Kunal Kohli is an Indian film director, producer and writer known for his works predominantly in Bollywood. He is best known as the director of Hum Tum and Fanaa. He also owns the production house Kunal Kohli Productions, and produced Thoda Pyaar Thoda Magic which he also directed.
Career
Kohli started out as a film critic in the late 1990s and hosted the showChalo Cinema on Zee TV. He also directed some music videos: Bally Sagoo's "Mera Laung Gawacha", Kamaal Khan's "Jaana", Bali Brahmbhatt's "Tere Bin Jeena Nahin", Shiamak Davar's "Jaane Kisne", Hema Sardesai's "Bole Humse Kuch Na Gori" and Rajshri Music's "Yeh Hai Prem", a song for Alisha Chinoy with Milind Soman. He directed about 24 music videos before moving to TV and films. He made his directorial debut with the television seriesTrikon. He has made four movies for Yash Raj Films, owned by the late Yash Chopra. His first film under their banner was Mujhse Dosti Karoge! which did not fare well at the box office. It starred Hrithik Roshan, Rani Mukerji and Kareena Kapoor. His second venture Hum Tum, was one of the biggest hits of 2004 and established him as a director. Hum Tum won five Filmfare awards including Best Director for Kohli. He won against his mentor Yash Chopra who was nominated for Veer-Zaara. He then directed Fanaa, starring Aamir Khan and Kajol, who made her comeback after a four-year break from the industry and earned herself a Filmfare Best Actress award. The film was released in May 2006. Fanaa became one of the biggest hits of 2006. This film was found to be controversial and was banned in the state of Gujarat due to protests against the lead actor Aamir Khan. Kohli wrote, directed and co-produced the Yash Raj film Thoda Pyaar Thoda Magic, starring Saif Ali Khan, Rani Mukerji, Amisha Patel and Rishi Kapoor. He then produced the romantic comedyBreak Ke Baad, which was directed by Danish Aslam and starred Imran Khan and Deepika Padukone in the lead roles. The film was released in the later half of 2010. One of his projects Phir Se... was stuck in controversies involving allegations of plagiarism, however, the Supreme court later on allowed the release of the film upon settlement between the parties, while making him pay Rs. 25 lakhs to Jyoti Kapoor, the plaintiff. It was released on Netflix on 15 January 2018. Kohli has a three film contract with Reliance Big Pictures involving financing, distribution and marketing. This contract is estimated to be worth Rs 1.50 billion.
Television
Kohli judged the popular reality dance TV showNach Baliyes second season for Star Plus in 2005. He also judged the children's reality show on Sony TV, Chota Packet Bada Dhamaka in 2005. In April 2014, it was reported that he would be the judge on NDTV's talent hunt show Ticket to Bollywood.
Personal life
Kohli is married to Ravina Kohli, who was the director of Koffee with Karan, and headed Yash Raj TV. They have a daughter, Radha who they adopted. His maternal aunt died of the coronavirus in May 2020.
