10 Directors debut in Rs 100 Crore Club

2019 had as many as 17 films in the Rs 100/200/300 crore clubs.

Even more remarkable is that 10 directors made their debut in this elite club, something unprecedented.

Joginder Tuteja lists the top 10.

 

Sandeep Reddy Venga
Kabir Singh
Box office collection: Rs 278.24 crore

He may have been panned by a section of the media and audiences for his approach to Kabir Singh, but he's laughing loudest to the bank.

The Telugu director made sure that his debut Bollywood film was a blockbuster and entered the Rs 200 Crore Club.

 

Aditya Dhar
Uri - The Surgical Strike
Box office collection: Rs 244.20 crore

With his very first film, Aditya hit the ball right out of the park.

Uri - The Surgical Strike was a well-made patriotic action drama and audiences and critics gave it a thumbs up.

There was no stopping the Vicky Kaushal-starrer after the first day itself, and it ended up going past the lifetime score of Ranveer Singh's Simmba.

 

Jagan Shakti
Mission Mangal
Box office collection: Rs 203 crore

Jagan, a long-time assistant of Director R Balki, was ambitious about his first film, Mission Mangal.

He made sure he got the grammar of the film correct, as he successfully amalgamated sci-fi with humour, politics and drama.

The rest was taken care of by Akshay Kumar, Vidya Balan, Taapsee Pannu, Nithya Menen, Sonakshi Sinha, Kriti Kulhari and Sharman Joshi.

 

Anurag Singh
Kesari
Box office collection: Rs 154.41 crore

Though he had made a Bollywood thriller Raqeeb more than a decade ago, Anurag moved to Punjabi cinema and delivered a couple of blockbusters there, the Jatt & Juliet series being the most notable of them.

He returned to mainstream Bollywood cinema with Akshay Kumar's Kesari and impressed everyone with his well-crafted period battle drama.

 

Raj Mehta
Good Newwz
Box office collection: Rs 167.50 crore+ (expected)

A long-time assistant in Dharma Productions, Raj got his break as director when Karan Johar and Akshay Kumar entrusted him to make Good Newwz.

The film has enjoyed a good weekend and continues to do steady business.

 

Sujeeth
Saaho
Box office collection: Rs 150 crore

For his ambitious film straight after the Baahubali series, Prabhas was looking for a director who had it in him to helm a big budget action extravaganza.

Sujeeth fit the bill. Though Saaho did not meet the mammoth expectations one had from it, it did well in the Hindi version.

 

Vikas Behl
Super 30
Box office collection: Rs 147.30 crore

It had seemed that Vikas would not get credit for his directorial work on Super 30.

Happy for him, he was given due credit for his work.

After making a hit with Queen, he saw better success with the Hrithik Roshan starrer.

 

Raaj Shaandilyaa
Dream Girl
Box office collection: Rs 142.26 crore

An acclaimed writer over the years, Raaj got his big break when Ekta Kapoor bankrolled Dream Girl with Ayushmann Khurranna.

The unique subject caught the fancy of cine-goers who couldn't get enough of the hilarious scenes and dialogues on display.

Result? A huge commercial success.

 

Zoya Akhtar
Gully Boy
Box office collection: Rs 140 crore

Zoya missed the Rs 100 crore club by a whisker with her film, Zindagi Naa Milegi Dobara.

After making Dil Dhadakne Do about rich folk, the director took the gritty route with Gully Boy.

What worked in her favour was a perfect cast in Ranveer Singh, Alia Bhatt and Siddhant Chaturvedi and the film rolled into the Rs 100 Crore Club.

 

Akiv Ali
De De Pyaar De
Box office collection: Rs 103.50 crore

Editor-turned-director Akiv got his chance to call the shots when Ajay Devgn backed him for De De Pyaar De.

With a unique subject in mind, Akiv mixed entertainment well.

Akiv made sure his years of experience behind the scenes resulted in a hit.