Vidhu Vinod Chopra

Vidhu Vinod Chopra (born 5September 1952) is an Indian film director, screenwriter and producer. His better known films include Parinda, 1942: A Love Story , Munna Bhai film series (Munna Bhai M.B.B.S. and Lage Raho Munna Bhai), 3 Idiots, PK, Sanju and Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga. He is the founder of Vinod Chopra Films and Vinod Chopra Productions.

Chopra was born and grew up in Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, India. His father was D. N. Chopra and veteran filmmaker Ramanand Sagar was his half-brother.His mother was Shanti Devi Chopra who left kashmir with him and family after outcast of Kashmiri Pandit in 1990. He has dedicated his new movie Shikara to his mother which is based on the same theme. He studied film direction at the Film and Television Institute of India in Pune.

Chopra's first student short film, Murder at Monkey Hill, won the National Film Award for Best Short Experimental Film and the Guru Dutt Memorial Award for Best Student Film.

This was followed by a short documentary highlighting the plight of India's destitute children, called An Encounter with Faces, which was nominated for an Academy Award in the Documentary Short Subject category in 1979. It also won the Grand Prix at the Tampere Film Festival in 1980.

He founded his own production company, Vinod Chopra Films, in 1985. Since then, the company has gone on to produce major Bollywood films, and is currently one of the biggest and most successful film production houses in India.

Films

His first feature film, shot in black-and-white, was Sazaa-E-Maut (Death Penalty) – a thriller made on a low budget with then-unknown actor Naseeruddin Shah and editor Renu Saluja, who were his fellow students at FTII, Pune.

His critically acclaimed films include Parinda, 1942: A Love Story, Mission Kashmir, the Munna Bhai series, Parineeta, and 3 Idiots. 3 Idiots went on to become one of the most successful films in India, and became the first film in the country to cross Rs. 200 crore at the boxoffice. It also found popular appeal in markets like Taiwan and Korea. He also made his Hollywood directorial debut with the film Broken Horses in 2015. However, it received a Rotten Tomatoes rating of 22%, and was a commercial disaster, only making Rs. 60 lakh in its opening weekend.

His latest film, Shikara - A Love Letter from Kashmir is a Hindi language historical romance film releasing on 21 February 2020 and will mark hisreturn to direction in India after 12 years. His last directorial feature film, Eklavya: The Royal Guard released in 2007.

Vidhu Vinod Chopra has received one nomination at the Academy Awards, six National Film Awards, and five awards from fourteen nominations at the Filmfare Awards.

IIFA Awards

• 2007: Winner, IIFA Best Screenplay Award for Lage Raho Munna Bhai
• 2001: Nominated, IIFA Best Director Award for Mission Kashmir
• 2010: Winner, IIFA Best Screenplay Award for 3 idiots

Stardust Awards

• 2009: Winner, Readers' Choice Award for 3 Idiots

FICCI Awards

• 2009: Winner, Most Successful Film of the Year for 3 Idiots

Zee Cine Awards

• 2007: Winner, Best Screenplay Award for Lage Raho Munna Bhai
• 2005: Winner, Best Dialogue Award for Parineeta
• 2005: Winner, Best Director Award for Mission Kashmir

Tampere International Short Film Festival

• 1980: Winner, Grand Prix for An Encounter with Faces

Star Screen Awards

• 2006: Winner, Best Film for Lage Raho Munnabhai
• 2006: Nominated, Best Screenplay for Lage Raho Munna Bhai
• 2009: Winner, Star Screen Award for Best Film, 3 Idiots
• 2009: Winner, Star Screen Award for Best Screenplay, 3 Idiots

He is married to Indian film critic, Anupama Chopra. He has two children with her, a son, Agni and a daughter, Zuni Chopra.