Meet director who quit high-paying job to enter showbiz, made India's highest-grossing film and worked with Aamir Khan, Janhvi Kapoor

Experience the heartwarming story of this director who quit a high-paying job to enter Bollywood and made India's highest-grossing film featuring Aamir Khan. Can you guess?

Updated on Mar 28, 2024  |  06:37 PM IST |  124.4K
Nitesh Tiwari
Image Credit: Nitesh Tiwari Instagram

Not only actors but also directors try hard to leave a permanent mark in the glitzy world of Bollywood. They don't get to reach the high spot overnight and struggle year after year to finally cement their place. Some directors even quit high-paying jobs just to fulfill their inner wish, which is directing films. 

Today's pick for us is a director who quit his high-paying job and made India's highest-grossing film, which starred Aamir Khan. The filmmaker we are going to talk about is none other than Nitesh Tiwari. 

Nitesh Tiwari quit a high-paying job to enter Bollywood industry 

India's highest-grossing film, a biographical sports drama Dangal, was released in 2016 and directed by Nitesh Tiwari. The film starred Aamir Khan, Fatima Sana Shaikh, and Sanya Malhotra, who portrayed the real-life wrestlers Mahavir Singh Phogat, Geeta Phogat, and Babita Kumar. The film's India Gross Collection is 495.25 cr. The Overseas Gross Collection was 254.36 cr., and the Worldwide Gross Collection was 702.48 cr. 

But a few know that the director quit his high-paying job and studied at IIT Bombay. Nitesh Tiwari studied metallurgy and material science engineering at IIT Bombay.

According to DNA India, while doing a project for advertising agency R.K. Swamy BBDO at the engineering institute, the filmmaker interestingly joined as a copywriter at the advertising agency Draftfcb Ulka in 1996 after his graduation. He worked at Lowe Lintas and Leo Burnett and became the chief creative officer. But, he quit his high-paying job at Leo Burnett to become a filmmaker.

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Nitesh made his directorial debut with Chillar Party in 2011. 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.

In 2019, the filmmaker made Sushant Singh Rajput and Shraddha Kapoor starrer 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.

Meanwhile, Nitesh Tiwari is currently busy with Ramayana. The film stars Ranbir Kapoor as Lord Ram.

ALSO READ: Meet actor, who started his career with TV, acted in Mirzapur and is now a Bollywood star

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About The Author

Arpita Sarkar has 3 years of experience in content writing and editing in the

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Credits: DNA India
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