Rakesh Ranjan Kumar

Rakesh was born in village of Kumraul in Bihar on 15th January 1972. He is a post graduate from Delhi University in the field of Hindi literature. He’s presently 45 years old and holds an occupation both as a writer as well as a director in the Bollywood industry. He started his career as a writer,working with some of the greatest film makers such as Imtiaz Ali Imtiaz Ali, is a well-known multi talented Indian >> Read More... , Anurag Kashyab and Abhinav Kashyab along with the famous writer Late Manohar Shyam Joshi. He also participated in different and various types of stage plays as a writer, an actor and as a director. Some of the productions he worked on include famous classic European play ‘Oedipus’ written by Sophocles, ‘Punch Light’, ‘Sakharam binder’, ‘Jaati hi poocho’, ‘Sadhu ki Holi’, ‘West side story’ and another classic Greek play ‘Antigone’ by Sophocles. Along with all the above mentioned, He also happened to produce as well as direct, television serials like "Zameer" for DD1 in partnership with Subhash Ghai’s Mukta Arts. Until now, his most known work happens to be his debut directed film ‘Dear Friend Hitler’ in two versions.

Not being limited to any country, the film created a huge buzz and news all over the world for its theme and production. It was premiered at the 2011 Cannes Film festival with its promotions being held at the prestigious 61st Berlin International Film festival. The film was later realeased in India with the title changed as ‘Gandhi to Hitler being the Indian version of the movie. The movie stars Avijit Dutt, Neha Dhupia and Raghbubir Yadav as the main leads playing the roles of Mahatma Gandhi, Eva Braun and Adolf Hitler respectively. The movie showcases the tense atmosphere during World War II. The main theme revolves around letters written to Adolf Hitler by Mahatma Gandhi. Along with this central theme of peace verses mass killing, the film also showcases the complex relationship between Hitler and his long time lover Eva Braun, whom he married in his final days before they both committed suicide together. The main purpose of the movie was to highlight the difference in the ideologies of the two leaders.

To showcase the superiority of peace over war, of justice over injustice. The film received mixed reviews from the critics and the public both alike. Rakesh believes that all the cast and crew gave their best in making the film. He further praises his actors by stating that they did what they were asked to do, were supportive and no-one threw any tantrums. The actors also praise Rakesh stating he made the cast comfortable and was extremely supportive. ‘The Guardian’, a famous British newspaper declared the movie to be misguided but the filmmakers claimed that the film does not glorify Hitler, but rather juxtaposes him against Gandhi's ideology of peace. In India as well, the film met with negative reviews. The Times of India gave the film 2/5 stars. NDTV criticised the producers for using Indian actors ‘for enacting all non-Indian characters, using India itself as a stand-in to Europe.’ Koimoi, a Bollywood entertainment website gave the film 0.5/5 stars.

Although it praised Yadav's performance as Hitler, it happened to criticise the film's other aspects such as the script, the direction, the values, soundtrack, and the performance by other actors. At present, Rakesh is currently occupied with his new movie titled as ‘Marksheet’. The film aims at opening the real stories behind the rackets surrounding the education system.The film shall be scripted by Monazir Alam and would star Imran Zahid  Imran Zahid is an Indian theatre and film actor, >> Read More... in the lead role. Rakesh states that his new project is inspired by Ranjit Don, who ran a racket of leaking question papers for nationwide exams including the Common Admission Test (CAT) long ago.The Ranjit Don case happened about 10 years ago, but such rackets are still active. All this system of forging mark sheets, leaking question papers, exploiting the reservation system in educational institutions is very much alive. So I thought of making a film on it, Rakesh further states in an inteview with The Times of India. In addition to the heavy issues the movie shall represent, there shall also be a sweet love story revolving around the main plot for which the producers and Rakesh alike are searching for a ‘fresh, new’ face to act along with Imran.