Amar Kaushik

Amar Kaushik’s the kind of guy who slipped into Bollywood through the side door, honestly. Born to a forest ranger dad and a teacher mom way out in Arunachal Pradesh—yeah, not your typical Mumbai story. He bounced around as a kid, first Kanpur, then Delhi, where he picked up a degree in mass comm, probably because, well, what else do you do when you like movies but don't know anybody in the business? By 2009, he’d made the classic pilgrimage to Mumbai, chasing the big screen dream. He kicked things off as an assistant director on Aamir (2008), which, let’s be real, is the kind of grunt work that actually teaches you how movies get made (and how much tea people drink on set). Kaushik’s face popped up here and there—blink and you miss him—in flicks like No One Killed Jessica, Go Goa Gone, and Ghanchakkar. But really, he was hustling behind the scenes, learning from names like Raj Kumar Gupta and Onir. With Onir, he worked on films like Sorry Bhai!, I Am, and Shab. The big break? Aaba (2017), a short film that snagged some shiny awards, including a special mention at the Berlin International Film Festival and a National Award back home. It even got screened at TIFF, which is pretty wild for a short made in India. He also helped out Iranian director Majid Majidi on Beyond the Clouds. But the dude’s name really blew up with Stree (2018)—a horror comedy that somehow made ghosts hilarious and box office history, raking in over Rs 125 crores. That one bagged him a Filmfare for best debut director. He followed it up with Bala (2019), another hit, and then dropped Bhediya (2022) with Varun Dhawan and Chor Nikal Ke Bhaga (2023) on Netflix, keeping his streak alive.