Every time a sports film releases in India, it is invariably compared to Chak De India. Such is the longevity and legacy of the Shah Rukh Khan-starrer that it is considered the template in how to make a good sports film. From Gold to Maidaan, many films saw its influences. While Shah Rukh did walk away with the accolades for the 2007 film, the man who made it – director Shimit Amin – won praise too. But he then made only one more film, and then vanished from Bollywood.
The film career of Shimit Amin
A film editor originally, Shimit Amin was born in Uganda and brought up in the United States. He began his film career in 1994 in the US working in independent films there. In 2003, he entered Bollywood as an editor in Ram Gopal Varma’s Bhoot. This led to his directorial debut the following year with Ab Tak Chhappan. The Nana Patekar-starrer was not only a critical success but also worked at the box office, earning over Rs 15 crore. Amin followed this up with Chak De, which was one of the highest-grossing films of 2007. Shimit Amin’s third and final Hindi film as a director was the Ranbir Kapoor-starrer Rocket Singh: Salesman of the Year, which released in 2009. While it was praised by critics, the film was unsuccessful at the box office.
Shimit Amin’s move to USA
After completing Rocket Singh, Shimit Amin stayed away from direction for a while, working as an editor on The Reluctant Fundamentalist and a consultant on Shuddh Desi Romance. However, the filmmaker soon moved back to US. As per a News 18 report, Amin even disconnected his phone line after moving there. In a recent interview with Film Companion, Amin explained his absence from film direction, sayig he had moved to other roles behind the camera, working as consultant and editor on various films and he was waiting for the combination of right script and backers to return. In 2020, he made a brief return to direction when he helmed one episode of Mira Nair’s Netflix show A Suitable Boy. The filmmaker currently resides in the US.
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