Biography

Ram Lakhan (1989), Khalnayak (1993), Hero (1983), Karz (1980), these are some grand films made by a grandiose director. Since 1976, Subhash has been directing films. But recently where has the fanfare and the fire has gone from Mukta arts main director? Subhash started in 1976 with the film Kalicharan (1976), a film he made without any previous directorial experience. The film was rejected seven times before it came to NN Sippy who gave Ghai his shot. He followed this two years later with Vishwanath (1978) but struck big time with his third film, and first under his Mukta Arts banner, Karz (1980). With hit pairing of Rishi Kapoor and Tina Minium, Karz brought together Subhash & Laxmikant-Pyarelal. He then hit the audience with Hero (1983), starring an actor he would repeat many time in his future films, Jackie Shroff. This was his first film as the main protagonist. It also established Meenakshi as a top heroine. In the first two weeks, the film was declared a dud. However, from its third week onwards it went on to run at cinemas for many golden jubilees.

Again musically, Ghai had the genius stroke of having Pakistan's top singer Reshma sing Lambi Judaai with just 11 instruments. He hit next with _Meri Jung (1982)_ with Anil Kapoor and then he gave the term Multi Starrer blockbuster its true home. Karma was released in 1986 with huge fanfare. The pre-production hype matched its pre-release hype with the rivalry of Dillip Kumar and Naseeruddin Shah. It was a superhit. Again new faces were brought in. Anupam Kher made his appearance as Dr. Dang. Ghai received a national award for making an anti-terrorism film. In his next film, one of Bollywood's legends was born, Madhuri Dixit in Ram Lakhan (1989). Another superhit for a barely textbook script. Like his track record, Saudagar (1991), his next release united two icons together. Dilip Kumar and Raj Kumar. Again Ghai launched another star, Manisha Koirala. Another film another superhit. His next film was one of the most talked about films of its time and could match any film today for column space. Sanjay as the bad guy and Jackie as the good guy. Madhuri caught in between the two. _Khalnayak (1993)_ was notorious for many things. At the same time, Sanjay wound up in jail on terrorist charges. Before jail, Sanjay and Madhuri were said to be having a relationship, but when Sanjay ended up in Jail Madhuri dropped him like hot cakes and denied all knowledge of being anything more than a co-star. The main song "Choli ke peechay" was at the top of every chart and just as controversial. This was the showman's greatest moment. From here it could only go down.

Though Trimurti wasn't directed by Subhash, it came from the same production house. The film was put on hold for ages. It was meant to be a triumphant moment for Ghai. The showman and the star, Shah Rukh Khan united. For all the time he had been in Bollywood he had never made a film with Amitabh and this was his time to show the world what he could do with the star of the moment. But the project was laid back for months as Subash waited for Sanjay Dutt to be released from prison. Eventually, Dutt had a face to face meeting with Ghai and told him straight. Replace me. Anil Kapoor was drafted in. But even with Jackie Shroff, Shah Rukh Khan and Anil Kapoor the weak script was destined to fail. Its failure hit Ghai hard and Mukul Anand even harder. The later never got the chance to direct another film. His venture after Trimurti was Dus. He died towards the end of shooting. The film never saw release. With the knives that were stuck in Ghai, he came back with another Shah Rukh film this time directed by himself. Pardes (1997) was launched with Ghai declaring that from now on his films would be aimed at NRIs. From that moment on Ghai lost his biggest supporter, the press. An average hit compared to the Ghai catalog. By now he'd even changed his musical directors to Nadeem-Sharavan. Music is where the hits and flops were made. Ghai knowing this asked AR Rehman to write the music for his next film. He struck gold again. The star of the show was Aishwarya. It made phenomenal amounts of cash - not bad for a film where nothing interesting happens until the interval where one A. Kapoor makes an appearance. Ghai was back. He knew who'd been the people who'd stuck the knives in his back and isolated them, the press.

He had the last laugh. Or did he. Forward to 2001 and Ghai was planning to make history. Hrithik and Kareena together for the first time. _Yaadein (2001)_. From its announcement the press were out to hound Ghai. And it showed. The film was written off from day one. Criticised from anything and everything. The coke ads, the numerous other in film adverts, too fluffy. Jackie Shroff was the only saving grace to come out of this film. Subhash has isolated the one thing that gave his film the hype and now he's feeling very left out from the Indian press who have warmed up to other directors. Ghai had a rule of releasing a film every two years yet two years after Yaadein he has not announced a single directorial venture, just two producer ventures, Ek aur ek gyarah and Joggers Park. His ego and his own ability to create hype for his films could be to blame. He raises the expectations of his own films to such a level that the audience is expecting much. And if it fails to deliver even slightly, the audience and the press will hype up the failures even more so. What the future holds for Ghai is unknown and only he can answer. Though don't expect The Showman to let any other director take his title anytime soon!

- IMDb Mini Biography By: Dreamz

He started his career in hindi cinema as an actor in Taqdeer (1967) and Aradhana (1970). He was the male lead in the 1970's Umang, Sherni, Bharat Ke Shaheed and Gumraah (1973) with Reena Roy and Danny. He turned himself into being a film writer in 1973 and sold his various stories and scripts to leading directors like Prakash Mehra and Dulal Guha in partnership with B Bhalla. His directorial debut was the film Kalicharan (1975) on his own script with Shatrughan Sinha and Reena Roy which became a blockbuster instantly. After directing three films 'Vishwanath' (1976), Gautam Govinda (1977) and Krodhi (1979) he also became a film producer with his musical classic 'Karz' in 1980. After directing his first film with Dilip Kumar and Sanjay Dutt in 'Vidhata' (1982) he formed his own company 'Mukta Arts Pvt Ltd' with another evergreen musical blockbuster 'Hero' (1983) introducing Jackie Shroff which was followed by many blockbusters in a row including Meri Jung (1985), Karma (1986), Ram Lakhan (1989), Saudagar (1991), Khalnayak (1993), Pardes (1997), Taal (1999) and Yaadein till 2001 followed by Kisna (2004), Black and White (2007) and Yuvraaj (2008). He produced many blockbusters including Aitraaz, 36 China Town, Apna Sapna Money Money, Joggers Park and Iqbal. He also produced regional films like 'Nauka Dubi' in Bengali, 'Sanai Chaughade' and 'Samhita' in Marathi and 'Double Di Trouble' in Punjabi. Like Alfred Hitchcock he is known to give brief cameos in his directorial ventures. In 90's media showered a title on him as "Showman" after Raj Kapoor known for his big musical movies and celebrations with magnum events. Both Pardes and Taal were released internationally and featured in the top 20 movies in the US box office charts for several weeks.

As a producer he introduced film insurance policy in bollywood first time with his film 'Taal' and first one to initiate banks to finance movies. He was the first indian film producer who took his company into a corporate public company in 2000 as Mukta Arts Ltd and expanded its business from education to exhibition in movies and multi-media. Being a techno savvy he promptly promoted new technology in production and exhibition sectors both. As a Director - Producer he launched and groomed many upcoming and new faces in the industry like Madhuri Dixit, Manisha Koirala, Jackie Shroff, Sanjay Dutt in 80's, Mahima Chowdhary and Aishwarya Rai in 90's and Kareena Kapoor and Katrina Kaif after 2001 and so on. He has been known as one of the best director in extracting great music from various composers and acting performances as well from each and every actor he has worked with. His past films still yield the huge revenue through television and remakes. In 2001 he was the only film maker in india who set up an international film school 'Whistling Woods International (WWI)' in Mumbai which went into operation in 2006 with national and international students on campus. Whistling Woods International boasts to export education to many countries including UK and Nigeria and to have designed media studies curriculum for CBSE high schools. Hollywood Reporter has named Whistling Woods International, as one of the top ten film schools in the world with 400 students at campus with worldclass facilities. It has also been certified as a global film institute in india by skill tree knowledge consortium at house of commons in 2014. His daughter Meghna Ghai Puri is the president of Whistling Woods International and expanding it to various states and countries.

Recipient of many national and international awards Subhash Ghai has been honoured by the United States senate. He was the former chairman of the entertainment committee of trade body CII and a member of FICCI, Nascom and Tie global & its alliances. He has been on jury of Emmy awards for three years and also on an international panel on film piracy at Cannes film festival in 2008.

In the recent past, United Kingdom and South Africa have sought his expertise to help them set up institutions on their land. Under his able stewardship, the WWI teams have also helped the Hong Kong government to promote tourism in their country. In december 2013, the international confederation of NGOs and united nations conferred the Karmaveer Chakra upon him for his contribution as an educationist to develop skill and innovative education in india in field of cinema and entertainment.

Incidentally the song "Jai ho" was to be part of this film 'Yuvraaj' (2008), but Ghai felt it was unsuitable for the character played by Zayed Khan to perform onscreen; later it was used in Slumdog Millionaire. After his oscar win, A. R. Rahman revealed in an interview that it was Ghai who had asked him to use the words "Jai Ho" in a song. He directed a short film on communal harmony in 1990 with Ranbir Kapoor, Sonam Kapoor, Tiger Shroff titled 'PYAR KI GANGA BAHE' a song composed by Laxmikant Pyarelal on lyrics of Javed Akhtar.

He conceived and directed a Magnum audi visual stage show 'CINEMA CINEMA' in 1991 celebrating 100 years of world cinema with 42 bollywood stars, 200 musicians, 250 dancers on 180 feet stage at NSCI Mumbai.

He has a wife named Mukta Rehana Ghai with two daughters Meghna and Muskaan and is a chairman of Mukta Arts Ltd and Whistling Woods International.

Today, his evergreen films 'Hero' and 'Ram Lakhan' are being remade by Salman Khan and Karan Johar with Rohit Shetty as director in association with Mukta Arts Ltd.

- IMDb Mini Biography By: Mukta Arts