Top copycat Directors from Bollywood
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David Dhawan was born on 16 August 1955 in Agartala, Tripura, India. He is a director and editor, known for Aankhen (1993), Mujhse Shaadi Karogi (2004) and Haseena Maan Jaayegi (1999). He is married to Karuna Chopra Dhawan. They have two children.- Director
- Writer
- Music Department
Priyadarshan is an Indian film director and screenwriter. He has worked in the Hindi and Malayalam film industry for almost 40 years and has directed over 90 films.
He completed his early education at Government Model School in Thiruvananthapuram. He later pursued his bachelor's degree from Mahatma Gandhi College and Master of Arts in Philosophy from University College Thiruvananthapuram. Priyadarshan was a voracious reader, which sparked his interest in writing and led him to write short plays and skits for All India Radio in college.
He began his career in the Malayalam Film Industry in the early 1980s. He started his career as a director with Poochakkoru Mookkuthi (1984) in 1984. The film did surprisingly well and ran for almost 100 days in theatres across Kerala. He continued this slapstick comedy style and later made Oodarathuammava Aalariyam (1984) and Onnanam Kunnil Oradi Kunnil (1985).
Later that year, he demonstrated versatility by directing the crime drama Parayanumvayya Parayathirikkanumvayya (1985). In the same year, Priyadarshan made his first film with Mohanlal titled Punnaram Cholli Cholli (1985).
1988 was a landmark year in Priyadarshan's career. He directed Vellanakalude Naadu (1988) with Mohanlal in the lead role. It was a political satire crime film that revolved around the prevalent corruption in the country. The film was the biggest hit of that year and successfully ran for 200 days in theatres.
Later that year, he directed and released Chithram (1988), his career's biggest hit. The film completed 366 days in the theatres and broke all the records of his previous collections.
Later, these records were broken by his other film, Kilukkam (1991), released in 1991. Kilukkam starred Mohanlal, Revathi, and Jagathy Sreekumar in lead roles. Priyadarshan's next three releases - Abhimanyu (1991), Advaitham (1991), and Thenmavin Kombath (1994) were also commercially successful and ran for 100 days in the theatres.
Priyadarshan actively worked in the Malayalam film industry for almost two decades (the 1980s and 1990s). After this, he took a short break from Malayalam cinema. He then started focusing on Hindi cinema. He worked as a director and screenwriter in Hindi cinema for nearly a decade.
Priyadarshan debuted in Hindi cinema with Muskurahat (1992), a remake of his film Kilukkam. While the movie didn't perform well at the box office, he made a comeback with the action-crime film Gardish (1993), starring Jackie Shroff. The film was a massive hit, earning two Filmfare Awards for Best Action and Best Art Direction.
In 2000, Priyadarshan directed the comedy movie Hera Pheri (2000) starring Akshay Kumar, Suniel Shetty, and Paresh Rawal. The movie is an Indian cult classic and is considered one of the best comedy films in the history of Hindi cinema. Priyadarshan's career in Bollywood took off after Hera Pheri (2000), and he went on to direct comedy blockbusters such as Hungama (2003), Garam Masala (2005), and Phir Hera Pheri (2006).
In 2021, he directed the period drama Marakkar: Lion of the Arabian Sea (2021), set in the 16th century. The film, starring Mohanlal, earned Priyadarshan the National Film Award for Best Feature Film.
Priyadarshan has been awarded several state and national awards for his work in Hindi and Malayalam cinema. He won the Filmfare Award for Best Film (Critics) for Virasat (1997) in 1997 and the Filmfare Award for Best Director in 2009 for his movie Kanchivaram (2008). In addition to his cinema accolades, the then President of India also awarded Priyadarshan a Padma Shri in 2012 for his contribution to Indian cinema.- Director
- Writer
- Producer
Vikram Bhatt was born on 27 January 1969 in Bombay, Maharashtra, India. He is a director and writer, known for Raaz (2002), Ghulam (1998) and Maaya: Slave of Her Desires (2017).- Producer
- Director
- Writer
Mahesh Bhatt was born on 20 September 1948 in Bombay, State of Bombay, India. He is a producer and director, known for Raaz (2002), Zakhm (1998) and Saaransh (1984). He has been married to Soni Razdan since 1986. They have two children. He was previously married to Lorraine Bright "Kiran Bhatt".- Writer
- Director
- Producer
Sanjay Gupta was born on 23 October 1969 in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. He is a writer and director, known for Kaante (2002), Kaabil (2017) and Mumbai Saga (2021).- Director
- Producer
- Actor
Abbas Alibhai Burmawalla is an Indian filmmaker. He co-directs films with his brother Mastan Alibhai Burmawalla. Together they are known as the Abbas-Mustan duo, recognised for directing action, suspense, and thriller films.
Burmawalla started his career with Gujarati films. He and his brother Mastan Alibhai Burmawalla worked as assistant directors before getting their first break to direct a film.
Burmawalla's directorial debut in Hindi was Agneekaal (1990), which he co-directed with his brother. Since then, he has co-directed 14 Hindi films.
His repertoire of films includes superhit movies like Khiladi (1992), Baazigar (1993), Baadshah (1999), Ajnabee (2001), Aitraaz (2004), and Race (2008), among others.
Burmawalla is the recipient of the Life Membership of the International Film and Television Club, conferred by the Asian Academy of Film & Television.- Writer
- Director
- Producer
Vivek Agnihotri (born 10th November) is an avant garde Indian film director, producer and screenwriter. Agnihotri is one of the few new age Hindi cinema film directors, known to experiment in different genres of film making. He has ventured into genres like erotica, thriller, sports, political dramas and love stories making him a multiple genre director. He is credited to direct India's first mainstream football film (Dhana Dhan Goal) at a time when not many producers were investing in sports films in Bollywood. Agnihotri also directed India's first Erotic thriller (Hate Story) that was produced by Vikram Bhatt and was a critical and commercial success.
Agnihotri made his directorial debut with Chocolate: Deep Dark Secrets (2005) which had multiple stars with Anil Kapoor, Emraan Hashmi, Sunil Shetty, Irfan Khan, Sushma Reddy and Tanushree Dutta in lead roles. Its still rated as one of the most stylized suspense drama. Chocolate has been listed as one of the best city (London) films.
Vivek Agnihotri's upcoming films include Buddha in a Traffic Jam that is set on the backdrop of the Maoist movement in India. Another of his upcoming film is named Freedom which is a hard hitting political drama. Agnihotri is also directing a psychological drama Zid that would be produced by Anubhav Sinha. In 2002, he created his production house named Vivek Agnihotri Creates Pvt Ltd.- Director
- Writer
- Producer
Raj Kanwar was born in 1961 in India. He was a director and writer, known for Daag: The Fire (1999), Itihaas (1997) and Humko Deewana Kar Gaye (2006). He was married to Anita Kanwar. He died on 3 February 2012 in Singapore.- Director
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
- Producer
- Producer
- Director
- Writer
Harry Baweja was born in Ludhiana, Punjab, India. He is known for Love Story 2050 (2008), Teesri Aankh: The Hidden Camera (2006) and Trinetra (1991).- Writer
- Director
- Producer
Suparn Varma was born on 24 September 1974 in Bombay, Maharashtra, India. He is a writer and director, known for The Family Man (2019), Janasheen (2003) and Acid Factory (2009).