Tanuja Chandra

Director

Biography

Tanuja Chandra (Hindi: तनुजा चंद्रा) is an Indian film director and writer. She is known for frequently directing woman-oriented films where the heroines are the main protagonists of her films. Chandra began her career in 1995 and made her directorial debut with the TV series Zameen Aasmaan, starring Tanvi Azmi. In 1996, she directed another television serial along with Shabnam Sukhdev, called Mumkin. In 1997, she wrote the screenplay for Yash Chopra's Dil To Pagal Hai, which was a commercial success. She went on to collaborate often with Mahesh Bhatt and wrote the screenplay for his critically acclaimed picture, Zakhm (1998). She also made her cinematic directional debut with his Dushman in the same year. The movie, starring Kajol in the lead role, received critical praise and performed moderately well at the box office. Her next film, Sangharsh (1999), was also produced by Mahesh Bhatt and starred Akshay Kumar and Preity Zinta in pivotal roles. The movie failed at the box office. Since then, Chandra has directed several films, many of which went unnoticed. Yet films like Sur (2002) and Film Star (2005), which were directed and written by Chandra, won favourable reviews from critics and received praise for her work as a director and writer. Recent films were Zindaggi Rocks (2006), starring Sushmita Sen. Chandra also wrote the story and the screenplay for the film. Her most recent film was Hope and a Little Sugar (2008), was shot entirely in English in the US. She is the sister of famous writer Vikram Chandra.