Govind Nihalani

Govind Nihalani (born 19 August 1940) is an Indian director, cinematographer, and also a screenwriter and film producer. He has been directing Hindi films since the late seventies, and worked in the television medium.

Biography
Nihalani was born on 19 August 1940 in Karachi, Sindh province (now in Pakistan) and his family migrated to India during the partition of 1947. He started out as a cinematographer, graduating in cinematography from the Shree Jaya Chamrajendra polytechnic in Bangalore in 1962. He was an Assistant Cinematographer to the legendary V. K. Murthy.He was associated with all the earlier films of Shyam Benegal and with the cinematography of Richard Attenborough's Oscar-winning epic Gandhi. Nihalani and Benegal are well known for their socially relevant films.

His first directorial venture was Aakrosh starring Om Puri, Naseeruddin Shah, the late Smita Patil and the late Amrish Puri. This was based on a real story which was converted into a film script by the eminent Marathi playwright Vijay Tendulkar and it made a huge impact on audiences all over India. It shared the Golden Peacock for best film at the International Film Festival of India held in New Delhi in 1981. His film Ardh Satya, based on a story by S.D. Panwalkar, is still remembered by film lovers. It changed forever the way in which Indian cinema portrayed the police and it exposed in stark detail the police-politician-criminal nexus. Come 1997, and he adapted Bengali novelist, Mahasweta Devi's acclaimed novel by the same name to Hazaar Chaurasi Ki Maa

Over the years he has directed many films which are known for the manner in which they grab the viewer's attention, and his most recent work is the 2004 film Dev.

Filmography

 * Aakrosh (1980) - Om Puri, Naseeruddin Shah, Smita Patil, Amrish Puri.
 * Vijeta (1982) - Kunal Kapoor, Supriya Pathak, Shashi Kapoor, Rekha, Amrish Puri, Raja Bundela.
 * Ardh Satya (1983) - Om Puri, Naseeruddin Shah, Smita Patil, Sadashiv Amrapurkar, Amrish Puri, Shafi Inamdar.
 * Party (1984) - Rohini Hattangadi, Manohar Singh, Vijaya Metha, Om Puri, Naseeruddin Shah.
 * Aghaat (1985) - Om Puri, Gopi, Naseeruddin Shah, Pankaj Kapoor.
 * Tamas (1987) - TV serial based on a novel by Bhisham Sahni. Cinematography by V.K.Murthy.
 * Drishti (1990) - Shekar Kapoor, Dimple Kapadia, Irfan Khan.
 * Pita (1991)
 * Rukmavati Ki Haweli (1991)
 * Jazeere (TV series) (1991)
 * Karm Yoddha (1992)
 * Drohkaal (1994) - Om Puri, Naseeruddin Shah, Mita Vashishta, Annu Kapoor, Ashish Vidyarthi.
 * Sanshodhan (1996)
 * Kuruthipunal (Tamil) (1996) (story)
 * Hazaar Chaurasi Ki Maa (1997) - Jaya Bachchan, Anupam Kher, Joy Sengupta, Nandita Sen, Seema Biswas, Milind Gunaji.
 * Thakshak (2000) - Ajay Devgan, Rahul Bose, Tabu, Amrish Puri, Govind Namdeo, Nethra Raghuraman.
 * Deham (2001) - Joy Sengupta, Kitu Gidwani, Surekha Sikri, Aly Khan.
 * Dev (2004) - Amitabh Bachchan, Om Puri, Fardeen Khan, Kareena Kapoor, Rati Agnihotri.

Books

 * Encyclopaedia of Hindi Cinema, by Govind Nihalani, Saibal Chatterjee, Gulzar. Popular Prakashan, 2003.