Ritesh Shah

Ritesh Shah is an Indian screenwriter who works in Hindi films. He has written the screenplay and dialogues for films like Kahaani, Pink (2016), Airlift (2017) and Raid (2018). He won the Filmfare award, Star Screen Award and Zee Cine Award in the Best Dialogue category for Pink.

Early life and education

Shah was born in Anantnag, in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir, into a Kashmiri family. His family was forced to migrate to Delhi during their exodus in the summer of 1990. He did his bachelor's degree in English Literature from Hindu College (1993–1996) and has done his Masters in Mass Communications from MCRC, Jamia Milia Islamia. He began his career as a playwright with Act One Art Group, New Delhi. His works include the fringe award winner Othello - A play in black and white. Ritesh switched to television in 1999. His television writing credits include Josh, Kashmeer, Krishna Arjun and the award-winning series Kagaar.

Career Ritesh started his career as a playwright in Delhi. He adopted Sławomir Mrożek's political black comedy which pulled the attention of the Indian film industry. One of the actors in the play suggested him to shift the base to Mumbai where Ritesh started writing from the TV serial Kagaar. His first film as a writer was Sujoy Ghosh's Home Delivery. Anurag Kashyap recommended him to Vipul Shah for writing the dialogues of 2007 film Namastey London. He has also adopted 2013 film B.A. Pass from a short story "The Railway Aunty" written by Mohan Sikka. Initially he was planning to turn three stories into a film from a short story collection titled Delhi Noir. Then he wrote a screenplay of 45 pages based on "The Railway Aunty" and presented it to the director Ajay Bahl who liked the script and went ahead making it a film. He has also done a cameo role in Pink.

Awards and nominations

Filmography Year Title Story Screenplay Dialogue 2005 Home Delivery 2007 Namastey London Summer 2007 2009 Aladin 2010 Action Replayy 2011 Force 2012 Kahaani 2013 B.A. Pass Commando: A One Man Army D-Day 2014 CityLights Lai Bhaari 2016 Airlift Rocky Handsome Te3n Madaari Pink Kahaani 2: Durga Rani Singh 2017 Commando 2: The Black Money Trail Daddy Chef Anukul 2018 Raid Namaste England 2019 Junglee Arjun Patiala Batla House 2021 The Big Bull Sardar Udham 2022 Dhaakad 2023 Faraaz Lost Kadak Singh 2025 The Diplomat Raid 2