Vidhu Vinod Chopra is an Indian filmmaker, producer and screenwriter associated with Hindi cinema. He is the founder of Vinod Chopra Films, a production company based in Mumbai, and is known for directing critically acclaimed films such as Parinda (1989), 1942: A Love Story (1994) and Mission Kashmir (2000), and for producing the Munna Bhai series and the blockbuster 3 Idiots (2009).
| Full name | Vidhu Vinod Chopra |
|---|---|
| Born | 1952, Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, India |
| Occupation | Director, producer, screenwriter |
| Education | Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), Pune |
| Company | Vinod Chopra Films |
| Spouse | Anupama Chopra (film critic and journalist) |
| Notable awards | National Film Awards; Filmfare Awards; Academy Award nomination (1979) for An Encounter with Faces |
Chopra was born in 1952 in Srinagar, Kashmir. He studied at the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) in Pune, where his diploma film Murder at Monkey Hill won the National Film Award for Best Short Fiction Film. His early documentary An Encounter with Faces (1978), about destitute children, received an Academy Award nomination in the Best Documentary Short Subject category in 1979.
He was previously married to filmmaker Renu Saluja, who edited several of his films, and later to Shabnam Sukhdev. He is presently married to journalist and film critic Anupama Chopra. He is the maternal uncle of Bollywood director Rajkumar Hirani's frequent collaborator and is related to filmmaker Ramesh Sippy through marriage networks within the industry.
Chopra's first feature, Sazaye Maut (1981), was followed by Khamosh (1985), a self-reflexive thriller. His breakthrough came with Parinda (1989), a gritty crime drama set in the Mumbai underworld starring Anil Kapoor, Jackie Shroff, Madhuri Dixit and Nana Patekar. The film won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Hindi and was India's official entry to the Academy Awards.
He followed it with 1942: A Love Story (1994), a romance set during the Quit India Movement, featuring music by R. D. Burman in the composer's final score. Kareeb (1998) and Mission Kashmir (2000), the latter starring Sanjay Dutt and Hrithik Roshan against the backdrop of Kashmir militancy, continued his directorial output. Later directorial works include Eklavya: The Royal Guard (2007), India's official Oscar entry that year, and Shikara (2020), a film on the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits.
Through Vinod Chopra Films, he produced Rajkumar Hirani's directorial debut Munna Bhai M.B.B.S. (2003) and its sequel Lage Raho Munna Bhai (2006). He produced 3 Idiots (2009), one of the highest-grossing Hindi films of its time, followed by PK (2014) and Sanju (2018), all directed by Hirani. He also produced Parineeta (2005), directed by Pradeep Sarkar, and Wazir (2016), directed by Bejoy Nambiar.
His Hollywood production Broken Horses (2015) marked his English-language directorial debut.
He produced and wrote 12th Fail (2023), directed by himself and based on Anurag Pathak's book on UPSC aspirant Manoj Kumar Sharma. The film received wide critical acclaim and several awards, including National Film Awards.
Chopra is regarded as one of the bridges between art-house sensibilities and mainstream Hindi cinema. His direction is associated with strong visual style, layered storytelling and an emphasis on screenplay craft, while his production banner has backed some of the most commercially and critically successful Hindi films of the 2000s and 2010s. His long-standing collaboration with director Rajkumar Hirani, lyricist Swanand Kirkire and writer Abhijat Joshi has shaped a recognisable strand of socially engaged popular cinema.