Best Bollywood Directors Of All Time

For a film to be hit, the role of director's is a much vital one. There are many directors in Bollywood who not only make content based cinema but also try to think out of the box. Not following the typical stereotypes of Bollywood, here is a list of path breaking directors who, with their vision and sense of reality, changed the face of Bollywood. These directors thought way ahead of their time and established themselves as one of the promising directors who could take Bollywood to another level. Here is a list of best Bollywood directors of all time :

Satyajit Ray

Satyajit Ray, the first Indian to win an Academy Award. The director who thought way ahead of his time. Making a name in the Hindi film industry he has influenced many directors to achieve something in cinema. His films taught us a way and were greatly influenced by the life of simple people. He did not believe in High budget, family drama films but actually started doing content based cinema. His top works are Panther Panchali, The Music Room, The Big City, Charulata and many more. He has won numerous awards including Padma Bhushan, Padma Vibhushan, Padma Shri, Dada Sahed Phalke Award, Bharat Ratna, Academy Award, British Academy Film Awards and many more. He surely is one of the legends of Indian Cinema and people still try to match his work.

Hrishikesh Mukherjee

Popularly known as Hrishi-da, he directed 42 films during his career spanning over four decades, and is named the pioneer of the 'middle cinema' of India. Renowned for his social films that reflected the changing middle-class ethos, Mukherjee "carved a middle path between the extravagance of mainstream cinema and the stark realism of art cinema". His popular films include Chupke Chupke, Golmaal, Anand, Namak Haram, Bawarchi and many more. He won many awards including Padma Vibhushan, National Film Awards, Filmfare awards, Dada Saheb Phalke Award and many more.

Rajkumar Hirani

The director who has done minimal films, but all of them are super hits. Rajkumar Hirani is one of those directors who has maintained his level right from the first film he did. His content of cinema as well as audience involvement is a thing to be learnt. His directorial debut movie Munna Bhai MBBS was a great hit commercially and also gained a lot of critical acclaim for him. He won Filmfare awards for the movie. Later he released he sequel of it Lage Raho Munna Bhai and was a hit too. Then the record breaking movie 3 Idiots came out which changed the phase of Bollywood. His other two films PK and Sanju were a great commercial hit and were critically acclaimed too. He has never disappointed his audience with his movies and neither the makers with its grossing. He surely is one of a masterclass director who has achieved critical acclaims and commercial success in all of his movies.

Anurag Kashyap 

He is my personal favorite director. He created a genre of his own. Or rather brought light to a genre which was rooted deep inside the Bollywood. His important contribution in the film Satya 1998 made his way as a writer in the industry. His first film as director was Paanch. His work was slowly getting appreciated when Black Friday got released. He then worked on many films but gained a lot of fame and name in the super hit two-part movie Gangs Of Wasseypur. His recent work Lust Stories reached Emmy's Awards but unfortunately bagged no awards. But he suely has surprised us with his great works which have so much to relate about. 

Zoya Akhtar

One of the mot visionary directors of this generation, she has had many films which were praised. Her notable works include Luck By Chance, Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara, Dil Dhadakne Do, Gully Boy and many more. Her film Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara also popularly known as ZNMD was a smash hit. It gave major travel and friendship goals. People actually got to know what it like to travel. Her recent film Gully Boy was a master piece. It gained very good reviews and also did commercially pretty well. This film also was the official entry to Oscars from India. Although it didn't bag any award there, but was one of the best films made in India, which gave rise to the Underground Culture or Hiphop in India.

Anubhav Sinha 

He might not be in everyone's list of Best Bollywood Directors Of All Time but his recent form in the industry is making everyone to be up to him. He has directed various movies like Ra.One, Tum Bin, Tum Bin 2 etc. But the films which made him rise were the recent ones Mulk, Article 15 and Thappad. While all these films got very good reviews, they weren't commercially hit. His recent film Thappad was one of its kind and is very much talked about. The talks even got to an extent that this might even be contesting for the race of Oscar's official entry from India. Anubhav Sinha is surely a director to look out for and is definitely a best fit in my list of best Bollywood directors of all time.