Chandan Arora

Man, Chandan Arora’s journey is wild—he kicked things off as an Assistant Director back in ’89, then jumped into the cameraman gig in ’91. The guy’s basically done his homework under some serious industry legends. Fast-forward a bit and you’ll find him hustling at Star TV, producing across India and the Middle East, before he finally got his big break editing Ram Gopal Varma’s “Mast” in ’99. Not a bad gig for a first-timer, right? Since then, his editing credits have just exploded—think “Kedarnath,” “Padman,” “Ki & Ka,” “Jungle,” “Company,” “Cheeni Kum,” “Qarib Qarib Single,” “Krrish 3,” and the real heavy-hitter, “Fandry,” which raked in awards left and right. But editing wasn’t enough for him, apparently. In 2003, he jumped into the director’s chair and dropped “Main Madhuri Dixit Banna Chahti Hoon,” which critics actually loved (and that’s saying something). Then came “Main, Meri Patni Aur Woh” and “Striker”—the last one’s a gritty story about a carom champ, and it packs a punch. But wait, there’s more! Chandan’s also killing it in the ad world—he’s worked with pretty much every major brand you can think of, from Food Panda to Hero Honda. The man’s got more award nominations than most people have socks, seriously. For him, editing’s not just a gig—it’s like some endless playground for learning and tinkering. Between his tech chops and hunger for untold stories, Chandan’s always up for messing around with any idea, any format—ads, movies, documentaries, whatever. The guy just lives and breathes storytelling, and it shows.