Rajkumar Hirani
Born	(1962-11-22) November 22, 1962 (age 49) Nagpur, Maharashtra
Occupation	Director, screenwriter, film editor
Years active	2003-Present
Spouse	Manjeet Hirani

Rajkumar Hirani (Sindhi:راج ڪمار ھيراڻي)(born 22 November 1962) is a National Award and Filmfare Award winning Indian director, screenwriter and film editor of Hindi films, best known for the films Munna Bhai MBBS (2003), Lage Raho Munnabhai (2006) and 3 Idiots (2009), considered the highest-grossing Hindi film by distributor-share.

Early life and education[link]

Rajkumar Hirani (very commonly known as Raju Hirani) was born in Nagpur to a Sindhi family. His father Suresh Hirani ran a typing institute in Nagpur. Hirani family migrated to India after Partition of India when Suresh Hirani was 14 year old. Rajkumar Hirani studied in St. Francis De'Sales High School, Nagpur, Maharashtra. Rajkumar did not have enough marks to get admission in either engineering or medical courses so he did his graduation in commerce.^[1] Hirani helped his father in his business but he wanted to be actor in Hindi films. In college days he was involved with Hindi theatre. Suresh got his son's photographs shot and packed him off to an acting school in Mumbai. But Raju could not blend in and returned to Nagpur after three days. His father then asked Raju to apply to the Film and Television Institute of India in Pune, but the acting course had shut down by then and chances of admission to the directorial course looked slim as there were way too many applicants.^[2] So Raju opted for the editing course. He earned a scholarship, thereby reducing the load on his father's shoulders.^[3]

Career[link]

Early career[link]

After FTII, Hirani tried his luck as film editor for many years. Bad experiences forced him to shift to advertising.^[4] and gradually established himself as a director and producer of advertising films. He was also seen in a Fevicol ad where some guys and elephants are trying to pull and break a Fevicol plank saying "Jor laga ke Haisha".^[5] He was doing good in advertisement business 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 1942: A Love Story.^[6] He edited promos for Kareeb.^[7] He got a big break as film editor with Mission Kashmir.^[8]

[edit] Munnabhai MBBS and afterwards

Rajkumar Hirani's first directorial venture was Munnabhai MBBS (2003) which is considered a cult classic.^[9] Munnabhai MBBS not only broke all formulaic conventions associated with Bollywood films but also became a trend setter. Made on a budget of Rs. 10 crores, it was a huge hit worldwide and took a distributor share of Rs. 25 crores from the Indian market.^[10] His second directorial effort was Lage Raho Munnabhai which had a strong cultural impact in India, popularising Gandhism under Munna Bhai's notion of Gandhigiri. The film was generally well-received by both critics and the mass audience and was a huge box office success.

His third film was the comedy 3 Idiots starring Aamir Khan, R. Madhavan, Sharman Joshi, Kareena Kapoor, Omi Vaidya, Parikshit Sahni and Boman Irani. The film was also very well received by the critics. 3 Idiots became the highest grosser in Indian cinema shattering all records across Indian and overseas markets.^[11]

Director[link]

Filmography as producer and editor[link]

Awards[link]

For Munna Bhai M.B.B.S.^[12]

• 2004: National Film Award for Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment
• 2004: Filmfare Critics Award for Best Movie
• 2004: Filmfare Award for Best Screenplay
• 2004: IIFA Award for Best Editing
• 2004: IIFA Award for Best Screenplay

For Lage Raho Munna Bhai^[12]

• 2007: National Film Award for Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment
• 2007: National Film Award for Best Screenplay
• 2007: Filmfare Critics Award for Best Movie
• 2007: Filmfare Best Story Award
• 2007: Filmfare Best Dialogue Award
• 2007: IIFA Award for Best Dialogue
• 2007: IIFA Award for Best Story
• 2007: Bollywood Movie Award – Best Director
• 2007: Stardust Dream Director Award
• 2007: Star Screen Award for Best Film
• 2007: Star Screen Award for Best Story
• 2007: Star Screen Award for Best Editing
• 2007: Zee Cine Award for Best Dialogue
• 2007: Zee Cine Award for Best Screenplay
• 2007: Zee Cine Award for Best Story
• 2007: Global Indian Film Awards for Best Film, Best Story, Best Dialogue^[13][14]
• 2006: Broadcast India Awards for Excellence in Film & Television (part of the Broadcast India 2006 Exhibition & Symposium) - Best Director.^[15]

For 3 Idiots^[12]

• 2010: National Film Award for Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment
• 2010: Filmfare Award for Best Director
• 2010: Filmfare Award for Best Dialogue
• 2010: Filmfare Award for Best Story
• 2010: Filmfare Award for Best Screenplay
• 2010: Star Screen Award for Best Director
• 2010: Star Screen Award for Best Screenplay
• 2010: Star Screen Award for Best Editing
• 2010: Star Screen Award for Best Dialogue
• 2010: IIFA Award for Best Editing
• 2010: IIFA Award for Best Dialogue
• 2010: IIFA Award for Best Screenplay
• 2010: IIFA Award for Best Story
• 2010: IIFA Award for Best Director
• 2011: Apsara Award for Special Honour For Films Of 2009 - Best Director

Nominations[link]

• 2004: Star Screen Award for Best Director - Munnabhai MBBS
• 2004: Star Screen Award for Best Editing - Munnabhai MBBS
• 2004: Star Screen Award for Best Screenplay - Munnabhai MBBS
• 2006: Global Indian Film Award for Best Director - Lage Raho Munnabhai
• 2007: Filmfare Award for Best Director - Lage Raho Munnabhai
• 2007: Star Screen Award for Best Director - Lage Raho Munnabhai
• 2007: Star Screen Award for Best Screenplay - Lage Raho Munnabhai
• 2007: Zee Cine Award for Best Editing - Lage Raho Munnabhai
• 2007: Zee Cine Award for Best Director - Lage Raho Munnabhai
• 2007: IIFA Award for Best Director - Lage Raho Munnabhai
• 2007: IIFA Award for Best Screenplay - Lage Raho Munnabhai
• 2010: Star Screen Award for Best Story - 3 Idiots
• 2010: Stardust Award for Dream Director - 3 Idiots

Footnotes[link]

External links[link]

• Rajkumar Hirani at the Internet Movie Database
• Munna and Circuit are divine fools' (Interview)
• Being Rajkumar Hirani
• Lage Raho will make you laugh with moist eyes (Interview)
• Rajkumar Hirani's Fan Club