Rahul Rawail is an Indian film director and editor in Bollywood known for his films like Love Story (1981), Betaab (1983), Arjun (1985), Dacait (1987), Anjaam (1994), Arjun Pandit (1999) and the recent one Jo Bole So Nihaal (2005). He received nominations for the Filmfare Award for Best Director for Betaab and Arjun. He is the son of renowned film director H. S. Rawail. Rawail has launched a few of the Bollywood actors through his films like Kumar Gaurav and Vijayeta Pandit in Love Story, Sunny Deol and Amrita Singh in Betaab, Kajol in Bekhudi (1992), and Aishwarya Rai in Aur Pyaar Ho Gaya (1997).

Rahul Rawail
Born (1951-04-07) 7 April 1951 (age 73)
NationalityIndian
OccupationFilm director
Years active1980–2007
ChildrenBharat Rawail
Parent
RelativesRajat Rawail (nephew)

In his book “Raj Kapoor The Master at Work”, he goes down memory lane to document his revered 'front row seat' as an assistant director to him, the immortal master of Indian cinema. The book is as told to Pranika Sharma. In English the book is published by Bloomsbury and in Hindi by Prabhat Prakashan.

Career and personal life edit

Rahul Rawail is son of film director Harnam Singh Rawail (often credited as H. S. Rawail) who is known for his films Mere Mehboob (1963), Sunghursh (1968), Mehboob Ki Mehndi (1971) and Laila Majnu (1976).[1] Rawail paid tribute to his father's 1968 film Sunghursh by titling one of his films as Jeevan Ek Sanghursh (1990).[2] Rahul's son Bharat Rawail is an upcoming director, who had assisted Yash Chopra for the film Jab Tak Hai Jaan (2012).[3]

Rawail began his career as assistant to Raj Kapoor[4] and debuted as director with 1980 Bollywood film Gunehgaar starring Parveen Babi, Rishi Kapoor, Rajendra Kumar, and Asha Parekh. His first two films were not successful but his third film Love Story (1981) starring débutante Kumar Gaurav and Vijeta Pandit was a turning point for his career. The film was a musical love story and was a commercial success. Since then, Rawail has directed seventeen films and two television series. He has often collaborated with actor Sunny Deol who worked with Rawail on six of his films, including his debut film Betaab (1983) with Amrita Singh.[5] The film was appreciated for Rawail's "breezy treatment" of the débutantes.[6] Rawail launched two successful actresses of Bollywood, Kajol and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, through his films Bekhudi (1992) and Aur Pyaar Ho Gaya (1997) respectively. Both the films did not do well commercially.[7] He received nominations for the Filmfare Award for Best Director for his films Betaab (1983) and Arjun (1985).[8][9]

In 2010, Rawail started an acting school in collaboration with the Stella Adler Studio of Acting, New York City.[10] In spite of famous Bollywood personalities like Sunny Deol enrolling their children to the academy, it was shut down after 2 years in 2012.[11][12] Rawail released his book "Master at Work" a biographical work written on his mentor Raj Kapoor at the 52nd International Film Festival of India in Goa in 2021.[13] He has been appointed as Jury at the Moscow International Film Festival 2023.[14]

Filmography edit

Films
Year Title
1980 Gunahgaar
1981 Love Story
1981 Biwi-O-Biwi
1983 Betaab
1985 Arjun
1986 Samundar
1987 Dacait
1990 Jeevan Ek Sanghursh
1991 Mast Kalandar
1991 Yodha
1992 Bekhudi
1994 Anjaam
1997 Aur Pyaar Ho Gaya
1999 Arjun Pandit
2001 Kuch Khatti Kuch Meethi
2005 Jo Bole So Nihaal
2007 Buddha Mar Gaya
TV series
Year Title
1988 Dharam Yuddh
1988 Honee Ahonee

Awards and nominations edit

Year Award Category Film Result
1984 Filmfare Awards Best Director Betaab Nominated
1986 Arjun Nominated

References edit

  1. ^ Subhash K. Jha (21 September 2004). "H.S. Rawail: death of a faded giant". India Glitz. Archived from the original on 11 February 2005. Retrieved 27 September 2013.
  2. ^ Kumar, Anuj (15 May 2009). "Friday Review: Sunghursh (1968)". The Hindu. Retrieved 27 May 2014.
  3. ^ "SRK, Anushka, Adi to attend Rahul Rawail's son's wedding". Times of India. 31 July 2013. Retrieved 27 September 2013.
  4. ^ Kahlon, Sukhpreet. "Raj Kapoor was a great teacher: Rahul Rawail on learning the ropes from master filmmaker". Cinestaan.com. Archived from the original on 30 January 2019. Retrieved 16 January 2019.
  5. ^ Kumar, Anuj (12 May 2005). "Jo Bole... So Rawail". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 27 May 2014. Retrieved 27 May 2014.
  6. ^ Verma, Sukanya (3 June 2013). "Sunny Deol's 10 Career Best performances". Rediff.com. Mumbai. Retrieved 27 May 2014.
  7. ^ "Love Story... Again: Meet Rahul Rawail's new leading lady". The Times of India. Mumbai. 6 January 2014. Retrieved 27 May 2014.
  8. ^ "Filmfare Awards Nominations – 1983". India Times. Archived from the original on 8 July 2012. Retrieved 27 May 2014.
  9. ^ "Filmfare Awards Nominations – 1986". India Times. Archived from the original on 26 January 2013. Retrieved 27 May 2014.
  10. ^ Shah, Kunal M (14 December 2010). "Anupam Kher's upset with Rahul Rawail?". The Times of India. Mumbai. Retrieved 27 May 2014.
  11. ^ Lalwani, Vickey (19 September 2012). "Rawail's acting school shuts shop?". Mumbai Mirror. Mumbai. The Times of India. Retrieved 27 May 2014.
  12. ^ "Sunny Deol's son joins Rahul Rawail's acting school". Zee News. Mumbai. 24 November 2010. Retrieved 27 May 2014.
  13. ^ "What drove Raj Kapoor to ring up Lata Mangeshkar at 1 am…". Karnataka News Paper. 26 November 2021. Archived from the original on 27 November 2021. Retrieved 28 November 2021.
  14. ^ "https://filminformation.com/featured/rahul-rawail-appointed-on-moscow-intl-film-festival-jury". filminformation. 17 February 2023. Retrieved 4 March 2023. {{cite news}}: External link in |title= (help)

External links edit