Rohit Shetty

Rohit Shetty (born 14 March 1974) is an Indian filmmaker, screenwriter, stuntman, producer and television personality who works in Hindi cinema. A notable director of Hindi cinema, his movies often mix the genres of action comedy and masala films.

His breakthrough came with the first installment of the comedy film franchise Golmaal (2006), starring Ajay Devgn and Arshad Warsi, which became a sleeper hit. Further subsequent successful films in the franchise included Golmaal Returns (2008) and Golmaal 3 (2010), which became one of the highest-grossing films of the year.

Shetty returned to the action genre with Singham (2011) after eight years of his debut action thriller Zameen (2003). It also starred Ajay Devgn in the lead; the film turned out to be one of the highest grossers of the year. Later on, it expanded into the Cop Universe with other successful films such as Singham Returns (2014), Simmba (2018),Sooryavanshi (2021) and Singham Again (2024). His other notable successes include All the Best: Fun Begins (2009), Bol Bachchan (2012), and Chennai Express (2013), starring Shah Rukh Khan, which became the highest grossing Hindi film, surpassing 3 Idiots at that time.

Apart from film directing, he has also hosts the stunt-based adventure show Fear Factor: Khatron Ke Khiladi since 2014. Rohit is identified for his one-liners and comic timing.

Shetty was born to M. B. Shetty, an action choreographer and Ratna, a junior artist. His father belonged to the Tulu-speaking community from Mangalore, while his mother was from Madhya Pradesh. His grandmother is from Afghanistan. Shetty speaks Hindi at home.

Shetty began his career at the age of 17 as an assistant director in Ajay Devgn's first film Phool Aur Kaante. He then worked with Devgn in Suhaag (where he was a body double for Akshay Kumar, who was its second main hero) and Haqeeqat, and with Kumar in Zulmi. He then joined the Devgn starrers Pyaar To Hona Hi Tha, Hindustan Ki Kasam and Raju Chacha.

Shetty debuted as an independent director in 2003 with the Devgn starrer Zameen, an average grosser, before he rose to fame in 2006 when he directed the first part of Devgn's cult comedy series Golmaal that became his first hit. His next two directorials—the comic thriller Sunday and the successful sequel of Golmaal named Golmaal Returns (both featuring Devgn)–were released theatrically in 2008 followed by All the Best: Fun Begins in 2009.

The third part of Golmaal series titled Golmaal 3 (again starring Devgn) that opened theatrically in 2010 ended up as Shetty's first and an surprising blockbuster that entered 100 Crore Club domestically. Continuing his collaborations with Devgn, Shetty begun his Cop Universe in 2011 through his action film Singham (that saw Devgn portray a police inspector fighting against corruption) and directed the comedy Bol Bachchan (also featuring Abhishek Bachchan) in 2012; both films were super hits and crossed 100 Crore Club domestically.