years. Bad experiences forced him to shift to television advertising, 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". He was also seen in the Kinetic Luna ad campaign created by Ogilvy & Mather.