Happy Birthday Sooraj Barjatya!

 

It's time to call all your family members as we get together to wish this great director a very happy birthday! Reason? Today is the birthday of the director who has always written and directed those movies that we all love watching with our entire family! We're talking about none other than Sooraj Barjatya!

Little is known about Barjatya's personal life as he always kept it to himself. However, we can tell you that he was born in Mumbai and attended St. Mary's School followed by The Scindia School. He is married to Vineeta Barjatya and they have three children named Devaansh, Avnish and Eesha.

Barjatya began his career as a director at the young age of 24 when, encouraged by his paternal grandfather Tarachand Barjatya, he wrote and directed Maine Pyaar Kiya (1989), which launched several careers, including his, Salman Khan's, and Bhagyashree Dassani's. The movie was about two families and how their young ones fall in love even though the fathers are against it. The film became a cult classic with many youngsters wearing the "Friend" cap several years later.

Barjatya then went on to write and direct Hum Aapke Hain Kaun (1994), again with Salman Khan in the lead role. This movie went on to become an all-time blockbuster and, when adjusted for inflation, still ranks in one of the top ten movies of Bollywood. Barjatya won the Filmfare Award for Best Director and Filmfare Award for Best Screenplay for that movie. In fact, one song of the movie, "Didi Tera Devar Deewana", became so popular that Filmfare awarded Lata Mangeshkar a Filmfare Special Award just for that song. Even today that song is a hit and a must at every Indian wedding along with all the other wedding songs of the movie.

Riding high on the success of Hum Aapke Hain Kaun, Barjatya's next movie also starred Salman Khan, this time as part of a large extended family in Hum Saath-Saath Hain (1999), which also became a hit. Even the controversy surrounding some of the actors of the movie couldn't mar the movie's success and Barjatya officially became known as the "Family Director" as his movies were always the type you could sit and watch with your family.

Though Barjatya's next movie, Main Prem Ki Diwani Hoon (2003) did not do so well at the box office, he soon returned with another hit in the form of Vivah (2006) starring Shahid Kapoor and Amrita Rao. It was Barjatya's fifth movie and Shahid and Amrita's fourth movie together. The songs of the movie were and are still much appreciated by audiences. Also like his previous four films, the lead character's name was Prem. The film was nominated for more than 15 awards and it is also considered to be one of the top ten films of Bollywood, inflation adjusted.

Barjatya's last venture was Ek Vivaah Aisa Bhi (2009), but this time he was only the writer of the movie. The film did not do well as it was considered to be a remake of a cult movie Tapasya (1976) starring Rakhee and was also considered to be a spin-off of Vivah. Barjatya will soon be returning in 2015 with a new movie tentatively named Bade Bhaiya and tentatively starring Salman Khan.

On the birthday of this great director, we have put together a playlist of some of his top songs:

1. "Dil Deewana" - Maine Pyar Kiya
2. "Kabootar Ja Ja Ja" - Maine Pyar Kiya
3. "Didi Tera Devar Deewana" - Hum Aapke Hain Kaun
4. "Pehla Pehla Pyar" - Hum Aapke Hain Kaun
5. "Mhare Hiwda" - Hum Saath-Saath Hain
6. "Yeh To Sach Hai Ke Bhagwan" - Hum Saath-Saath Hain
7. "Bani Bani Prem Diwani Bani" - Main Prem Ki Diwani Hoon
8. "Kasam Ki Kasam" - Main Prem Ki Diwani Hoon
9. "Do Anjaane Ajnabi" - Vivah
10. "Mujhe Haq Hai" - Vivah
11. "Mujhme Zinda Hai Woh" - Ek Vivaah Aisa Bhi
12. "Dekhe Akele Humne Solah Mele" - Ek Vivaah Aisa Bhi

 

 

 

Writer: Shreya S.
Editors: Siona M. and Gunia M.
Graphics: Shikha.