Raj Kumar Hirani – The P.K Of Film Making!

One of the best producers in India, Rajkumar Hirani is known for making films that mix diversion with motivation. His movies normally draw in the gathering of people and never disillusion the pundits. There is the ideal content, story, and music that keeps the whole gang glad.

Whenever a movie is directed by Rajkumar Hirani, the audience enters the theatre expecting something out of the box and never return disappointed. At the same time, they know that every film helmed by him is going to leave a lasting impression on them.

EARLY LIFE
Raju as we all lovingly call him was born in Nagpur on November 20th, where his father Suresh had a typing institute. While Raju always helped his father in the typing business, which was slowly dying down due to the onset of computers, Raju always dreamt of being an actor but was shy of admitting it.

A day before his chartered accountancy foundation course exam, Hirani informed his father that he didn’t wanna be a CA.

STRUGGLES AND FAILURES
Acknowledging his son’s interest, even with his limited resources, he forced Raju to apply to the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) in Pune instead.

The acting course had shut down, as there were way too many applicants. So, out of sheer boredom, Raju opted for the editing course, not realizing that he had met his ‘true calling’. His brilliant adroitness in editing earned him a scholarship, thereby reducing the load on his father’s shoulders.

With a three-year diploma and superlative remarks, Raju still failed to get a job as a film editor.

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He edited documentaries and advertainments. He also modeled in few advertainments to make ends meet. One of Hirani’s most popular appearance is the fevicol ad with an elephant by his side. Few of the editorial works of Raju were left unreleased and hence he was left alone without any payment.

LIMELIGHT

After years of grappling with advertisements, assistant direction and a job that paid 1,200 Rupees per month. Vidhu Vinod Chopra was the light at the end of the tunnel for Raju Hirani. This was a friendship that clicked from the very first moment. Raju became the production company's in-house editor with Mission Kashmir. The rest is history when Raju directed his own films!

WORKPLACE

RAJKUMAR HIRANI’S workspace is an ode to his cinema. You step in and you’re greeted with Peekay’s transistor. Also sitting proudly is Munna and Circuit’s yellow scooter. Within one of the cabins are the colorful butt- shaped chairs of the three idiots. There are hand-painted caricatures of each of his characters. And watching over all of this is a cardboard statuette of a smiling Charlie Chaplin suspended in the air.

When he directedMunnabhai MBBS, people said, “You are taking an action hero and putting him in a hospital… who will watch this?” ThenLage Raho... they said, “Who wants to propagate Gandhism in today’s time?” When he did PK they said, “Who wants to understand God?” But these have all been issues he feels strongly for.

He has made five films in the past 15 years, the kind that will be watched by the next few generations, and still be relevant. Unlike his FTII batch mate Sanjay Leela Bhansali, he doesn’t have any cutting-edge style but his central characters mouth life lessons as easily as telling a joke. He uses humor as a tool to break mindsets that set boundaries and hinder progress; and if there is still any such thing as cinema changing the world, his work would be among the exemplars.