Rajkumar Hirani

Rajkumar Hirani
Hirani in December 2014
Born	(1962-11-20) 20 November 1962 (age 54) Nagpur, Maharashtra, India
Other names	Raj Kumar Hirani
Occupation	director, producer, screenwriter, film editor
Years active	1993–Present
Spouse(s)	Manjeet Hirani
Children	(1) Vir Hirani

Rajkumar Hirani (born 20 November 1962) is an Indian film director. Hirani is known for directing Hindi films, including Munna Bhai M.B.B.S (2003), Lage Raho Munnabhai (2006), 3 Idiots (2009) and PK (2014).

Rajkumar Hirani was born on 20 November 1962 in Nagpur to a Sindhi family. His father Suresh Hirani ran a typing institute in Nagpur. Rajkumar Hirani studied in St. Francis De'Sales High School, Nagpur, Maharashtra. Rajkumar did his graduation in commerce. His parents wanted him to be a Chartered Accountant but he was more keen on Theatres, Films. Hirani helped his father in his business but he wanted to be actor in Hindi films. In college days he was involved with Hindi theatre. Suresh got his son's photographs shot and packed him off to an acting school in Mumbai. But Raju could not blend in and returned to Nagpur after three days. His father then asked Raju to apply to the Film and Television Institute of India in Pune, but the acting course had shut down by then and chances of admission to the directorial course looked slim as there were far too many applicants. So Raju opted for the editing course. He earned a scholarship, thereby reducing the load on his father's shoulders.

Hirani tried his luck as film editor for many years. Bad experiences forced him to shift to advertising, and gradually established himself as a director and producer of advertising films. He was also seen in a Fevicol ad where some men and elephants are trying to pull and break a Fevicol plank saying "Jor laga ke Haisha". He was also seen in the Kinetic Luna ad campaign created by Ogilvy & Mather. He was doing fairly well in the advertisement industry but he wanted to make movies so he took a break from advertisement and started working with Vidhu Vinod Chopra. He worked on promos and trailers for 1942: A Love Story. He edited promotions for Kareeb. He got his first big opportunity as a film editor with Mission Kashmir.