Kahaani 2's Sujoy Ghosh and 5 other Bengali filmmakers who are ruling Bollywood

From Kahaani 2's director Sujoy Ghosh to the mind behind Piku, Shoojit Sircar, here are Bollywood's Bengali brigade who have given us some of the industry's best films in the last 20 years.

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Anurag Basu, Sujoy Ghosh, Shoojit Sircar
Anurag Basu, Sujoy Ghosh, Shoojit Sircar

Hoori baba! The sequel to the seminal 2011 Bollywood thriller Kahaani is here. With the Vidya Balan-starrer, five years ago, Sujoy Ghosh changed the way thrillers would be made in the industry. Even though Sriram Raghavan and Anurag Kashyap had been making thrillers since the beginning of 2000, it was Kahaani's success that made films like, say, Badlapur or Talaash more acceptable and of course, more marketable.

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Like in the '60s and '70s, when Bengali filmmakers like Shakti Samanta and Hrishikesh Mukherjee were redefining the commercial cinema of Bombay, Satyajit Ray, on the other hand, was making Indian cinema truly global.

Today, in the 2010s, the trend still remains the same. Some of Bollywood's most visionary directors are from Bengal. If taken note of the films made by these filmmakers over the last 15-20 years, one will notice how their work re-shaped and modified the Mumbai film industry's landscape.

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Here are Bollywood's best, contemporary Bengali filmmakers who are culturally and aesthetically moulding Bollywood in their image. And we should be proud of them.

Sujoy Ghosh (Jhankaar Beats, Kahaani and Kahaani 2)

Sujoy Ghosh scored a sleeper hit with his directorial debut Jhankaar Beats (2003). Since then, Sujoy kept making interesting but commercially unsuccessful films. The Kolkata boy soon found his footing with 2011's Kahaani which he wrote and directed. Since then, Sujoy has not looked back. He turned producer this year with Amitabh Bachchan and Nawazuddin Siddiqui-starrer Te3n.

Shoojit Sircar (Vicky Donor, Madras Cafe, Piku)

Shoojit Sircar made the critically acclaimed but commercial unsuccessful Yahaan in 2005, a film based on the 'Kashmir problem'. Shoojit hung around and made the film Shoebite starring Amitabh Bachchan and Nawazuddin Siddiqui, which sadly never saw the light of the day. Things turned around with 2012's Vicky Donor and after the success of this National Award-winning film, he has made Madras Cafe (2013) and the superhit Piku (2015). Shoojit also turned producer in 2016 with the critically and commercially successful Pink.

Anurag Basu (Life In A... Metro, Barfi!)

Anurag Basu began making movies with the Bhatt camp back in 2003. Basu's early films, Kucch To Hai, Saaya and Murder were blatant but well-made copies of Hollywood films. Basu gained some attention with 2006's Gangster which was praised by critics and was also a hit. Anurag began to be noticed with 2007's Life In A... Metro and later, 2012's Barfi! which cemented his master director status in Bollywood. His upcoming film with Ranbir Kapoor and Katrina Kaif titled Jagga Jasoos is releasing next year.

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Dibakar Banerjee (Khosla Ka Ghosla!, Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!, Shanghai)

One of the bravest and most unique filmmakers of Bollywood, Dibakar Banerjee hit the scene with the slice-of-life comedy Khosla Ka Ghosla!. The film won a National Award and was a small hit. Subsequently, he gained attention with the black comedy Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye! and the innovative LSD (Love, Sex Aur Dhokha). Both films broke even at the box office and were appreciated by critics. Banerjee hit the big leagues with Shanghai and 2015's Yash Raj Films production Detective Byomkesh Bakshy! Like Sircar and Ghosh, Banerjee began producing other people's films as well, starting with 2015's Titli.

Onir (My Brother...Nikhil, I Am)

Born as Anirban Dhar, Onir is an openly gay filmmaker who earned accolades for his directorial debut My Brother... Nikhil, one of India's first films to deal with AIDS and homosexuality. Onir's last film I Am, that was produced through crowd-funding, won two National Awards. He is currently working on his next titled Shab.

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Pradeep Sarkar (Parineeta, Mardaani)

A veteran in the ad and music video business, Pradeep Sarkar made his directorial debut pretty late at the age of 50 with the superhit film Parineeta in 2005. The film won one National Award and five Filmfare awards. Sarkar's last film Mardaan starring Rani Mukerji was a critical and commercial hit. Sarkar's next Dabba Gul is slated to star Amitabh Bachchan and Varun Dhawan together.

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