Rajeev Kaul

Rajeev Kaul, man, what a wild journey through Bollywood. He’s one of those writers whose name you might not toss around at dinner parties, but his fingerprints are all over some of the biggest laugh riots and rom-coms from the late ‘90s and 2000s. Ishq, back in ‘97? Absolute chaos and comedy, with Aamir Khan and Ajay Devgn getting tangled up in romance, misunderstandings, and some pretty ridiculous action that only made people love it more. Then Welcome (2007) comes along—Kaul’s brand of humor hits hard, mixing mobsters with over-the-top weddings, Nana Patekar and Anil Kapoor basically stealing every scene, and Akshay Kumar at his goofy best. That film’s still a meme goldmine, honestly. And Ready (2011), yeah, it’s loud and silly and kind of bananas, but you can’t deny it’s packed with the kind of jokes and punchlines that had everyone quoting lines in the street. Kaul’s scripts have this knack for blending slapstick, wordplay, and just enough heart to keep things from feeling empty. He’s not one for subtlety, but that’s the charm—big laughs, bigger personalities, and stories that don’t take themselves too seriously. Bollywood comedy owes a lot to the tone he set, and even if critics sometimes rolled their eyes, audiences just couldn’t get enough.