Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra - 1980 Batch

He was born in New Delhi, India. Starting his career as an ad film maker.

He established Flicks Motion Picture Company Private Limited in 1986. He has directed scores of television commercials for various Indian and international clients such as Coke, Pepsi, Toyota, American Express and BPL. He has also directed music videos such as Aby Baby starring Amitabh Bachchan. In June 2001, his company released its first full-length feature film titled Aks, starring Amitabh Bachchan.

Aks was moderately successful but was praised for the performances in the film. His next release did not come until 2006. The film titled Rang De Basanti starred Aamir Khan, Soha Ali Khan, and many more stars. The film was a huge hit in India and did very well overseas. He received much acclaim for the film.

Mehra's next film will be a comedy entitled Delhi 6 starring Abhishek Bachchan, Sonam Kapoor, Om Puri, Waheeda Rehman, and Atul Kulkarni among many other actors.

Mehra is also working on another film titled Bhairavi about a family in the world of classical music where he wants to cast Amitabh Bachchan, Jaya Bachchan, and Abhishek Bachchan in principles

Source- Wikipedia
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On Delhi, I can go on and on. I will begin with my childhood. I went to Blue Bell School, a small school in Jor Bagh. Small means the school would upgrade every time the students crossed a class: as we were promoted to Class V, the school added Class V and so on. This went on till Class VIII. Then I switched to Bal Bharti Air Force, now Air Force Bal Bharti.

As kids, we weren’t expected to score a 90 per cent and were encouraged to excel in sports and extracurricular activities. Blue Bells stressed on dramatics. Bal Bharti, on the other hand, brought me nearer to sports and swimming. Eventually, I became captain of the Delhi Swimming Team.

The next step was college. I went to Sri Ram College of Commerce but most of my time was spent in other colleges of Delhi University. The faculty was amazing.

I come from a middleclass family and Delhi never discriminated against any class.

I was an outdoor person. Naturally, I had a lovely bunch of friends, all outdoors people, like me. Today, we’d be in Himachal, and the next day in Leh or Ladakh. When in Jaipur, we watched films at Raj Mandir, which screened the big releases of the time.

I never liked hanging out at market places. Lodhi Garden or a Tughlakabad Fort was more to my liking. That way Delhi offers you a lot. It’s very close to the Himalayan foothills. So, you could always go to ISBT and ride a Rs 17 bus ticket to Manali. I frequently went to Hrishikesh, for rafting.

In India, everyone’s a movie buff. So were we. We enjoyed our movies: Chanakya being our choice of theatre, especially the morning show, where the ticket cost 65p. One was allowed to sit wherever. More often than not, I found myself there.

My mom and dad belong to Old Delhi. And I owe my passion for food to Purani Dilli. It’s a place where you have something to eat every ten steps. There was a Karims, there used to be one Haldiram, then Ghantewala and the faluda shop at Fatehpuri Chowk.

Growing up in Delhi was never unidimensional. There was so much to do. So much was happening. There were the Asian Games. The Talkatora Stadium came up and the National Stadium got a face-lift. I almost spend my youth there, from 6 am to 6 pm.

Our parents kind of let us be and do what we wanted to. At times, they didn’t even know what we were doing. The level of trust was so much. I guess, when you gain trust, there is a certain responsibility.

Delhi’s girls always amused me. They kind of boycotted me. They lived a life where they wanted to break free. At the same time they were grounded. They didn’t have much of the opportunity to venture out especially after sunset. There was contradiction between what they had and what they wanted to do.

Delhi is a politically vibrant place. Everyone there runs the country. I grew up in that environment.

I often go to Delhi. My family is still there. I was in Delhi two months ago, during Dussehra hanging out at the Ramlila. I saw Ravan being burnt. One has travelled to the biggest shows possible, including the Hollywood Ball, Radio City or the Superbowl.

To be there in Ramila grounds and see the faces of people in the crowd is fascinating. The dhool-mitti and the crowd is the character of that place, which is so unique. It intrigues me every time. On my laptop I have almost 5,000 photographs.

The greatest thing about Delhi is its history. The other best thing about it is its people. Deep down, they are sweet and good. Though on the surface, they are kind of striving and competing with one another.

Source- Hindustan Times