Vikas Bahl | |
|---|---|
 Bahl in 2014 | |
| Born | 1971 (age 54–55) New Delhi, India |
| Occupations |
|
| Years active | 2005–present |
| Spouse | Richa Dubey (divorced) |
Vikas Bahl is an Indian filmmaker, best known for directingChillar Party (2011),Queen (2013),Super 30 (2019), andShaitaan (2024).[1]
Bahl was born and brought up inLajpat Nagar in Delhi, his father worked with theIndian Oil Corporation. After his schooling fromSardar Patel Vidyalaya and graduation fromRamjas College, Delhi, he moved to Mumbai to pursue an MBA degree fromSVKM's NMIMS.[2]
Bahl started his career with advertising, working for several years in client servicing, before joining UTV Spotboy. In 2011, he startedPhantom Films, along withAnurag Kashyap,Vikramaditya Motwane andMadhu Mantena. Over the years as a director he has worked with film directors such as Vishal Bhardwaj, Anurag Kashyap, Rajkumar Gupta and Vikramaditya Motwane.[3]
In 2011, Bahl made his directorial debut under UTV Spotboy alongside co-directorNitesh Tiwari withChillar Party and won theNational Film Award for Best Screenplay, withVijay Maurya. The film also garnered theNational Film Award for Best Children's Film.[4] In 2014, he launched his independent directorial ventureQueen, starringKangana Ranaut, which received critical and popular acclaim.[2][5]
Bahl's 2015 filmShaandar, adestination wedding film, was a flop and received neutral to negative responses.[5][6] In October 2014, he directed a short filmGoing Home, featuringAlia Bhatt, on women's safety, which went viral on social media.[7][8][9] Bahl next directed a biopic on mathematician andIIT-JEE coachAnand Kumar calledSuper 30,[10] which featuredHrithik Roshan as Kumar.[11][12]
Bahl then directedTiger Shroff starrerGanapath (2023), which he co-produced withPooja Entertainment.[13] It was released on 20 October 2023 to highly negative reviews. Bahl's direction was also received mixed to negative remarks.Bollywood Hungama in their review wrote "Vikas Bahl's screenplay is unexciting and direction is not up to the mark. To give credit its due, he has handled a few dramatic moments well."[14] Saibal Chatterjee ofNDTV gave 1.5/5 stars and wrote "Ganapath is painfully pea-brained pulp that makes a meal of a terribly thin storyline."[15] Bhavna Agarwal ofIndia Today gave 1.5/5 stars and wrote "'Ganapath' offers absolutely no respite. If you expect it to get better in the second half asGen Z are often heard saying 'you are in delulu'."[16] Hiren Kotwani ofMid-Day gave 1.5/5 stars and wrote "What makes Ganapath different from the saviour-hero films of yore is that director Bahl has tried to make it look like the desiMad Max of sorts, albeit with unimpressive design and poor packaging".[17]
In October 2018, in an interview withHuffington Post India, a former employee ofPhantom Films accused Bahl ofsexually harassing her on the set of the 2014 filmQueen.[18] Later, the film's lead actressKangana Ranaut, in support of the former employee, also accused Bahl ofsexual misconduct.[19][20] Following this, Nayani Dixit, Ranaut's co-star in the movie, leveled similar accusations against Bahl.[21] As a result, Phantom Films announced its dissolution on 5 October 2018,[22] largely in response to thesexual assault allegation against Bahl by another former Phantom employee, which was reported in 2015.[23] The other three founders, Kashyap, Motwane, and Mantena, all issued statements on Twitter confirming the company's disbanding and moving on to independent projects.[24] After, Phantom Film subsequently disbanded, and foundersAnurag Kashyap andVikramaditya Motwane made formal statements against Bahl and his sexual misdemeanors. Bahl, in turn, sent them legal notices, citingdefamation of character.[25]
| Year | Title | Functioned as | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Director | Producer | Writer | |||
| 2008 | Aamir | No | Yes | No | |
| Welcome to Sajjanpur | No | Yes | No | ||
| 2009 | Dev.D | No | Associate | No | |
| Ex Terminators | No | Associate | No | ||
| 2010 | Udaan | No | Associate | No | |
| 2011 | No One Killed Jessica | No | Creative | No | |
| Thank You | No | Creative | No | ||
| Chillar Party | Yes | No | Yes | Co-directedwithNitesh Tiwari; also lyricist for song"Liar Liar" | |
| 2013 | Lootera | No | Yes | No | |
| Hasee Toh Phasee | No | Yes | No | ||
| 2014 | Queen | Yes | No | Yes | |
| Ugly | No | Yes | No | ||
| Going Home | Yes | No | Yes | Short film[26] | |
| 2015 | NH10 | No | Yes | No | |
| Hunterrr | No | Yes | No | ||
| Masaan | No | Yes | No | ||
| Shaandaar | Yes | No | Yes | ||
| 2016 | Raman Raghav 2.0 | No | Yes | No | |
| Wrong Side Raju | No | Yes | No | Gujarati film | |
| Udta Punjab | No | Yes | No | ||
| 2017 | Trapped | No | Yes | No | |
| 2018 | Mukkabaaz | No | Yes | No | |
| High Jack | No | Yes | No | ||
| Manmarziyaan | No | Yes | No | ||
| 2019 | Super 30 | Yes | No | No | |
| 2020 | Ghoomketu | No | Yes | No | |
| 2022 | Goodbye | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| 2023 | Ganapath | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| 2024 | Shaitaan | Yes | Yes | No | |
| 2026 | Dil Ka Darwaaza Khol Na Darling † | Yes | No | No | Post-production[27] |
| Year | Title | Functioned as | Notes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Director | Producer | Writer | Creator | |||
| 2021–present | Sunflower | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Co-directed season 1 with Rahul Sengupta |
| 2022 | Good Bad Girl | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| Award | Year | Category | Nominated work | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| BIG Star Entertainment Awards | 2014 | Most Entertaining Film Director | Queen | Won |
| Bollywood Hungama Surfers' Choice Movie Awards | 2015 | Best Director | Queen | Nominated |
| Filmfare Awards | 2015 | Best Director | Queen | Won |
| Best Screenplay | Nominated[a] | |||
| 2017 | Best Film | Udta Punjab | Nominated | |
| Ghanta Awards | 2016 | Worst Director | Shaandaar | Won |
| IBNLive Movie Awards | 2015 | Best Director | Queen | Won |
| IIFA Awards | 2015 | Best Director | Queen | Nominated |
| Best Screenplay | Won[a] | |||
| Best Story | Won | |||
| 2017 | Best Film | Udta Punjab | Nominated | |
| National Film Awards | 2011 | Best Screenplay | Chillar Party | Won[b] |
| Best Children's Film | Won | |||
| 2014 | Best Features Film in Hindi | Queen | Won | |
| Screen Awards | 2015 | Best Director | Queen | Won |
| Best Screenplay | Nominated[a] | |||
| 2017 | Best Film | Udta Punjab | Nominated | |
| Stardust Awards | 2014 | Best Director | Queen | Won |
| Star Guild Awards | 2015 | Best Director | Queen | Won |
| Best Story | Won | |||
| Best Screenplay | Won[a] |
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)