Meet director, who studied at IIT Bombay, quit high-paying job to enter Bollywood, made India's highest-grossing film

India's highest-grossing film is the 2016 biographical sports drama Dangal. Aamir Khan, Fatima Sana Shaikh, and Sanya Malhotra portrayed the real-life wrestlers Mahavir Singh Phogat, Geeta Phogat, and Babita Kumar in the film. Dangal collected Rs 387 crore net in India and grossed Rs 2070 crore worldwide, with around Rs 1200 crore of its earnings coming from China, to become the highest-grossing Indian film ever. 

But do you know the fact that the film was directed by an IIT graduate? Yes, Dangal's director Nitesh Tiwari has studied metallurgy and material Science engineering from IIT Bombay. While doing a project for advertising agency R.K. Swamy BBDO at the engineering institute, Tiwari got so interesting in advertising that he joined as a copywriter at the advertising agency Draftfcb Ulka in 1996 after his graduation. He worked at Lowe Lintas and Leo Burnett, where he even became the the chief creative officer. But, Tiwari quit his high-paying job at Leo Burnett to become a filmmaker.

In 2011, Nitesh made his directorial debut with Chillar Party, whose star cast comprised mostly of several child artists. He co-directed the comedy film with Vikas Bahl, with whom he shared the National Film Award for Best Children's Film and the National Film Award for Best Screenplay. His next release was the 2014 supernatural comedy Bhoothath Returns, which starred Amitabh Bachchan and Shah Rukh Khan in a cameo appearance. Two years later, Tiwari joined hands with Aamir Khan for Dangal.

In 2019, the filmmaker worked with the late actor Sushant Singh Rajput and Shraddha Kapoor in the coming-of-age drama Chhichhore, which went on to win the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Hindi. Tiwari's next film was Varun Dhawan and Janhvi Kapoor-starrer Bawaal, which was a direct-to-digital release on Prime Video India last year. The romantic drama was dubbed 'insensitive' and 'tone-deaf' for its references to Adolf Hitler and the Holocaust.

After facing a small setback with Bawaal, Tiwari is set to make his grand comeback with Ramayana, one of the most-awaited films in Indian cinema. The planned trilogy reportedly stars Ranbir Kapoor, Yash, Sai Pallavi, and Sunny Deol as Lord Rama, Ravana, Sita, and Lord Hanuman, respectively. As per reports, the mythological drama will be announced next month on April 17 on the occasion of Ram Navami with the first part slated to release on Diwali 2025.

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