Govind Nihalani
Born	August 19, 1940 (1940-08-19) (age 69) Karachi, British India
Occupation	Film director, film producer, screenwriter, cinematographer
Years active	1962 - present

Govind Nihalani (born 19 August 1940) is one of Indian cinema's foremost directors, cinematographer, and also a screenwriter and film producer. He has been directing Hindi films since the late seventies, and worked in the television medium.

Contents 1 Biography 2 Filmography 3 Books 4 References 5 External links

[edit] Biography

Nihalani was born on 18 December 1940 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 S.D. Panwalkar, 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. Come 1997, and he adapted Bengali novelist, Mahasweta Devi's acclaimed novel by the same name to Hazaar Chaurasi Ki Maa ^[1]

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.

[edit] Filmography

• Aakrosh (1980) - Om Puri, Naseeruddin Shah, Smita Patil, Amrish Puri.
• Vijeta (1982) - Kunal Kapoor, Supriya Pathak, Shashi Kapoor, Rekha, Amrish Puri, Raja Bundela.
• Ardh Satya (1983) - Om Puri, Naseeruddin Shah, Smita Patil, Sadashiv Amrapurkar, Naseeruddin Shah, Amrish Puri, Shafi Inamdar.
• Party (1984) - Rohini Hattangadi, Manohar Singh, Vijaya Metha, Om Puri, Naseeruddin Shah.
• Aaghat (1985) - Om Puri, Naseeruddin Shah, Pankaj Kapoor.
• Tamas (1987) - TV serial based on a novel by Bhisham Sahni. Cinematography by V.K.Murthy.
• Drishti (1990) - Shekar Kapoor, Dimple Kapadia, Irfan Khan.
• Pita (1991)
• Rukmavati Ki Haweli (1991)
• Jazeere (TV series) (1991)
• Karm Yoddha (1992)
• Drohkaal (1994) - Om Puri, Naseeruddin Shah, Mita Vashishta, Annu Kapoor, Ashish Vidyarthi.
• Sanshodhan (1996)
• Kuruthipunal (Tamil) (1996) (story)
• Hazaar Chaurasi Ki Maa (1997) - Jaya Bachchan, Anupam Kher, Joy Sengupta, Nandita Sen, Seema Biswas, Milind Gunaji.
• Thakshak (2000) - Ajay Devgan, Rahul Bose, Tabu, Amrish Puri, Govind Namdeo, Nethra Raghuraman.
• Deham (2001) - Joy Sengupta, Kitu Gidwani, Surekha Sikri, Aly Khan.
• Dev (2004) - Amitabh Bachchan, Om Puri, Fardeen Khan, Kareena Kapoor, Rati Agnihotri.^[2][3]

[edit] Books

• Encyclopaedia of Hindi Cinema, by Govind Nihalani, Saibal Chatterjee, Gulzar. Popular Prakashan, 2003. [1]

[edit] References

1. ^ Through her writing, you get to hear the voice of a community that is otherwise voiceless' Rediff.com.
2. ^ Filmography New York Times.
3. ^ Govind Nihalani MSN Movies.

[edit] External links

• Nihalani's official site.
• Govind Nihalani at the Internet Movie Database
• A discussion between Nihalani and Rakesh Sharma (September 2005)
• Nihalani speaks on Dev. Interview by Taran Adarsh in indiafm.com (9 June 2004)
• Nihalani interviewed by Saibal Chatterjee in The Hindustan Times
• Zafar Anjum interviews Nihalani at Chowk.com (16 February 2003)
• Piroj Wadia interviews Nihalani for Screen (3 May 2002)
• Manjulaa Negi profiles Nihalani in The Hindustan Times
• Dhira Singh poses 10 questions to Nihalani in Outlook (12 March 2001)
• Sharmila Taliculam interviews Nihalani for rediff.com (1 December 1999)