Debutant directors of 2008

[Priyank]

9th November 2007 was a crucial date for 3 young actors who were ready to prove their worth in Bollywood. Yes, the much hyped Diwali clash of Om Shanti Om and Saawariya gave birth to some really impressive, young and fresh talent namely Deepika Padukone, Ranbir Kapoor and Sonam Kapoor. Circa 5 months forward and you come to yet another crucial Filmy Friday- April 11th where you have two debutant directors out to make a mark with their films U Me Aur Hum and Krazzy 4. We are talking about none other than actor turned director Ajay Devgan and Jaideep Sen who are anxious and excited to show their new born babies to the filmy world. However, these are not the only 2 new directors to enter Bollywood this year. a sneak peak at some of the first time directors out to prove their mettle in the next few months…

Vijay Krishna Acharya – Tashan

Not many aspiring directors would even dream of working with the numero uno production house Yash Raj Films in their very first film. Vijay Krishna Acharya or Victor as he is fondly known as, is among the lucky few whose directorial debut Tashan is backed by the powerful father- son duo of Yash Chopra and Aditya Chopra. The fact that the film stars top names like Anil Kapoor, Akshay Kumar, Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor only adds to the expectations. Hope Vijay who earlier wrote the edgy ‘chor-police’ action film Dhoom and even penned the clap-worthy dialogues of Guru does live up to the hype of Tashan, come April 25th.

[Priyank]

Kunal Deshmukh – Jannat

People in India are crazy about only two things- Cricket and Bollywood. Get them together and you have a winning combination. Looking at the promos of Jannat, it seems debutant director Kunal Deshmukh, the latest discovery of the Bhatt camp, surely seems to have learnt a thing or two about direction during his days as an AD with Mohit Suri. Kunal who has done a course in film-making from New York, before working on films like Zeher, Kalyug and Woh Lamhe tackles the hitherto unexplored subject of match-fixing in his directorial debut. While the music of the film is already topping the charts, the timing of its release in May this year seems quite apt for this Emraan Hashmi starrer considering cricket frenzy would be at an all time high, courtesy IPL.

[Priyank]

Vivek Sharma – Bhoothnath

B.R. Films in the recent past has given us some meaningful cinema like Baghban and Baabul, both of them directed by Ravi Chopra. However, for their latest offering Bhoothnath, they have decided to hand over the directorial reins to newcomer Vivek Sharma. The debutant director has earlier assisted Mahesh Bhatt on films like Gumraah, Hum Hain Raahi Pyaar Ke, Chaahat etc and has even worked closely with Shah Rukh Khan on his home productions like Asoka, Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani, Chalte Chalte etc. He gets to direct two of Hindi cinema’s biggest stars Amitabh Bachchan and Shah Rukh Khan in his very first film which itself is a commendable feat. However, whether this emotional story of a child and his deceased grandfather touches the audiences’ hearts is something we will have to wait and watch.

[Priyank]

Kunal Shivdasani – Hijack

Hollywood has witnessed many action thrillers set against the backdrop of a plane hijack. However, barring a few films in Bollywood not many seem to have ventured into this area. Ad filmmaker Kunal Shivdasani, who has been associated with over 300 commercials, opts for an different theme for his directorial debut Hijack starring Shiney Ahuja and Esha Deol in lead roles. The film has some hi-octane action sequences to look forward to and with a fresh pairing, it should turn out to be an interesting watch.

[Priyank]

Sachin Yardi – C Kkompany

He has worked on the story and screenplay of Madhur Bhandarkar’s Traffic Signal; however, he is best known for those hilarious dialogues in the sex-comedy Kya Kool Hai Hum. Sachin Yardi gets his big break with Balaji Motion Pictures’ C Kkompany starring Tusshar Kapoor, Anupam Kher, Rajpal Yadav, Raima Sen and Mithun Chakraborty in lead roles. The film which is more like a Hrishikesh Mukherjee kind of a light-hearted comedy in a contemporary setting also sees some rare special appearances by filmmakers Mahesh Bhatt, Karan Johar and the Czarina of Indian television industry herself, Ekta Kapoor. Looks like Sachin is indeed in good ‘Kkompany’ for his directorial debut.

[Priyank]

Rumi Jaffery – God Tussi Great Ho

Rumi Jaffery has been an accomplished writer for nearly 15 years in the Hindi film industry. He has written the story of many popular films made by comedy-king David Dhawan including Hero No.1, Gharwali Baharwali, Dulhan Hum Le Jayenge, Bade Miyan Chhote Miyan, Mujhse Shaadi Karoge and Maine Pyaar Kyun Kiya. Apart from that, he has also written dialogues for films like Anjaam, Chalte Chalte, and Om Jai Jagdish. This year however is special, as Rumi gets ready to release his maiden directorial venture God Tussi Great Ho. The film which has been long in the making, stars Salman Khan, Priyanka Chopra and none other than Amitabh Bachchan in lead roles. With such a repertoire of films and such an impressive cast for his directorial debut, expectations certainly will be high from Rumi.

[Priyank]

Abbas Tyrewala – Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na

He has been a master story-teller ever since he was a small kid in school. Little did he know that one fine day his stories would be seen on the big screen and appreciated by the rest of the world. Abbas Tyrewala is the award winning screenplay writer of films like Maqbool and Main Hoon Na. What’s more, all those tapori dialogues which the audiences can’t seem to get enough of in the cult hit Munnabhai MBBS have been penned by this talented writer. This year however, things get bigger for Abbas who is directing his first film Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na. The fact that this film is being made under the banner of Aamir Khan Productions and also marks the launch of Aamir’s nephew Imraan only adds to the expectations. Genelia plays the female lead in this project. As for whether Tyrewala will come good in his maiden directorial venture is something which only time will tell.

Last year saw around two dozen directors make their debut. This year too, many directors are taking their first step in Bollywood with some interesting projects. Let’s wait and watch as to how many of them live up to the expectations.

[irajaiswal]

Well according to me Abbas Tyrevala stands out of the lot. JTNTN is a class movie, though there is nothing new about it still it has got that fresh feel to it. The music is outstanding A.R.Rahamn has been doing this flawlessly over past two decades. Rahaman rocks ! Koi Shaq? Not at all. BTW check out the cool review of JTNTN on planetradiocity.com.

[jordanasmith]

dont know about debutant directors but these people r going to have a tough time making movies like the previous directors..for example...rituparno ghosh the way he directed Last Lear.........

[mastermind786]

yeah i think abass done great job with JTYJN Awesome

after him Kunal Deshmukh (JANNAT)* impress A lot other's are Fail to get Attention i think