--- name: "Nitesh Tiwari" canonical: "https://film.one/person/nitesh-tiwari" fi1m_id: "nitesh-tiwari" imdb_id: "nm4318159" tmdb_id: 1042010 wikidata_id: "Q16908467" roles: ["Director","Writer"] born: "22 May 1973" reviewed_on_fi1m: 1 average_as: "director" average_over: 1 updated: "2026-10-22T04:23:24.856971+00:00" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Nitesh Tiwari ## Identity Nitesh Tiwari - **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/nitesh-tiwari - **Type:** Person - **Fi1m ID:** nitesh-tiwari - **IMDb ID:** nm4318159 - **TMDB ID:** 1042010 - **Wikidata ID:** Q16908467 - **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nitesh_Tiwari, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q16908467, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm4318159/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/1042010 Director and writer. Born 22 May 1973 in Itarsi, Madhya Pradesh, India. ## Details - **Work:** Director, Writer - **Born:** 22 May 1973, Itarsi, Madhya Pradesh, India - **Active:** 2016–present - **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nitesh_Tiwari, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q16908467, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm4318159/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/1042010 ## Coming up - *Ramayana* (2026-11-05), Director — [page](https://film.one/film/ramayana.md) - *Ramayana: Part Two* (2027-11-05), Director ## Streaming the US now - **Netflix:** [*Dangal*](https://film.one/film/dangal.md) (78) For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country. ## Fi1m on Nitesh Tiwari > Nitesh Tiwari is good at making family ambition matter, and better still when physical effort does the explaining. We rate the clear, involving storytelling of *Dangal*, though his fondness for familiar encouragement can make a long film feel longer. In *Dangal* (2016), the women’s exertion gives the wrestling its excitement: each small advantage looks hard to hold. Nitesh Tiwari makes the contests easy to follow without assuming we know the sport. He understands how a family’s hopes can make a sporting result matter. The trouble comes when he keeps supplying encouragement after their effort has already persuaded us. He began by co-directing and co-writing *Chillar Party* (2011), then made his solo directorial debut with *Bhoothnath Returns* (2014). *Dangal* marked his breakthrough. *Chhichhore* (2019) drew on engineering-hostel life for a coming-of-age story. He returns to families and to people struggling with ambition or failure, usually leaving room for humour. Satyajit Pande’s cinematography and Ballu Saluja’s editing are crucial to *Dangal*’s success. They keep the contests intelligible, so the performers’ physical skill can carry the excitement. We tensed up watching the women wrestle because every small advantage looked so hard to keep. Tiwari is right to let the physical difficulty occupy our attention for these stretches. He is less disciplined about the film around them. At 161 minutes, *Dangal* spends too long on training routines and repeated encouragement. The early curiosity about how the family works diminishes as the sports-film pattern takes over. Saluja gives the bouts a shape that the longer story lacks, and Tiwari does not find enough fresh detail to justify the time he takes. There is also a limit to his examination of the father. Aamir Khan makes Mahavir interesting, but Tiwari gives the man’s determination so much weight that his daughters’ opportunities seem to depend on his authority. The actresses have to establish the sisters as people worth following in their own right. We would have liked the film to question the father’s control as carefully as it follows his ambitions. Start with *Dangal*, particularly if a sports drama is your idea of a well-spent evening. ## Biography Nitesh Tiwari is an Indian film director and screenwriter. Born on 22 May 1973 in Itarsi, Madhya Pradesh, he graduated from the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay in 1996 with a degree in Metallurgy and Material Science. He worked as a creative director in advertising before moving into filmmaking. Tiwari co-directed his debut feature *Chillar Party* (2011), which won the National Film Award for Best Children's Film. He directed *Bhoothnath Returns* (2014) and achieved major success with *Dangal* (2016), which he also wrote. The biographical sports drama became one of the highest-grossing Indian films. His other directing credits include *Chhichhore* (2019). He is directing the two-part epic *Ramayana* (2026). Tiwari is married to filmmaker Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari. *Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com, thehindu.com.* ## On Fi1m (1) - *Dangal* (2016), Fi1m 78, Screenplay, Director — [page](https://film.one/film/dangal.md) ## Complete filmography (17) Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page. - *Ramayana: Part Two* (2027), Director - *Ramayana* (2026), Director, Screenplay, Dialogue — coming soon, [page](https://film.one/film/ramayana.md) - *Tumse Na Ho Payega* (2023), Producer, Screenplay, Story, Dialogue - *Bawaal* (2023), Writer, Director - *Tarla* (2023), Producer - *Taken For Granted* (2022), Story, Screenplay, Producer - *Break Point* (2021), series, Producer, Director, Creator - *Ankahi Kahaniya* (2021), Writer - *Chhichhore* (2019), Director, Producer, Screenplay - *Bareilly Ki Barfi* (2017), Screenplay - *Dangal* (2016), Director, Screenplay — Fi1m 78, [page](https://film.one/film/dangal.md) - *Amma Kanakku* (2016), Screenplay, Story - *Nil Battey Sannata* (2016), Dialogue, Story, Screenplay, Producer - *Kill Dil* (2014), Screenplay - *Bhoothnath Returns* (2014), Director, Screenplay - *Chillar Party* (2011), Director, Lyricist, Screenplay - *Narayana Murthy & Sudha Murthy Biopic*, Writer ## Gallery - ![Nitesh Tiwari](https://film.one/media/person/96490/gallery-75b42516b330.jpg) Nitesh Tiwari — Bollywood Hungama, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c9/Nitesh_Tiwari_at_the_%E2%80%98Khidkiyaan%E2%80%99_movie_festival_launch.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled) - ![Nitesh Tiwari](https://film.one/media/person/96490/gallery-bd477da3d3ab.jpg) Nitesh Tiwari — Image via TMDB ## Awards ### Other awards — 1 won - Filmfare Award for Best Director 2017: Filmfare Award for Best Director (won), for *Dangal* *From Wikidata, which records wins more completely than nominations.* --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/nitesh-tiwari