Dheeraj Rattan

Man, Dheeraj’s been absolutely everywhere in Punjabi and Hindi cinema—dude’s got his fingerprints on half the blockbusters you’ve probably seen. He kicked things off teaming up with Vikram Bhatt for a hat-trick of horror flicks, banging out 1920, Shaapit, and Phirr, just stacking up the scares. Then he jumps ship to Punjabi movies and straight-up crushes it with Mel Karade Rabba, which blew up bigger than anyone expected. Seriously, that cast—Jimmy Shergill, Gippy Grewal, Neeru Bajwa—no wonder it was a smash. And he didn’t stop, not even close. Jatt and Juliet (both parts), Best of Luck, Romeo Ranjha—he’s basically got the cheat code for crowd-pleasers. Shareek, Ambarsariya, Sardaar Ji 2, Kaptaan, Jindua… all of ‘em made bank at the box office. Netflix even got him in the mix with Bhangra Paa Le (Sunny Kaushal’s in it if you’re keeping score), and he co-wrote Shiddat for Maddock, which landed on Disney+ Hotstar. The guy doesn’t know how to chill, apparently. He’s been churning out screenplays for flicks like Chobbar, Parahuna 2, and cooked up the story for Jatt Brothers, that dramedy everyone’s been chatting about. And right now? He’s got a feature script in the oven for a major Indian studio and is piecing together an original dramedy series. Oh, and his directorial debut, Tufang—a gritty Punjabi crime thriller—hits theaters in July. Busy isn’t even the word.