September Babies: Celebrating a Month of Filmmakers’ Birthdays

September is the month of filmmakers!

September seems to be the month of filmmakers’ birthdays in Bollywood—some of the industry’s best and most innovative filmmakers were born this month! These award-winning stars have given us hits such as “Parineeta,” “Gangs of Wasseypur” and “Murder.” They have also launched the careers of much-loved actors, including Vidya Balan and Hrithik Roshan.

Let’s take a look at which talented directors and producers—some of whom are even screenwriters for their films— graced us with their birth this month!

1. Vidhu Vinod Chopra

Birthday : September 5

Vidhu Vinod Chopra studied filmmaking at the Film and Television Institute in Pune. His first piece, “Murder at Monkey Hill,” won him the National Film Award for Best Short Experimental Film. His first documentary, “An Encounter With Faces,” highlighted the plight of India’s destitute children. It was nominated for an Oscar in the Documentary Short Subject category in 1978.

With an award-winning start to his career, Chopra went on to give us Bollywood hits such as “Khamosh,” “Parinda,” “1942–A Love Story,” “Mission Kashmir” and “Eklavya–The Royal Guard.” Chopra’s films “Parinda” and “Eklavya—The Royal Guard” even went on to be nominated for the Oscars in the Best Foreign Film categories in 1989 and 2007, respectively.

Chopra’s more recent hits include films that break all barriers, spread positive messages, and show the light on subjects otherwise forgotten, with his Munna Bhai series as well as “3 Idiots,” “Parineeta,” “Ferrari Ki Sawaari,” and “PK.” Chopra recently broke into Hollywood with his film “Broken Horses” which he wrote, produced and directed.

2. Rakesh Roshan

Birthday: September 6

Today, the youngsters may know Rakesh Roshan as the father of Bollywood’s sexiest actor—Hrithik Roshan. However, the senior Roshan has built an empire for his son to stand on, he started his career back in 1970 as an actor in the film “Ghar Ghar ki Kahani.” He played mainly supporting roles, in films with multi-star leads and the hero in many female-oriented films opposite industry legends like Hema Malini, Jaya Prada, and Rekha. After some ups-and-downs as an actor, he ventured into film production.

Roshan’s directorial and production ventures were great hits of the 90s such as “Khudgarz,” “Karan Arjun,” “Koyla,” and “Kishen Kanhaiya.” He later launched his son in “Kaho Na Pyaar Hai”—another mega-hit that brought home numerous awards for father and son. Father-son duo went on to make the classic, “Koi Mil Gaya” which later developed into India’s first superhero—Krrish! The Krrish series has brought both Roshans much love from fans. Currently, father and son are back at it again with the upcoming film “Kaabil,” also starring Yami Gautam.

3. Anurag Kashyap

Birthday: September 10

Anurag Kashyap is known for his action-packed, dark films. He started his career in the 90s as a television scriptwriter, and he even wrote episodes of Mahesh Bhatt’s show, “Kabhie Kabhie”. He then got his big break as the writer of Ram Gopal Verma’s film, “Satya.” After the huge success of “Satya,” Varma and Kashyap continued to work together on “Kaun” and “Shool.”

Kashyap’s directorial debut was the film “Paanch,” which never made it to theaters due to censorship issues. However, his second film, “Black Friday,” released in 2007 after a two-year delay and was a hit. The film was based on a book by Hussain Zaidi regarding the 1993 Bombay bombings. Kashyap’s follow up film, “No Smoking,” wasn’t as popular but his modern Devdas story, “Dev D,” put him back on top. He continued to release dark thrillers like “Gulaal,” “The Girl in Yellow Boots,” the “Gangs of Wasseypur” series, “Bombay Talkies,” “Ugly,” and “Bombay Velvet.”

He founded the production company Anurag Kashyap Films in 2009, and even co-produced the hit film “The Lunchbox” which received international attention and was India’s entry to the Oscars. In 2011, he co-founded the production company Phantom Films with Vikas Bahl, Vikramaditya Motwane, and Madhu Mantena. They have produced and co-produced films like “Lootera,” “Hasee Toh Phasee,” “Queen,” “Masaan” and “Shaandaar.”

4. AR Murugadoss

Birthday: September 17

AR Murugadoss started his career directing the Tamil film, “Dheena.” Since then the director, producer, and screenwriter has released numerous Tamil and Telegu hits. His first Hindi film was a remake of his own film, “Ghajini.” He took home the Stardust and Apsara Award for Best Director and was even nominated for a Filmfare Award. His second Hindi film was the Akshay Kumar starrer, “Holiday: A Soldier is Never off Duty,” a remake of his Tamil film “Thuppaki.” Murugadoss wrote and directed both films. Currently, he is working on his third Hindi film, “Akira,” starring Sonakshi Sinha—a film he wrote, directed and produced.

5. Mahesh Bhatt

Birthday: September 20

Director, producer and screenwriter Mahesh Bhatt has given us numerous hit films throughout his career. He started directing at the young age of 26, with his first film “Manzilein Au Bhi Hain” in 1974. His 1979 film “Lahu Ke Do Rang,” brought actress Helen her first Filmfare award for Best Supporting Actress. He later wrote the 1982 hit film “Arth” based on his extra-marital affair with actress Parveen Babi, who was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia.

Bhatt also used his life experiences to create hits like “Janam,” “Saaransh” and “Woh Lamhe.” Collaborating with T-series, Bhatt launched Rahul Roy, Anu Agarwal, and Deepak Tijori in the super-hit film “Aashiqui” in 1990. Recently, Bhatt produced the sequel to the film—”Aashiqui 2″—an enormous hit which re-launched the careers of leads Shraddha Kapoor and Aditya Roy Kapur.

Throughout his career, Bhatt has launched (and relaunched) many other stars including Anupam Kher in “Saaransh,” Sonali Bendre in “Naaraaz,” Aftab Shivdasani in “Kasoor,” Dino Morea and Bipasha Basu in “Raaz,” his nephew Emraan Hashmi in “Footpath” and “Murder,” Mallika Sherawat in “Murder,” Kunal Khemu in “Kalyug,” and Shiney Ahuja and Kangana Ranaut in “Gangster.” He also launched former Miss Universe Sushmita Sen, Mukul Dev and Manoj Bajpai in the film “Dastak.” Along with these stars, Bhatt is also responsible for launching his daughter, Pooja Bhatt, as a lead actress opposite Aamir Khan in “Dil Hai Ki Manta Nahin”—a film still known for its soundtrack.

Bhatt has even worked on television creating the series “A Mouthful of Sky” which launched Sameer Soni as an actor. He also created the Hindi language serial “Swabhimaan,” scripted by writer Shobha De and directed the show “Kabhie Kabhie” which lists Anurag Kashyap as one of its writers! Bhatt directed films like “Tamanna,” “Duplicate,” “Zakhm,” and “Kartoos, and later switched to screenwriting, pumping out box office hits such as “Dushman,” “Raaz,” “Murder,” “Gangster,” and “Woh Lamhe,” He has even produced three plays—”The Last Salute,” “Trial of Errors,” and a stage adaptation of his film, “Arth.”

Bhatt has quite the legacy which, hopefully, his daughter Pooja Bhatt and Alia Bhatt will continue in the future.