Nikhil Advani

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Nikhil Advani (Template:Lang-sd) (born 28 April 1971) is an Indian director in the Bollywood industry.

Early life and background[edit | edit source]

Advani was born in Mumbai. His father has a Pharmaceutical business and his mother is an advertising professional.

He studied at Green Lawns High School, Breach Candy,^[1] and later did his Masters in chemistry at St. Xavier's College, Mumbai.^[2]

Career[edit | edit source]

Advani started his career as an Assistant director, with Sudhir Mishra's Is Raat Ki Subah Nahin (1996), for which he also co-wrote the screenplay.^[3] Subsequently, he worked under Dharma Productions, the production house of the late Yash Johar, father of Karan Johar. He was an assistant director, and assisted Karan Johar in his first two directorial projects, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (1998) and Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham. Advani also had an acting guest appearance in Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, along with Farah Khan during the Neelam Show sequence.

He went on to direct his first film under Dharma Productions, titled Kal Ho Naa Ho starring Shah Rukh Khan, Preity Zinta, Saif Ali Khan and Jaya Bachchan. The film was one of the biggest hits of 2003 and firmly established him as a director. The film won six Filmfare awards, but lost out on the best director award.

Nikhil decided to make his next film without Dharma Productions. His script was ready but the film was delayed due to many of the actors dropping out the film. In October, he announced that the title of the film would be Salaam-e-Ishq: A Tribute To Love. The film has a huge star cast: Salman Khan, Priyanka Chopra, Sohail Khan, Vidya Balan, John Abraham, Akshaye Khanna, Govinda, Juhi Chawla, Anil Kapoor, Ayesha Takia, Shannon Esra and Anjana Sukhani. The film was produced by Sunil Manchanda, Mukesh Talreja and Chetan Motiwalla and released on 25 January 2007 to mixed reviews.

His next film Chandni Chowk To China, starring Akshay Kumar was released on January 2009, but was a major disappointment. Even though Chandni Chowk To China has disappointed, Nikhil has announced that he will again work with the film's lead star Akshay Kumar. Patiala House is the title of this film, and it also stars actress Anushka Sharma as the female lead. Shooting began in December 2009,^[4] and it was released in 2011. The movie also opened commercially in New York

He has also directed India's first stereoscopic 3D animation film, Delhi Safari, which got released in October 2012.Template:Update after

Post the release of Patiala House in 2011, Nikhil Advani has partnered with Monisha Advani and Madhu Bhojwani to form Emmay Entertainment a motion picture production company. Emmay Entertainment is currently in production for D-Day (2013 movie), a film being directed by Nikhil and in association with DAR Motion Pictures, which is slated to release in mid-2013.^[5]