---
name: "Vidhu Vinod Chopra"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/vidhu-vinod-chopra"
fi1m_id: "vidhu-vinod-chopra"
imdb_id: "nm0006765"
tmdb_id: 99710
wikidata_id: "Q1607373"
roles: ["Writer","Producer","Director"]
born: "5 September 1952"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 3
average_as: "writer"
average_over: 1
updated: "2026-09-17T16:03:54.820774+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."
---

# Vidhu Vinod Chopra

## Identity

Vidhu Vinod Chopra

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/vidhu-vinod-chopra
- **Type:** Person
- **Fi1m ID:** vidhu-vinod-chopra
- **IMDb ID:** nm0006765
- **TMDB ID:** 99710
- **Wikidata ID:** Q1607373
- **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vidhu_Vinod_Chopra, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1607373, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0006765/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/99710

Writer and producer. Born 5 September 1952 in Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, India.

## Details

- **Work:** Writer, Producer, Director
- **Born:** 5 September 1952, Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, India
- **Active:** 2009–present
- **Also known as:** विधु विनोद चोपड़ा
- **Titles on Fi1m:** 3: 1 directing, 1 writing, 1 producing
- **Frequently works with:** [Aamir Khan](https://film.one/person/aamir-khan.md), [Abhijat Joshi](https://film.one/person/abhijat-joshi.md), [Boman Irani](https://film.one/person/boman-irani.md), [Rajkumar Hirani](https://film.one/person/rajkumar-hirani.md)
- **Fi1m score by decade:** 2000s 78 (1), 2010s 78 (1), 2020s 75 (1)
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vidhu_Vinod_Chopra, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1607373, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0006765/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/99710

## Streaming the US now

- **Netflix:** [*PK*](https://film.one/film/pk.md) (78), [*12th Fail*](https://film.one/film/12th-fail.md) (75)

For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country.

## Fi1m on Vidhu Vinod Chopra

> Vidhu Vinod Chopra takes ordinary ambitions seriously, writing stories in which studying and finding work deserve our attention. We find his optimism moving, though his scripts tend to keep teaching after the point has been made.

In *12th Fail* (2023), preparing for the civil service examinations is treated as an undertaking worth a film, rather than something to get through before the story starts. Chopra gives Manoj’s studying weight because a job could change his life. We were moved by Vikrant Massey’s performance, which makes that hope matter without needing the repeated assurances that hard work is good for us. This is a writer worth spending an evening with, provided we can tolerate being told a little too often what to think.

He wrote and directed the crime drama *Parinda* (1989) before shifting towards producing and co-writing in the early 2000s. A story credit on *Munna Bhai MBBS* (2003) marked his first major collaboration with Rajkumar Hirani. On *3 Idiots* (2009), he shares screenplay duties with Hirani and Abhijat Joshi, finding warmth and humour in friendship with help from Aamir Khan. The slow start is a substantial drawback. Hirani also edits, and the early jumps in time interrupt our attempts to get to know the characters.

Writing and directing *12th Fail*, Chopra gives Manoj’s pursuit the attention it deserves, but struggles to leave its meaning alone. He and Jaskunwar Kohli adapt Anurag Pathak’s novel and share the editing credit, yet leave too many reminders about persistence and the wrongness of cheating. Cinematographer Rangarajan Rambadran gives Massey room to register Manoj’s effort, making the film’s encouragement easier to accept. Shantanu Moitra’s music is less helpful when it presses hope upon scenes in which the acting has already supplied it. A quieter score and a shorter cut would have let us attend to Massey without quite so much prompting.

The harder question in *12th Fail* is what happens to people who work just as diligently and still do not get a chance. Chopra’s confidence in perseverance leaves too little room for them, and that limits how much we accept his account of success. Even so, treating an ordinary person’s ambition with this much care is worth something. For an evening when some encouragement would be welcome, we would choose *12th Fail* and forgive a few of the lectures.

## Biography

Vidhu Vinod Chopra is an Indian film director, screenwriter, producer and editor. He trained at the Film and Television Institute of India in Pune. His early short films include *Murder at Monkey Hill* (1976), which won a National Film Award, and the documentary *An Encounter with Faces* (1978), nominated for an Academy Award.

Chopra founded Vinod Chopra Films. He is known for directing *Parinda* (1989), *1942: A Love Story* (1994), *Mission Kashmir* (2000), *Eklavya: The Royal Guard* (2007), *Shikara* (2020) and *12th Fail* (2023). He has produced the *Munna Bhai* series, *3 Idiots* (2009), *PK* (2014) and *Sanju* (2018). He also wrote the screenplay for *3 Idiots* and served as writer, producer, director and editor on *12th Fail*.

*Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com, vinodchoprafilms.com.*

## On Fi1m (3)

### Directed (1)

- *12th Fail* (2023), Fi1m 75, as Pritam Pandey's Father — [page](https://film.one/film/12th-fail.md)

### Wrote (1) — the average rests on these

- *3 Idiots* (2009), Fi1m 78, Producer, Screenplay — [page](https://film.one/film/3-idiots.md)

### Produced (1)

- *PK* (2014), Fi1m 78, Producer — [page](https://film.one/film/pk.md)

## Complete filmography (29)

Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page.

- *Zero Se Restart* (2024), Producer
- *12th Fail* (2023), as Pritam Pandey's Father · Writer, Director, Producer, Editor — Fi1m 75, [page](https://film.one/film/12th-fail.md)
- *Shikara* (2020), Producer, Editor, Screenplay, Director
- *Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga* (2019), Producer
- *Sanju* (2018), Producer
- *3 Idiotas* (2017), Screenstory
- *Wazir* (2016), Story, Producer, Editor
- *Broken Horses* (2015), Writer, Director, Producer
- *PK* (2014), Producer — Fi1m 78, [page](https://film.one/film/pk.md)
- *Ferrari Ki Sawaari* (2012), Writer, Producer
- *Nanban* (2012), Original Story
- *3 Idiots* (2009), Producer, Screenplay — Fi1m 78, [page](https://film.one/film/3-idiots.md)
- *Eklavya: The Royal Guard* (2007), Director, Screenplay
- *Lage Raho Munna Bhai* (2006), Producer, Screenplay
- *Parineeta* (2005), Screenplay
- *Shankar Dada M.B.B.S.* (2004), Original Film Writer
- *Vasool Raja MBBS* (2004), Original Story
- *Munna Bhai M.B.B.S.* (2003), Producer, Story
- *Mission Kashmir* (2000), Director, Producer, Story
- *Kareeb* (1998), Director, Screenplay, Producer
- *1942: A Love Story* (1994), Director, Writer, Producer
- *Parinda* (1989), as Corpse · Director, Story, Producer
- *Khamosh* (1986), Producer, Writer, Director
- *Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro* (1983), as Dushasana, Production Controller
- *Death Penalty* (1981), Writer, Director, Producer
- *An Encounter with Faces* (1978), Director
- *Murder at Monkey Hill* (1976), Director of Photography, Screenplay, Director, Story
- *Munna Bhai 3*, Writer
- *4 Idiots - 2028 TBC*, Producer

## Gallery

- ![Vidhu Vinod Chopra](https://film.one/media/person/102371/gallery-8d52519708c7.jpg) Vidhu Vinod Chopra — Bollywood Hungama, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ae/Vidhu_Vinod_Chopra_March_2015.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![Vidhu Vinod Chopra and Prof Rachel Dwyer at SOAS (2015)](https://film.one/media/person/102371/gallery-c694b22fa59a.png) Vidhu Vinod Chopra and Prof Rachel Dwyer at SOAS (2015) — SOAS Uni of London, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0b/Prof_Rachel_Dwyer_at_SOAS_London_%28cropped%29.png?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![Vidhu Vinod Chopra and Prof Rachel Dwyer at SOAS (2015)](https://film.one/media/person/102371/gallery-772311bedaff.png) Vidhu Vinod Chopra and Prof Rachel Dwyer at SOAS (2015) — SOAS Uni of London, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6e/Vidhu_Vinod_and_Prof_Rachel_Dwyer_at_SOAS_London.png?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)

## Awards

### Other awards — 4 won

- Filmfare Award for Best Screenplay 2010: Filmfare Award for Best Screenplay (won), for *3 Idiots*
- Filmfare Award for Best Story 2007: Filmfare Award for Best Story (won), for *Lage Raho Munna Bhai*
- Filmfare Award for Best Screenplay 2004: Filmfare Award for Best Screenplay (won), for *Munna Bhai M.B.B.S.*
- Filmfare Award for Best Director 1990: Filmfare Award for Best Director (won), for *Parinda*

*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/vidhu-vinod-chopra