Govind Nihalani

Govind Nihalani (left)

Govind Nihalani (born 19 August 1940) is one of Indian cinema's foremost directors. He has been directing Hindi films since the late seventies.

Biography

Nihalani was born on 1940 August 19 in Karachi (now in Pakistan) and his family migrated to India during the partition of 1947. He started out as a cinematographer, graduating in cinematography from the Shree Jaya Chamrajendra polytechnic in Bangalore in 1962. He was associated with all the earlier films of Shyam Benegal and with the cinematography of Richard Attenborough's Oscar-winning epic Gandhi. Nihalani and Benegal are well known for their socially relevant films.

His first directorial venture was Aakrosh starring Om Puri, Naseeruddin Shah, the late Smita Patil and the late Amrish Puri. This was based on a real story which was converted into a film script by the eminent Marathi playwright Vijay Tendulkar and it made a huge impact on audiences all over India. It shared the Golden Peacock for best film at the International Film Festival of India held in New Delhi in 1981. His film Ardh Satya, based on a story by Dilip Chitre, is still remembered by film lovers. It changed forever the way in which Indian cinema portrayed the police and it exposed in stark detail the police-politician-criminal nexus. Over the years he has directed many films which are known for the manner in which they grab the viewer's attention, and his most recent work is the 2004 film Dev.

Filmography

• Aakrosh (1980) - starring Om Puri, Naseeruddin Shah, Smita Patil, Amrish Puri.
• Vijeyta (1982) - starring Kunal Kapoor, Supriya Pathak, Shashi Kapoor, Rekha, Amrish Puri, Raja Bundela. Till today this happens to be one of the best films ever made on the Indian Defence Forces.
• Ardh Satya (1983)- starring Om Puri, Naseeruddin Shah, Smita Patil, Sadashiv Amrapurkar, Naseeruddin Shah, Amrish Puri, Shafi Inamdar.
• Party (1984) - starring Rohini Hattangadi, Manohar Singh, Vijaya Metha, Om Puri, Naseeruddin Shah.
• Aaghat (1985) - starring Om Puri, Naseeruddin Shah, Pankaj Kapoor
• Tamas (1987) - Television serial based on a novel by Bhishma Sahni,Cinematography by V.K.Murthy
• Drishti (1990). Starring Shekar Kapoor, Dimple Kapadia , Irfan Khan
• Pita (1991)
• Rukmavati Ki Haweli (1991)
• Jazeere (TV series) (1991)
• Karm Yoddha (1992)
• Drohkaal (1994) - starring Om Puri, Naseeruddin Shah, Mita Vashishta, Annu Kapoor, Ashish Vidyarthi.
• Sanshodhan (1996)
• Hazaar Chaurasi Ki Maa (1997)- starring Jaya Bachchan, Anupam Kher, Joy Sengupta, Nandita Sen, Seema Biswas, Milind Gunaji.
• Thakshak (2000) - starring Ajay Devgan, Rahul Bose, Tabu, Amrish Puri, Govind Namdeo, Nethra Raghuraman.
• Deham (2001) - starring Joy Sengupta, Kitu Gidwani, Surekha Sikri, Aly Khan.
• Dev (2004) - starring Amitabh Bachchan, Om Puri, Fardeen Khan, Kareena Kapoor, Rati Agnihotri.

External links

• [1] Govind Nihalani's official site.
• Govind Nihalani at the Internet Movie Database
• [2] The chaosmag entry.
• [3] A discussion between Nihalani and Rakesh Sharma, Sept, 2005)
• [4] Nihalani speaks on Dev. Interview by Taran Adarsh in indiafm.com (09 June 2004)
• [5] Nihalani interviewed by Saibal Chatterjee in The Hindustan Times.
• [6] Zafar Anjum interviews Nihalani at Chowk.com (Feb 16 2003)
• [7] Piroj Wadia interviews Nihalani for Screen (03 May 2002)
• [8] Manjulaa Negi profiles Nihalani in The Hindustan Times
• [9] Dhiraj Singh poses 10 questions to Nihalani in Outlook (12 Mar 2001)
• [10] filmref.com analyses his first directorial venture Aakrosh.
• [11] A blog on Aakrosh.
• [12] Filmography from spicevienna.com
• [13] A filmography from the Movies section of NY Times.
• [14] Sharmila Taliculam interviews Nihalani for rediff.com (01 Dec 1999)
• [15] Nihalani talks to Suparn Verma about Mahasweta Devi and her work when she had won the Magsaysay award.
• [16] glamsham.com on Thakshak
• [17] Nihalani's filmography on MSN Movies.
• [18] Summary of Encyclopaedia of Hindi Cinema edited by Gulzar, Govind Nihalani and Saibal Chatterjee.