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Govind Nihalani is a Director, Scriptwriter, Producer, Assistant Director, Director of Photography, Editor and Cinematography Indian born on 19 december 1940 at Karachi (Pakistan)

Govind Nihalani

Govind Nihalani
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Nationality Inde
Birth 19 december 1940 (83 years) at Karachi (Pakistan)
Awards Padma Shri, Filmfare Awards

Govind Nihalani (born 19 December 1940) is an Indian director, cinematographer, and also a screenwriter and film producer. He has been directing Hindi films since the late seventies, and worked in the television medium. He is older brother of the acclaimed Hindi film director Pahlaj Nihalani.

Biography

Nihalani was born on 19 December 1940 in Karachi, Sindh province (now in Pakistan) and his family migrated to India during the partition of 1947. He started out as a cinematographer, graduating in cinematography from the Shree Jaya Chamrajendra polytechnic in Bangalore in 1962. He was an Assistant Cinematographer to the legendary V. K. Murthy.He was associated with all the earlier films of Shyam Benegal and with the cinematography of Richard Attenborough's Oscar-winning epic Gandhi. Nihalani and Benegal are well known for their socially relevant films.

His first directorial venture was Aakrosh starring Om Puri, Naseeruddin Shah, the late Smita Patil and the late Amrish Puri. This was based on a real story which was converted into a film script by the eminent Marathi playwright Vijay Tendulkar and it made a huge impact on audiences all over India. It shared the Golden Peacock for best film at the International Film Festival of India held in New Delhi in 1981. His film Ardh Satya, based on a story by S.D. Panwalkar, is still remembered by film lovers. It changed forever the way in which Indian cinema portrayed the police and it exposed in stark detail the police-politician-criminal nexus. Come 1997, and he adapted Bengali novelist, Mahasweta Devi's acclaimed novel by the same name to Hazaar Chaurasi Ki Maa

Over the years he has directed many films which are known for the manner in which they grab the viewer's attention, and his most recent work is the 2004 film Dev.

Best films

Gandhi (1982)
(Second Unit Director)

Usually with

Amrish Puri
Amrish Puri
(18 films)
Om Puri
Om Puri
(11 films)
Satyadev Dubey
Satyadev Dubey
(10 films)
Vanraj Bhatia
Vanraj Bhatia
(9 films)
Source : Wikidata

Filmography of Govind Nihalani (27 films)

Display filmography as list

Director

Dev
Dev (2004)
, 2h56
Directed by Govind Nihalani
Genres Drama
Actors Amitabh Bachchan, Fardeen Khan, Kareena Kapoor, Om Puri, Amrish Puri, Rati Agnihotri
Rating66% 3.3467053.3467053.3467053.3467053.346705
Joint Commissioner of Police Dev Pratap Singh, a duty-bound, self-righteous officer, and Special Commissioner Tejinder Khosla, the balancing force between the political interests of Chief Minister Bhandarker and Dev's commitment to the law, are lifelong friends, each with his own ideals. Farhaan, a law graduate, was brought up with ideals of non-violence and patriotism. Dev unwittingly gives Farhaan the wound that plunges him into rage and violence after witnessing the death of his father during a peace demonstration. Taking advantage of the situation, corrupt politician Latif sets the vulnerable young man on a path of violence and destruction that threatens to ignite the city. Aaliya is the light in Farhaan's life. Beautiful and innocent, the young woman also gets caught in extraordinary circumstances that transform her life and she dares to stand up for the truth. Dev is the saga of Dev and Tej's friendship, a bond stronger than blood ties in which Farhaan emerges as the wedge driving them apart. The story unfolds against the vitiated atmosphere of present times where innocent lives become fodder for political expediency. The spark of terrorist violence unknowingly set off by Farhaan under the aegis of the corrupt politician Latif engulfs the whole city in its flames. Tej transgresses beyond the boundaries of law in his passion to eliminate anti-national crime. Dev is faced with the spectre of the tragic human cost and a moral compulsion to act. The stakes rise beyond self-interest. Dev and Tej are set on a path of dramatic collision. Even as Dev and Farhaan's fate gets irreversibly linked, two soldiers whose allegiance may be to different causes but admiration for each other's courage and integrity brings them together.
Body
Body (2001)
, 2h
Directed by Govind Nihalani
Genres Drama, Science fiction
Themes Films based on plays
Actors Kitu Gidwani, Joy Sengupta, Alyy Khan, Surekha Sikri
Rating46% 2.3462852.3462852.3462852.3462852.346285
It's 2022. Om Prakash, a jobless young man lives with his wife Jaya, mother and younger brother Jeetu in a one-room tenement in Mumbai. He falls for a multinational company's offer to provide his family a life of luxury for the rest of their lives in exchange for body organs for wealthy foreigner clients. The family's life changes as he signs the contract. They lose their privacy as company watches their every move. As part of the contract Om has to pose as a bachelor and Jaya, his wife, is forced to call herself his sister. But Jeetu, who works as a gigolo, a male prostitute, refuses to permit himself to be controlled and walks out of home. After few months as Om, Jaya and his mother, are growing accustomed to their new life, Jeetu comes back, battered and beaten. As Jaya nurses him the time for the organ transplants comes. The company officials come and take away Jeetu instead of Om for the transplants. Jaya, who has been putting up with it all for long, finally, refuses to become a party to the contract and chooses freedom instead.
Thakshak
Thakshak (1999)
, 2h41
Directed by Govind Nihalani
Genres Action
Actors Ajay Devgn, Tabu, Rahul Bose, Nethra Raghuraman, Govind Namdev, Amrish Puri
Rating60% 3.0494053.0494053.0494053.0494053.049405
A poetic romance between Ishaan (Ajay Devgan) and Suman (Tabu), set against the concrete Mumbai cityscape, opens the film.
Mother Of 1084, 2h32
Directed by Govind Nihalani
Genres Drama
Themes Political films
Actors Jaya Bachchan, Anupam Kher, Nandita Das, Joy Sengupta, Seema Biswas, Milind Gunaji
Rating74% 3.718113.718113.718113.718113.71811
Dibyanath Chatterji, his bank-employed wife, Sujata, and youngest son, Brati, live an affluent existence in Calcutta, West Bengal, India, circa early 1970s. Sujata is a quiet, devout Hindu, religious, and compassionate woman, and Brati has finished his school and is now attending college. His parents are proud of him, and keep track of his progress. Then their world is shattered during the early hours, when they are informed by the police that Brati has been killed. Dibyanath and Sujata go to identify Brati's body, mourn, lament inconsolably. They know now that their lives will never be the same again - for by the police they will be called the mother and father of corpse No. 1084. Sujata struggles to understand Brati's passing, meets his friends one by one, comes to know that Brati had a girlfriend, Nandini Mitra, and that's when she finds out that Brati was part of a rebel group often referred to as "Naxalbari", a militant leftist group. As she delves deeper and deeper into Brati's former life, she begins to understand her son's struggle, and decides to continue to further this. What Sujata does not know is her and Dibyanath's lives are in danger, and they well turn up dead and end up as numbered corpses in a police morgue.
Sanshodhan
Sanshodhan (1996)

Directed by Govind Nihalani
Genres Drama
Actors Manoj Bajpayee, Ashutosh Rana, Kishor Kadam, Aditya Srivastava
Rating71% 3.5772853.5772853.5772853.5772853.577285
The story is about the Latest Amendment announced by the govt. for reserving one third seats in every Village Panchayat for females. It shows how the female leaders find difficulties in raising their voices in the world of all men. Its also about how the intermediaries take most of the money sent by the government and very less reaches the actual receiver.
Drohkaal
Drohkaal (1994)

Directed by Govind Nihalani
Genres Drama, Thriller
Themes Films about terrorism
Actors Om Puri, Naseeruddin Shah, Ashish Vidyarthi, Mita Vashisht, Amrish Puri, Milind Gunaji
Rating77% 3.870893.870893.870893.870893.87089
Indian cities are being terrorized by a group of people who want the government to give in to their demands and are willing to go to any extent for that purpose. Honest, experienced and diligent cops Abhay Singh (Om Puri) and Abbas Lodhi (Naseeruddin Shah) are part of the anti terrorism task force set up by the government to eliminate the menace.
Pita
Pita (1991)
, 2h30
Directed by Govind Nihalani
Genres Drama
Actors Satyadev Dubey, Dina Pathak, Irrfan Khan
Rating70% 3.524553.524553.524553.524553.52455
In disagreement with his husband on how her daughter should be raised and what she should become, the central character of a woman thinks that if she declares her husband insane she would be able to decide for her daughter. Acting on this she sows seeds of confusion in the mind of his husband that he might not be the father of their daughter. The husband starts to believe and actually goes insane and his wife gets the custody of their daughter.
Rukmavati's Mansion
Directed by Govind Nihalani
Genres Drama
Themes Films based on plays
Actors Uttara Baokar, Ila Arun, Kitu Gidwani, Jyoti Subhash, Pallavi Joshi
Rating65% 3.2510253.2510253.2510253.2510253.251025
Nihalani's screenplay transports Lorca's Spanish setting on to a Rajasthan village. Rukmavati, a domineering matriarch has five daughters Savitri, Damayanti, Chandra, Mumal and Padma, all unmarried. The domineering woman has inexorable control over her daughters placing them all in a repressive setting where they don't have any social life of their own outside their home. The frustrated and angry daughters respond in their individual ways to their mother’s cruelty leading to a tragic ending.
Drishti
Drishti (1990)
, 2h51
Directed by Govind Nihalani
Genres Drama
Actors Dimple Kapadia, Shekhar Kapur, Irrfan Khan, Mita Vashisht, Neena Gupta, Navneet Nishan
Rating70% 3.538653.538653.538653.538653.53865
Sandhya (Dimple Kapadia) and Nikhil (Shekhar Kapur) are a happily married, urban, professional couple. Coming from middle-class families, both of them have risen in their professional life by virtue of merit and hard work. On their eighth wedding anniversary one of their friends brings along his nephew Rahul (Irrfan Khan) who is a classical singer. Sandhya develops an attraction and has an affair with him. She confides in her friend Prabha, but does not tell Nikhil about it. After a couple of months, the affair ends. After about a year, Nikhil falls in love with Vrinda, his assistant in the lab. He tells Sandhya about it and leaves her. Sandhya is shattered and they part. Four years after the divorce they meet again, and Sandhya mentions to Nikhil about her affair with Rahul.
Tamas
Tamas (1987)
, 4h34
Directed by Govind Nihalani
Genres Drama
Themes Films about religion, Political films
Actors Om Puri, Bhisham Sahni, Amrish Puri, Deepa Sahi, Manohar Singh, Dina Pathak
Rating88% 4.415864.415864.415864.415864.41586
Nathu (Om Puri), a Chamar, is finishing his work in his shop when the thekedar (Pankaj Kapur) walks in and asks him to entice a pig from a nearby piggery into his shop and kill it for the Veterinary doctor who needs it for medical purposes. Nathu tries to decline saying he has never killed a pig before and doesn't have the necessary skill for it, offering instead to tan the hide if required provided the people from the piggery kill it. Thekedar insists that he wants Nathu to do it and gives him 5 rupees for it and leaves the shop saying that the work must be done by morning when the jamadar will come to take the carcass.
Ardh Satya
Ardh Satya (1983)
, 2h10
Directed by Govind Nihalani
Genres Drama, Crime
Actors Om Puri, Smita Patil, Amrish Puri, Shafi Ali Inamdar, Naseeruddin Shah, Sadashiv Amarapurkar
Rating80% 4.039524.039524.039524.039524.03952
The film opens at a party where Anant Welankar (Om Puri), a police officer, meets Jyotsna Gokhale (Smita Patil), a lecturer in literature at a local college. Anant is a sub-inspector with Bombay police. They seem to hit it off despite some initial skirmishing about ideology, and the friendship blossoms into a relationship.
The Victor
The Victor (1982)

Directed by Govind Nihalani
Themes Transport films, Aviation films
Actors Shashi Kapoor, Rekha, Amrish Puri, Supriya Pathak, Kunal Kapoor, Om Puri
Rating76% 3.8230653.8230653.8230653.8230653.823065
Vijeta (The Victor) is the coming-of-age story of Angad (Kunal Kapoor). Confused like any other teenager trying to find himself and caught in between the marital problems of his Maharashtrian mother Neelima (Rekha) and Punjabi father Nihal (Shashi Kapoor), it is time for him to decide what he wants to do with his life. Angad chooses to become a fighter pilot with the Indian Air Force. What follows is his struggle to become a victor both with his self and the outer world. Angad is attracted to Anna Verghese (Supriya Pathak), who is the daughter of his flying instructor (Amrish Puri). Angad must learn to adapt to flying, leaving his mom and dad for long periods of time, as well as try and woo Anna who helps him overcome his fears and realize his potential as a fighter pilot. Nihal is a clean shaven Sikh, Neelima is a Hindu, Angad is a Sikh and Anna a Christian, while Angad's fellow officers represent all religion.
Aakrosh
Aakrosh (1980)
, 2h24
Directed by Govind Nihalani
Origin Inde
Genres Drama
Themes Films about music and musicians, Politique, Films about racism, Musical films, Political films, Bollywood
Actors Naseeruddin Shah, Smita Patil, Amrish Puri, Om Puri, Mohan Agashe, Reema Lagoo
Rating78% 3.936553.936553.936553.936553.93655
Allegedly based on a true incident reported on page 7 of a local newspaper, the film was a scathing satire on the corruption in the judicial system and the victimization of the underprivileged by the able and the powerful.