Milan Luthria
Milan Luthria & his wife
Born	(1968-01-28)28 January 1968 (age 58) Mumbai,Maharashtra,India[1]
Occupation	Film director
Years active	1999 – present
Known for	Directing the filmsOnce Upon a Time in Mumbaai (2010) &The Dirty Picture (2011)
Father	Raj Khosla
Relatives	Sudhir (paternal uncle)
Family	Bhatt family (maternal)

Milan Arjun Luthria is an Indian film director who works inHindi films. He is best known as the director ofAjay Devgan'sOnce Upon a Time in Mumbaai (2010).

Milan is the biological son ofRaj Khosla.^[2] He was born out of wedlock and raised by his mother and adoptive fatherArjun Luthria (the brother of actorSudhir). His mother is the cousin of producer and directorMahesh Bhatt, Milan thus being his nephew.^[1]

Starting his career as an assistant director toDharmesh Darshan forLootere in 1993, Luthria made his directorial debut in 1999 with the successful action thriller filmKachche Dhaage.^[3] The film, released under the Tips Films banner, starredAjay Devgan as a smuggler on theRajasthan-Kashmir,Pakistan border andSaif Ali Khan, on the run from theBorder Security Force, theCentral Bureau of Investigation, and the border mafia.^[4] Luthria shot the film inRajasthan andSwitzerland. The film received a mixed reception. Although the photography of the film was praised with the scenic backdrop of the Rajasthani desert and the green valleys and snow-capped peaks of Switzerland, it was seen as a weaker film than that ofSoldier, a film with similar theme which had been released the year before.^[4]

In 2002, Luthria once again worked with Devgan when he directedChori Chori, also starringRani Mukerji andSonali Bendre. The film was initially scheduled for release in 2002 but during the filming the producer died and its release was delayed, eventually being released on 1 August 2003.^[5][6] The film received a mixed reception.Taran Adarsh, although remarking that Luthria "handled a few sequences with flourish", believed that despite an interesting storyline, the script was fundamentally flawed, "hackneyed" as he put it, believing that interest in it fizzled out by the second half of the film, becoming "sluggish" with its progression.^[7] However, Sukanya Verma described the film as "heartwarming", remarking that "like most feel good romances, Chori Chori is about letting the heart rule the head."^[6]

In 2004, Luthria directed the war dramaDeewaar. The film, starring Bollywood veteransAmitabh Bachchan,Akshaye Khanna andSanjay Dutt, is set during theIndo-Pakistani War of 1971. It features Bachchan, a major who is captured by the Pakistani army, along with over 30 soldiers during the war and only freed 33 years later by his son, who he has not seen since he was a child, on a rescue mission. The film was generally panned by the critics although it was a commercial success, going straight to number 1 in the Indian film charts in the week of release.^[8]Film4 wrote of the film, "A Bollywood thriller with plenty of explosive action, yet which fails to come to life. Plotting is familiar, characters bland and a predictable storyline fails to excite or engage."^[9]

in February 2006, Luthria releasedTaxi Number 9211.^[10] Working with producerRamesh Sippy, with a soundtrack composed by the new age music composing duo,Vishal Dadlani andShekhar Ravjiani, Luthria shot the film in 2005. The film, a comedy thriller, featuredJohn Abraham andNana Patekar (as the taxi driver) involved in a cat and mouse game during a two-hour taxi trip, with financial implications. The film was a major commercial and critical success, becoming the 16th highest-grossing film in India in 2006.^[11] Film critics were impressed with the originality of the script and the unpredictability and innovative devices used in the script, as the men progressed through the metropolis.^[12]

In 2007, Luthria directed the cricket comedyHattrick, featuringParesh Rawal,Rimi Sen,Kunal Kapoor,Nana Patekar andDanny Denzongpa. In 2010 he directedOnce Upon a Time in Mumbaai. The film again starred Ajay Devgan, but this time he played a character called Sultan Mirza who is Messiah of the poor, fear of the rich and authority of the powerful, the one whom people turned to when there was nowhere else to look. The silent ruler of the streets of Bombay, he did everything that was wrong according to the law, but right according to him – i.e. the "Indian version ofRobin Hood". The film was produced byBalaji Telefilms and Popcorn Entertainment and was released on 30 July 2010. According to Luthria, "My film for Ekta will take a penetrating look at gangsterism in the 1980s. I'm quite enamoured by the period, quite taken up by the period and its flamboyance. There was a lot of action and inner life in some of the films during that period. I think the last film that looked at gangsterism from inside wasAnurag Basu'sGangster: A Love Story".^[13]

In 2011, Milan directed the movieThe Dirty Picture starringVidya Balan,Naseeruddin Shah,Tusshar Kapoor andEmraan Hashmi. The film is based on the real-life story of the late Southern sirenSilk Smitha, who Milan says he even briefly interacted with during her time in the 80s and 90s.^[14] Upon release, the film received both critical and commercial success.

In 2017 the filmBaadshaho was released, becoming the fourth collaboration with Ajay Devgn, and starring Devgn, Ileana D'Cruz, Vidyurt Jammwal, Emraan Hashmi andEsha Gupta.

Wikimedia Commons has media related toMilan Luthria.

• Milan Luthria atIMDb

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• 1962 births
• Screen Awards winners

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