They came, they shot, they conquered. 2015 had its share of new directors, some of them of extraordinary calibre. We look at the newbies who made their first movie this year and show a lot of promise.
Neeraj Ghaywan
His debut in Masaan is remarkable on many counts. The film set in Varanasi is as ambitious as it can get. There are two distinct stories about thwarted love and two bereaved souls floating down the Ganga to meet and converge finally. Ambitious and epic in scope , though the film was made at an estimate budget of 5 crores. Way to go.
Sharat Katariya
Dum Lagake Haisha is probably Yash Raj films’ biggest money maker ever. Estimated budget: 7 crores. Estimated profits: over 55 crores. The film about a mismatched couple was funny, real and heartwarming. Can’t wait to see what Sharat does next.
PS: Strictly speaking, this was not Sharat’s debut film. But who remembers 10 ML Love?
Anoop Singh
Singh’s Qissa conveyed a surreal epic sweep. The story of a Sikh man played by Irrfan and his obsession with a male heir built up into a tragedy of Shakespearean proportions. This is a literate, articulate original directorial voice. It would be interesting to see what he makes next. The expectations are huge and we’re sure he’ll live up to them.
Kanu Behl
Titli marks the debut of a director who can make us squirm in our seats with his unprecedented level of realism in his art. The debutant director sure proved his mastery over the craft. I see Kanu as the true inheritor of the cinema of Shyam Benegal and Govind Nihalani. Let’s hope he doesn’t decided to follow the cliché pattern of movie making.
Amit R Sharma
Even before Tevar, Amit became famous for the Google ad that became extremely popular. No doubt, he’s huge in the world of ads, Amit Sharma’s feature-film debut Tevar was an attempt at a big masala film which failed. But there’s no doubt that he is talented. Maybe this wasn’t his cup of tea, but there is potential here. The guy only needs to find his métier.
Vibhu Puri
Though his Hawaizaada, which starred Ayushmann Khurrana, was a flop, Puri a protege of Sanjay Leela Bhansali showed every sign of following in his guru’s footsteps in this big splashy colourful period-musical. The premise of his debut movie was interesting, let’s see what he decides to make next. Maybe a movie for his guru?
Special mention
Chaitanya Tamhane
Though in Marathi, Court is a film so liberated from the restrictions of the spoken language that we can only say, legalese has no language. Even if Mahesh never makes a film in Hindi we’ll wait to see where he goes with his vision.
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