Srijit Mukherji

Srijit Mukherji
Mukherji at screening of Begum Jaan
Born	(1977-09-23) 23 September 1977 (age 47) Kolkata
Nationality	Indian
Occupations	Film director Screenwriter Actor Lyricist
Years active	2010–present
Spouse	Rafiath Rashid Mithila ​ ​ (m. 2019)​
Relatives	Arati Mukhopadhyay (Aunt)

Srijit Mukherji (born 23 September 1977) is an Indian film director and screenwriter who predominantly works in Bengali cinema. His regular collaboration with veteran actor Prosenjit Chatterjee brought him into the limelight. His first feature film Autograph (2010), was a critical and commercial success, where he had written the script with Chatterjee in mind. His fifth film, Jaatishwar, won four national awards at India's 61st National Film Awards (2014). He won the National Film Award for Best Direction and Best Original Screenplay for his sixth film, Chotushkone, at India's 62nd National Film Awards. ^[1] His eighth film, Rajkahini had been remade into a Hindi film titled, Begum Jaan , starring Vidya Balan in 2017. His 2018 release Ek Je Chhilo Raja won the 'Best Bengali Film' Award at India's 66th National Film Awards. His 2019 film Gumnaami won him the Best Bengali Film and Best Adapted Screenplay Awards at the 67th National Film Awards. ^[2]

Early life

He is born and brought up in bhawanipore in kolkata and mukherji completed his schooling till 10th standard from Dolna Day School, Kolkata ^[3] and 12th from South Point High School, Kolkata, ^[4] before studying BA economics at Presidency College, Kolkata. He went on to complete his MA and MPhil in environmental economics at Jawaharlal Nehru University, ^[5] parallelly working as a social scientist in the Urban Transport and Pollution Sector with TERI in New Delhi. He quit his Ph.D. while in his first year, to join IRI Symphony, Bangalore as an econometrician and business analyst. After working in Bangalore and a brief stint in Delhi, he quit his job to actively pursue theatre and films. ^[6]

Career

Even while working as an economist and statistician, he was actively involved with the English professional theatre circuit in Delhi and Bangalore. He has acted in Madness, adapted from Paulo Coelho's Veronica Decides To Die ; Manoj Mitra's The Orchard of Banchharam; Badal Sircar's The Other Side of History; Sunil Ganguly's Pratidwandi – The Adversary, adapted for the stage from Satyajit Ray's film of the same name and Lucknow 76. He wrote and directed Mindgame, an Indian adaptation of Reginald Rose's Twelve Angry Men , at the Alliance Francaise De Bangalore in 2006. In April 2008, he formed his own troupe, Pandora's Act, whose first production, Feluda Pherot! at Rangashankara in July 2008 was a runaway success and was the first ever non-canonical dramatisation of Satyajit Ray's sleuth Feluda. ^[5] Barun Chanda, Ray's leading man in Seemabodhho, and Parambrata Chatterjee, the screen Topshe and film youth icon, starred in this production. In 2009, he wrote, directed and acted in the English play Checkmate, a non-canonical re-interpretation of Byomkesh Bakshi, Saradindu Bandopadhyay's sleuth. ^[7] He was an assistant director, lyricist and actor in both Anjan Dutt's Madly Bangalee and Aparna Sen's Iti Mrinalini , in 2009. ^[8] He has also written lyrics for films like Cross Connection , Le Chakka and Josh, TV serials like Coffee and More and Dadagiri and non-film albums of Usha Uthup.

2010–2012

In 2010 Mukherji directed his debut feature film, the award-winning blockbuster – Autograph (starring Prosenjit Chatterjee, Indraneil Sengupta and Nandana Sen) which was both critically acclaimed and commercially successful. The film won 41 awards and was an official selection at Abu Dhabi International Film Festival 2010, MIAAC Film Festival in New York 2010, Glasgow International Film Festival 2011 and London Indian Film Festival 2011. ^[9]

In the same year he also made his acting debut on Bengali television in the Rituparno Ghosh scripted mega serial Gaaner Opare , produced by Ideas Entertainment. ^[10]

His work in 2011 included a major role in Anindya Banerjee's Chaplin starring Rudranil Ghosh and his second film, Baishe Srabon starring Prosenjit Chatterjee, Parambrata Chatterjee, Raima Sen, Abir Chatterjee and Gautam Ghose, who returned to acting after a hiatus of 29 years. Baishe Srabon was recently the official selection at the Dubai International Film Festival and the closing film at the London Indian Film Festival, and had a 105-day run at the box office making it the biggest blockbuster of the year. Baishe Srabon has won 41 awards. His third feature film was Hemlock Society , a romantic satire set at the backdrop of a school which teaches aspirants how to successfully commit suicide. It featured Parambrata Chatterjee and Koel Mallick and won 21 awards.

2013–2016

Mukherji's fourth film, Mishawr Rawhoshyo , based on Kakababu with Prasenjit Chattopadhyay playing the lead character and Indraneil Sengupta playing the role of Hani Alkadi, has been declared as one of the biggest blockbusters ever and the highest earning urban mainstream film. He has acted in films like Dutta Vs Dutta , Bapi Bari Jaa and the national award-winning Shobdo . His fifth film Jaatishwar , featuring Prosenjit Chatterjee and Jisshu Sengupta, is generally considered to be the best in his career and most critically acclaimed. It is the musical bridge between two centuries of Bengali culture and a biopic cum a musical cum a reincarnation drama. At the 61st National Awards 2014, the highest film honour in India, it won 4 national awards for Music Direction, Playback Singing, Costume and Make up. This was the highest tally for a film in India this year, and the second highest ever for a Bengali film. It also swept the Mirchi Music Awards in 2015 winning 7 awards. The following year at the 62nd National Awards 2015, Chotushkone won him the Best Director and Best Original Screenplay awards, along with winning the Best Cinematography.

He also received the Young Achiever Award from Rotary International, the prestigious Shera Bangali Award from ABP Anando and the Shoilojanando Mukhopadhyay Memorial Award in 2012 for his contribution in the field of film direction. In 2013 he received the Uttam Kumar Memorial Award from the Government of West Bengal becoming the youngest director to achieve this. He has also received the oldest film award in India, the BFJA award, for remarkable contribution to Bengali Cinema in the last few years. ^[11]

2017–2020

Mukherji has made his directorial debut in Bollywood with the film Begum Jaan which is a remake of his earlier Bengali film Rajkahini. Vidya Balan plays the lead role of a brothel's madam during the partition of India in 1947. ^{[12] [13]} He had two releases in 2018, Uma and Ek Je Chhilo Raja. Both featured Jisshu Sengupta and were box office superhits. The former went to 10 film festivals around the world and won 6 awards while the latter won 23 awards and went to 7 film festivals around the world including Palm Springs International Film Festival. In 2018, it was reported that Mukherji will be directing a Junglee Pictures produced yet to be titled web-series in Hindi, based on the novel of noted novelist and blogger Arnab Ray, The Mahabharata Murders. This will be his first foray into web-series direction. ^[14] In 2019, he has three releases Shahjahan Regency, Vinci Da and Gumnaami, the last two being both critical and commercial successes along with being a festival favourite. Gumnaami won the Best Bengali Feature Film and Best Adapted Screenplay Awards at the 67th National Film Awards.

He has also completed another web-series, Feluda Pherot, which is based on two Feluda stories written by Satyajit Ray, Chhinomostar Obhishaap and Darjeeling Jomjomat.^{[ clarification needed ] [15]}

2021–present

After no films in 2020 due to COVID-19, in 2021 he had 4 releases, out of which 2 were Hindi films. He directed Kakababur Protyaborton , which was based on the third film of the Kakababu franchise, it had Prosenjit Chatterjee as Kakababu, Aryann Bhowmik, Anirban Chakrabarti in the lead roles. His next release wass X=Prem . A black and white romance drama film with debutant actors, the film earned critical praise and received several awards and nominations at the 6th Filmfare Awards Bangla ^[16] and 6th WBFJA Awards.

His next projects that year were two Bollywood films: Sherdil: The Pilibhit Saga and Shabaash Mithu . The latter was the biography of one of the most influential Indian female cricketer Mithali Raj. ^[17]

In 2023, he released Dawshom Awbotaar , a neo-noir crime thriller as the 4th installment Srijit Mukherji's Cop Universe. It served as the prequel crossover of his previous films Baishe Srabon and Vinci Da . It became a huge box office success emerged as one of the highest grossing Bengali films of 2023. ^[18] The film received multiple nomination and awards at the Filmfare Awards Bangla and WBFJA Awards. ^[19]

His first release in 2024 was the fantasy romantic comedy film Oti Uttam . For the first time ever in Indian Cinema, veteran actor Uttam Kumar appeared in the movie through Visual effects by using his scenes from his 56 existing old movies. ^[20] His next release this year was a biopic on the life of Mrinal Sen. Titled Padatik , it chronicles his active time and contributions to Bengali cinema. ^[21] His next thriller film titled Tekka starring Dev and Rukmini Maitra released on the occasion Durga Puja 2024 and earned an 'organic blockbuster' tag. ^[22] His upcoming venture is Feludar Goyendagiri (Season 2) which is scheduled to release on the occasion of Christmas 2024, digitally. Also, post-production of his next film Shotyi Boley Shotyi Kichhu Nei is currently undergoing and is scheduled for a January 2025 release.

Filmography

As director

Denotes films or web series that have not yet been released

Year	Film	Director	Writer	Language
2010	Autograph	Yes	Yes	Bengali
2011	Baishe Srabon	Yes	Yes
2012	Hemlock Society	Yes	Yes
2013	Mishawr Rawhoshyo	Yes	No
2014	Jaatishwar	Yes	Yes
	Chotushkone	Yes	Yes
2015	Nirbaak	Yes	Yes
	Rajkahini	Yes	Yes
2016	Zulfiqar	Yes	Yes
2017	Begum Jaan	Yes	Yes	Hindi
	Yeti Obhijaan	Yes	No	Bengali
2018	Uma	Yes	Yes
	Ek Je Chhilo Raja	Yes	Yes
2019	Shahjahan Regency	Yes	Yes
	Vinci Da	Yes	Yes
	Gumnaami	Yes	Yes
2020	Dwitiyo Purush	Yes	Yes
2022	Kakababur Protyaborton	Yes	No
	X=Prem	Yes	Yes
	Sherdil: The Pilibhit Saga	Yes	Yes	Hindi
	Shabaash Mithu [23]	Yes	Yes
2023	Dawshom Awbotaar	Yes	Yes	Bengali
2024	Oti Uttam	Yes	Yes
	Padatik	Yes	Yes
	Tekka	Yes	Yes
2025	Shotyi Boley Shotyi Kichhu Nei	Yes	Yes

Web series

Year	Film	Director	Writer	OTT	Notes
2012	East India Pharmaceuticals Works Limited (Documentary)	Yes	No		Goutam Ghosh
2020	Feluda Pherot (Chhinnamastar Abhishap)	Yes	No	Addatimes	Released
2021	Ray (Season 1)	Yes	No	Netflix	Anthology, Segment- Behrupiya,Forget me not
	Rabindranath Ekhane Kokhono Khete Asenni	Yes	No	Hoichoi	Based on the Bengali book of the same name
2022	Feludar Goyendagiri (Season 1)	Yes	No	Hoichoi	Released (Based on Feluda series by Satyajit Ray)
2023	Jaanbaaz Hindustan Ke	Yes	No	ZEE5	Released
	Durgo Rawhoshyo	Yes	No	Hoichoi	Released
	Feluda Pherot (Jawto Kando Kathmandute)	Yes	No	Addatimes	cancelled will not be released
2024	Feludar Goyendagiri (Season 2)	Yes	No	Hoichoi	Releasing soon
	Shekhar Home	Yes	No	Jio Cinema	Released
	Don-Boithok	Yes	No	TBA	Filming

As lyricist and actor

Year	Film	Lyricist	Actor
2009	Cross Connection	Yes	No
	Madly Bangalee	Yes	Yes
2010	Le Chakka	Yes	No
	Josh	Yes	No
	Gaaner Oparey	No	Yes
2011	Iti Mrinalini	Yes	Yes
	Flop-e	No	Yes
	Ghente Ghaw	Yes	No
	Chaplin	No	Yes
2012	Dutta Vs Dutta	No	Yes
	Bapi Bari Jaa	No	Yes
	Shabdo	No	Yes
2013	Maach Mishti & More	Yes	No
2018	Ahare Mon	Yes	No
	Kabir	No	Yes
2019	Shantilal O Projapoti Rohoshyo	No	Yes
2023	Manobjomin	No	Yes
	Dilkhush	No	Yes

Also as an Actor(Cameo Roles) in all the films he directed

Awards

International Awards

Best Director for Ek Je Chhilo Raja at 20th Rainbow Film Festival, London (2018)

Best Story for Vinci Da at 21st Rainbow Film Festival, London (2019)

Best Film for Ek Je Chhilo Raja at 17th Dhaka International Film Festival (2019)

Best Screenplay for Padatik at the 24th New York Indian Film Festival (2024)

Best Director for Baishe Srabon at International Bangla Film Academy Awards (2011)

Best Screenplay for Baishe Srabon at International Bangla Film Academy Awards (2011)

National Awards (Govt. of India)

Best Director for Chotushkone at the 62nd National Awards (2014)

Best Original Screenplay for Chotushkone at the 62nd National Awards (2014)

Best Adapted Screenplay for Gumnaami at the 67th National Awards (2019)

Best Director (Bengali) for Ek Je Chhilo Raja at the 66th National Awards (2018)

Best Director (Bengali) for Gumnaami at the 67th National Awards (2019)

Filmfare Awards

Best Story for Vinci Da (2019)

Best Film for Vinci Da (2019)

Best Screenplay for Dwitiyo Purush (2020)

State Awards (Govt. Of West Bengal)

Best Film for Autograph at the 10th Telecine Awards (2010)

Best Director for Autograph at the 10th Telecine Awards (2010)

Best Director for Baishe Srabon at the 11th Telecine Awards (2011)

Best Director for Chotushkone at the 14th Telecine Awards (2014)

Best Film for Vinci Da at the 18th Telecine Awards (2019)

Best Director (Critics) for Vinci Da at the 18th Telecine Awards (2019)

Best Film for Gumnaami at the 19th Telecine Awards (2019)

Best Director (Critics) for Gumnaami at the 19th Telecine Awards (2019)

WBFJA Awards (Oldest Film Awards in India)

Best Director for Ek Je Chhilo Raja (2018)

Best Lyricist for Ahare Mon (2018)

Best Screenplay for Dwitiyo Purush (2020)

Personal life

Media reports speculated a romantic affair between Mukherji and actress Jaya Ahsan during the filming of Bishorjan (2017). ^[24] Mukherji did not address the rumours directly, but described their relationship being "much more than love". ^{[25] [26]}

On 6 December 2019, Mukherji married actress Rafiath Rashid Mithila. ^{[27] [28]}

References

1. "62nd National Film Awards: Complete list of winners". News18. Retrieved 12 January 2020.
2. "66th National Film Awards: Full winners list". India Today. Ist. Retrieved 12 January 2020.
3. "Srijit Mukherji goes back to school with Zulfiqar". www.telegraphindia.com. Retrieved 13 January 2020.
4. "Did you know Srijit and Sujoy were classmates! – Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 13 January 2020.
5. Sen, Jaideep. "Retirement Holmes". Time Out Bengaluru. Archived from the original on 6 October 2011. Retrieved 20 October 2011.
6. Das, Mohua (21 January 2009). "Think like a sleuth". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 4 February 2013. Retrieved 20 October 2011.
7. Das, Mohua (15 May 2009). "Playpreview". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 3 February 2013. Retrieved 20 October 2011.
8. Chakrabarty, Pooja. "Autograph is not a remake of Nayak". ILK. Retrieved 20 October 2011.
9. "Interview – SRIJIT MUKHERJEE". Washington Bangla Radio. 22 July 2010. Archived from the original on 9 February 2013. Retrieved 20 October 2011.
10. Sen, Zinia (28 October 2010). "Acting is my first love: Srijit". The Times of India . Archived from the original on 26 October 2013. Retrieved 20 October 2011.
11. "Hemlock is far from a morbid film: Srijit Mukherji". The Times of India . 24 March 2012. p. 3. Archived from the original on 26 October 2013. Retrieved 30 March 2012.
12. "Vidya Balan on the write track with Kamala Das". Mumbai Mirror . 11 February 2016. Retrieved 28 February 2016.
13. "Srijit Mukherji makes his acting debut with 'Begum Jaan' – Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 29 October 2016.
14. "Raazi co-producer Junglee Pictures to adapt The Mahabharata Murders for digital debut; Srijit Mukherji will helm web series". Firstpost. Retrieved 20 April 2018.
15. "Director Srijit Mukherji to launch 'Feluda Pherot' on OTT platform this Christmas". Deccan Herald. 22 November 2020.
16. "Winners of the Joy Filmfare Awards Bangla 2022".
17. "Taapsee Pannu starring Shabaash Mithu releases on the big screen on July 15, 2022".
18. "Dawshom Awbotaar Box Office: পুজোয় ৪টি ছবি, সকলকে পিছনে ফেলে প্রথম স্থানে 'দশম অবতার', ঘরে এল কত টাকা?".
19. "Winners of the Joy Filmfare Awards Bangla 2024".
20. "'Oti Uttam' to star Mahanayak".
21. Das, Tina (6 August 2024). "'Remarkable timing'—Srijit Mukherji on his Mrinal Sen biopic Padatik and Dhaka uprising". ThePrint . New Delhi. Retrieved 15 September 2024.
22. Niyogi, Agnivo (13 September 2024). "Tekka teaser: Dev plays a distraught kidnapper in Srijit Mukherji's thriller". The Telegraph . Calcutta. Retrieved 15 September 2024. Also starring Swastika Mukherjee and Rukmini Maitra, the film will release in theatres on October 8
23. "Just in! Director Srijit Mukherji has replaced Rahul Dholakia as the director of Taapsee Pannu-starrer 'Shabaash Mithu'". The Times of India. 22 June 2021. Retrieved 22 June 2021.
24. "Srijit-Jaya working together after 5 years". Dhaka Tribune. 8 July 2023. Retrieved 10 September 2024.
25. Ghosh, Baswati (7 December 2022). "একটা নদীর মতো 'সম্পর্ক'". Eisamay (in Bengali). Retrieved 10 September 2024.
26. "I've known Jaya Apa for longer, even before Srijit: Mithila". The Daily Star. 11 July 2023. Retrieved 10 September 2024.
27. "Mithila marries Srijit finally". Prothom Alo . Retrieved 11 January 2022.
28. "Filmmaker Srijit Mukherji marries Bangladeshi actress Mithila". The New Indian Express. 7 December 2019. Retrieved 18 May 2021.

External links

• Srijit Mukherji at IMDb