Tanuja Chandra | |
---|---|
Native name | तनुजा चंद्रा |
Born |
June 3, 1969 (age 47) Lucknow, India |
Nationality | Indian |
Occupation | Film director, writer |
Tanuja Chandra (born June 3, 1969) is an Indian film director and writer. She is known as screenwriter Yash Chopra's hit Dil To Pagal Hai (1997) and for frequently directing woman-oriented films where the heroines are the main protagonists of her films, notably Dushman (1998) and Sangharsh (1999).
She is the sister of famous writer Vikram Chandra and film critic Anupama Chopra. Her mother is film writer Kamna Chandra.
Chandra began her career in 1995 and made her directorial debut with the TV series Zameen Aasmaan, starring Tanvi Azmi. In 1996, she directed another television serial along with Shabnam Sukhdev, called Mumkin. In 1997, she wrote the screenplay for Yash Chopra's Dil To Pagal Hai, which was a commercial success.
She went on to collaborate often with Mahesh Bhatt and wrote the screenplay for his critically acclaimed picture, Zakhm (1998). She also made her cinematic directorial debut with his Dushman in the same year. The movie, starring Kajol in the lead role, received critical praise and performed moderately well at the box office.
Her next film, Sangharsh (1999), was also produced by Mahesh Bhatt and starred Akshay Kumar and Preity Zinta in pivotal roles. The movie failed at the box office.
Since then, Chandra has directed several films, many of which went unnoticed. Yet films like Sur – The Melody of Life (2002) and Film Star (2005), which were directed and written by Chandra, won favourable reviews from critics and received praise for her work as a director and writer.