Biography: Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra (born 7 July 1963) is an Indian filmmaker and screenwriter. He is best known for writing and directing Rang De Basanti (2006), for which he won Best Director awards at the 2006 Filmfare Awards and National Film Awards and received a BAFTA Award nomination for Best Foreign Language Film. He is the writer and director of the films Aks (2001) and Delhi-6 (2009); and director of Bhaag Milkha Bhaag (2013). Career Mehra started off by selling vacuum cleaners for Eureka Forbes. He established Flicks Motion Picture Company Private Limited in 1986, starting his career as an advertisement film maker. He has directed scores of television commercials for Indian and international clients such as Coke, Pepsi, Toyota, American Express and BPL. He has also directed music videos such as Aby Baby starring Amitabh Bachchan. He then transited from being an ad-film maker to a feature film maker. In June 2001, his company released its first full-length feature film titled Aks, starring Amitabh Bachchan. Aks was moderately successful but was critically acclaimed for the Bachchan's performances in the film. His next release titled Rang De Basanti was released in 2006 and starred Aamir Khan and Soha Ali Khan. The film was a huge hit in India and did very well overseas. He received much acclaim for the film, winning Best Director awards at the 2006 Filmfare Award and National Film Award as well as a BAFTA Award nomination for Best Foreign Language Film. The film was also officially chosen as India's entry to the Oscars. Sight & Sound magazine conducts a poll every ten years of the world's finest film directors to find out the Ten Greatest Films of All Time. This poll has been going since 1992, and has become the most recognised  poll of its kind in the world. In 2012  Cyrus Frisch voted for "Rang De Basanti". Frisch commented: "Corruption became the subject of fierce debate in India after the major success of this film among youngsters." Delhi-6, Mehera's next release, was in 2009 starring Abhishek Bachchan, Sonam Kapoor, Om Puri, Waheeda Rehman, and Atul Kulkarni. The film got lukewarm critical response and did not perform very well at the box office. Mehra was associated with the pre-production phase of several other films, none of which materialized, as of 2013. Such proposed film included: Bhairavi—about a family in the world of classical music where he wants to cast Amitabh Bachchan, Jaya Bachchan, and Abhishek Bachchan in principal roles—Raja and the legend of the flute (earlier tentatively titled Paanch Kaurav)—a mythical opus on the lines of Raiders of the Lost Ark and The Lord of the Rings, with an estimated budget of Rs. 700 million. In 2009, Mehra was also reportedly working on a film based on the tragic love story of Punjab's Mirza-Sahibaan, with Abhishek Bachchan and Sonam Kapoor. He then produced the film Teen They Bhai in 2011, a film about three brothers who keep fighting amongst themselves, which was directed by Mrighdeep Lamba. However, the film neither won critical acclaim nor do well at the box-office. In 2013, Mehra directed the biopic Bhaag Milkha Bhaag starring Farhan Akhtar as Milkha Singh, the legendary Indian sprinter. The film was a major commercial and critical success. Mehra is currently working on a contemporary version of Mirza & Sahiba tragic love story starring Harshvardhan Kapoor as Mirza and a debutante as Sahiba. The film will contain song composed by Shankar Ehsaan and Loy and dance numbers as well as action scenes. He is planning to make an adventure thriller with Imran Khan. The movie is said to be inspired from the popular Hollywood movie series Indiana Jones and revolves around the discovery of the lost city Dwarka, the kingdom of Lord Krishna. While the movie is still on its initial stages, it is set to release in 2014.

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