Amit Sharma (Film Director)

Some Lesser Known Facts About Amit Sharma

• Amit Ravindernath Sharma is an Indian film director and ad filmmaker.

• He wanted to become an actor since his school days and used to participate in almost every plays of his school.

• He was introduced to the director Pradeep Sarkar through one of his mother’s friend. In an interview, he shared this incident, he said,

I managed to connect with Pradeep Sarkar, who was also making freelance films. After ten days, I get a call saying come to this studio and if you have a girlfriend, bring her along too. I never had a girlfriend, so I reached there and on the way outside the studio, there were two girls passing by and I asked them, ‘Do you want to act?’ And they both were like ya ya. I said, ‘Come with me.’ And I took both of them inside.”

• He got an offer to work in the TV commercial of Limca, as a junior artist. Later, Pradeep Sarkar cast him as a lead model in an ad film, which was shot in Manali. In an interview, he shared this story, he said

It took me 18 hours to reach Manali, but my shoot got over in just 2 hours. It was October 9, my mother’s birthday, and I had faced the camera for the first time. I didn’t want to go back and told dada, ‘I want to stay back and work with you.’ He allowed me to stay back and while in school, I remained in touch with him after which, I joined him.”

• He worked with Pradeep Sarkar for almost six years. He shifted from Delhi to Mumbai along with Pradeep Sarkar in 2001.

• In 2003, Amit decided to start his own company. In the same year, he founded ‘Chrome Pictures’ along with his girlfriend (now wife) Aleya Sen Sharma and childhood friend Hemant Bhandari.

  

• He has directed more than 1500 ad films, including Amazon, P&G, Visa Debit Card, Lifebuoy, Cadbury, Honda, HUL, Nestle, Sony, Samsung, and Tata Sky.

  

• In 2011, he directed an advertisement, ‘The Silent National Anthem,’ in which deaf and mute kids enacted ‘Jana Gana Mana’ through sign language. He received an award at the ‘Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity’ for this advertisement.

• His directorial ad for ‘Lifebuoy’ in 2013 received a gold medal at the ‘Spikes Asia Awards.’

• In 2013, he received the title of ‘contemporary greatest hits of Indian advertising’ by The Economic Times for his advertisement, ‘Google Reunion,’ based on the Partition of India.

  

• After directing Bollywood films- Tevar (2015) and Badhaai Ho (2018), he came with his third film Maidaan (2020), which is a sport biographical film.

  

• He considers Pradeep Sarkar and Shoojit Sircar as his gurus. In an interview, he said,

I had learnt direction from Pradeep da and production from Shoojit sir and we started making ad films. Pradeep da bahut kamaal ke aadmi hain. When he made Parineeta in 2004, he called me to assist him. But I was getting married to Aleya at that time. I called her and told her that dada was asking me to push my wedding and she was okay. I then called my mother who said, ‘Are you mad? There is no date for another year.’ I decided to get married to Aleya instead of working on Parineeta.”

• He shared the story of a mishappening in his family in an interview, he said,

In 2008, my parents and both the kids of my sister were to go for a wedding from Delhi to Jind in Haryana for a family wedding. My father’s driver had gone for a holiday. I was shooting in South Africa, so I called my father and insisted on sending them in a hired car. They left Delhi at 8.30 am and an hour later, the driver slept off and they met with an accident that took my mother away from me. I miss her.”

• After his mother’s death, Amit and his sister convinced their father to remarry. In an interview, he shared this story, he said,

My sister and I, without his knowledge, registered him on a marriage website to find a match for him. It took us four years to convince him, but we finally did and got him remarried. I told him, ‘Papa, why are you thinking about what people will think? They are not going to look after you.’ He said, ‘You used to love your mother the most and still you are asking me to remarry?’ I reminded him how one day it was my mother who had jokingly told him, ‘If something happens to me, you should get married.’ I have now bought him a house and he lives there.”

• In an interview, Amit said that his mother always supported him to join the film industry. He further said,

My mother worked for the engineering department of Doordarshan and unlike my father, who was a complete film buff, she had no interest in films so much so that while she would go with him every Friday to see the latest film, by interval, she would be fast asleep in the hall. But ironically, I came into this industry because of my mother. So once when I came back home from school, my mother called me to ask, ‘Modelling karega? Acting karega?’ She would read every word in the newspapers and she had seen an ad asking for models for serials.”

• In an interview, he revealed that the 2018 film ‘Badhaai Ho’ was inspired by his real-life. He said,

My grandmother and great-grandmother were pregnant at the same time. So what you see in the film has been a part of my family story too.”

• He received an appreciation letter for his film ‘Badhaai Ho’ (2018) from the legendary actor, Amitabh Bachchan.

  

• He has received many awards for the film ‘Badhaai Ho,’ including the 66th National Film Awards in 2019.