Subhash Ghai

In 2005, he opened a center called Whistling Woods International Institute for Film, Television and Media Arts.

Forward to 2001 and Ghai was planning to make history. Hrithik and Kareena together for the first time.

Pardes (1997) was launched with Ghai declaring that from now on his films would be aimed at NRIs. From that moment on Ghai lost his biggest supporter, the press. An average hit compared to the Ghai catalog. By now he'd even changed his musical directors to Nadeem-Sharavan. Music is where the hits and flops were made. Ghai knowing this asked AR Rehman to write the music for his next film. He struck gold again. The star of the show was Aishwarya. It made phenomenal amounts of cash - not bad for a film where nothing interesting happens until the interval where one A. Kapoor makes an appearance. Ghai was back. He knew who'd been the people who'd stuck the knives in his back and isolated them, the press. He had the last laugh. Or did he.

_Khalnayak (1993)_ was notorious for many things. At the same time, Sanjay wound up in jail on terrorist charges. Before jail, Sanjay and Madhuri were said to be having a relationship, but when Sanjay ended up in Jail Madhuri dropped him like hot cakes and denied all knowledge of being anything more than a co-star. The main song "Choli ke peechay" was at the top of every chart and just as controversial. This was the showman's greatest moment. From here it could only go down. Though Trimurti wasn't directed by Subhash, it came from the same production house. The film was put on hold for ages. It was meant to be a triumphant moment for Ghai. The showman and the star, Shah Rukh Khan united. For all the time he had been in Bollywood he had never made a film with Amitabh and this was his time to show the world what he could do with the star of the moment. But the project was laid back for months as Subash waited for Sanjay Dutt to be released from prison. Eventually, Dutt had a face to face meeting with Ghai and told him straight. Replace me. Anil Kapoor was drafted in. But even with Jackie Shroff, Shah Rukh Khan and Anil Kapoor the weak script was destined to fail. Its failure hit Ghai hard and Mukul Anand even harder. The later never got the chance to direct another film. His venture after Trimurti was Dus. He died towards the end of shooting. The film never saw release. With the knives that were stuck in Ghai, he came back with another Shah Rukh film this time directed by himself.

Like his track record, Saudagar (1991), his next release united two icons together. Dilip Kumar and Raj Kumar. Again Ghai launched another star, Manisha Koirala. Another film another superhit. His next film was one of the most talked about films of its time and could match any film today for column space. Sanjay as the bad guy and Jackie as the good guy. Madhuri caught in between the two.

Ram Lakhan (1989), Khal Nayak (1993), Hero (1983), Karz (1980), these are some grand films made by a grandiose director.

In his next film, one of Bollywood's legends was born, Madhuri Dixit in Ram Lakhan (1989). Another superhit for a barely textbook script.

Unfortunately, he has never directed Amitabh Bachchan. But he almost did for a film called Deva in 1987.

Karma was released in 1986 with huge fanfare. The pre-production hype matched its pre-release hype with the rivalry of Dillip Kumar and Naseeruddin Shah. It was a superhit. Again new faces were brought in. Anupam Kher made his appearance as Dr. Dang. Ghai received a national award for making an anti-terrorism film.

He then hit the audience with Hero (1983), starring an actor he would repeat many time in his future films, Jackie Shroff. This was his first film as the main protagonist. It also established Meenakshi as a top heroine. In the first two weeks, the film was declared a dud. However, from its third week onwards it went on to run at cinemas for many golden jubilees. Again musically, Ghai had the genius stroke of having Pakistan's top singer Reshma sing Lambi Judaai with just 11 instruments.

He hit next with _Meri Jung (1982)_ with Anil Kapoor and then he gave the term Multi Starrer blockbuster its true home.

He followed this two years later with Vishwanath (1978) but struck big time with his third film, and first under his Mukta Arts banner, Karz (1980). With hit pairing of Rishi Kapoor and Tina Minium, Karz brought together Subhash & Laxmikant-Pyarelal.

Since 1976, Subhash has been directing films.

But recently where has the fanfare and the fire has gone from Mukta arts main director? Subhash started in 1976 with the film Kalicharan (1976), a film he made without any previous directorial experience. The film was rejected seven times before it came to NN Sippy who gave Ghai his shot.

Starred in the shelved film Punchhe Arts International's " Sanjh Ke Baad Savera"(1975). Starring Dharmendra (Special Appearance), Sameer Khan, Sulakshna Pandit, Subhash Ghai, Danny Denzongpa,Baldev Khosa, Music by Sonik - Omi, Produced and Directed by Sher Jung Singh.

Director Subhash Ghai made a cameo appearance in 'Aradhana' (1969), which he anyway does for all his films.