Rahul Rawail

Rahul Rawail is an Indian former film director and editor in Hindi cinema known for his films like Love Story, Betaab (1983), Arjun (1985), Dacait (1987), Yodha (1991), Anjaam (1994), Aur Pyaar Ho Gaya (1997), Arjun Pandit (1999) and 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).

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 Rahul Rawail is the 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). Rawail paid tribute to his father's 1968 film Sunghursh by titling one of his films as Jeevan Ek Sanghursh (1990). Both his sons, Bharat and Shiv, are assistant directors; Bharat, who also works as a celebrity photographer, had assisted Yash Chopra for the film Jab Tak Hai Jaan (2012). , while Shiv made his directorial debut with the Netflix miniseries The Railway Men (2023).

Rawail began his career as assistant to Raj Kapoor 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. The film was appreciated for Rawail's "breezy treatment" of the débutantes. 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. He received nominations for the Filmfare Award for Best Director for his films Betaab (1983) and Arjun (1985).

In 2010, Rawail started an acting school in collaboration with the Stella Adler Studio of Acting, New York City. In spite of famous Bollywood personalities like Sunny Deol enrolling their children to the academy, it was shut down after 2 years in 2012. 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. He has been appointed as Jury at the Moscow International Film Festival 2023.

Filmography + Films Year Title 1980 Gunahgaar 1981 Biwi-O-Biwi 1981 Love Story 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