Ritesh Shah

Wikipedia

Ritesh Shah
Born
Alma materHindu College (1993-1996), Jamia Millia Islamia
OccupationScreenwriter
Years active1997
AwardsZee Cine Award for Dialogue for Pink in 2017

Ritesh Shah is an Indian screenwriter who works in Hindi films. He has written the screenplay and dialogues for films like Kahaani (2012),[1] Pink (2016),[2] Airlift (2017) and Raid (2018). He won the Filmfare award, Star Screen Award and Zee Cine Award in the Best Dialogue category for Pink.[3][4]

Early life and education

Shah was born in Anantnag, in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir, into a Kashmiri family. His family was forced to migrate to Delhi during their exodus in the summer of 1990.[5] He did his bachelor's degree in English Literature from Hindu College (1993–1996) and has done his Masters in Mass Communications from MCRC, Jamia Milia Islamia. He began his career as a playwright with Act One Art Group, New Delhi. His works include the fringe award winner Othello - A play in black and white. Ritesh switched to television in 1999. His television writing credits include Josh, Kashmeer, Krishna Arjun and the award-winning series Kagaar.

Career

Ritesh started his career as a playwright in Delhi. He adopted Sławomir Mrożek's political black comedy which pulled the attention of the Indian film industry. One of the actors in the play suggested him to shift the base to Mumbai where Ritesh started writing from the TV serial Kagaar. His first film as a writer was Sujoy Ghosh's Home Delivery. Anurag Kashyap recommended him to Vipul Shah for writing the dialogues of 2007 film Namastey London. He has also adopted 2013 film B.A. Pass from a short story "The Railway Aunty" written by Mohan Sikka. Initially he was planning to turn three stories into a film from a short story collection titled Delhi Noir. Then he wrote a screenplay of 45 pages based on "The Railway Aunty" and presented it to the director Ajay Bahl who liked the script and went ahead making it a film.[6] He has also done a cameo role in Pink.[7][8]

Awards and nominations

Year Award Category Outcome Work
2017 Filmfare Awards Best Dialogue Won Pink
2014 Best Screenplay (Shared with Nikkhil Advani, Suresh Nair, Niranjan Iyengar) Nominated D-Day
2017 Screen Awards Best Dialogue Won Pink
2014 Zee Cine Awards Best Screenplay (Shared with Nikkhil Advani, Suresh Nair, Niranjan Iyengar) Nominated D-Day
2017 IIFA Awards Best Screenplay Won Pink
Best Dialogue Won

Filmography

Year TitleStoryScreenplayDialogue
2005 Home DeliveryYes
2007 Namastey LondonYes
Summer 2007Yes
2009 AladinYesYes
2010 Action ReplayyYes
2011 ForceYesYesYes
2012 KahaaniYes
2013 B.A. PassYesYesYes
Commando: A One Man ArmyYesYesYes
D-DayYesYesYes
2014 CityLightsYesYesYes
Lai BhaariYes
2016 AirliftYesYes
Rocky HandsomeYesYesYes
Te3nYes
MadaariYesYes
PinkYesYesYes
Kahaani 2: Durga Rani SinghYes
2017 Commando 2: The Black Money TrailYesYes
DaddyYes
ChefYesYesYes
AnukulYes
2018 RaidYesYesYes
Namaste EnglandYes
2019 JungleeYes
Arjun PatialaYesYesYes
Batla HouseYesYesYes
2021 The Big Bull[9]Yes
Sardar UdhamYesYes
2022 DhaakadYes
2023 FaraazYes
LostYes
Kadak SinghYesYesYes
2025 The DiplomatYesYesYes
Raid 2YesYesYes

References

  1. Iyer, Sanyukta (2 October 2017). "Tucks and treats with Ajay Devgn in Lucknow". Mumbai Mirror. Retrieved 16 September 2023.
  2. Maitra, Adila (1 October 2017). "#NoMeansNo: Now, a book on Pink, the movie that changed lives". India Today. Retrieved 16 September 2023.
  3. "62nd Filmfare Awards 2017: Complete winners' list". The Times of India. 29 January 2017. Retrieved 16 September 2023.
  4. "Star Screen Awards 2016 winners list: Pink wins big, Big B-Alia get best actor and actress award". India Today. 5 December 2016. Retrieved 16 September 2023.
  5. "Writing is a lonely, thankless job: Ritesh Shah". The Tribune India. 3 June 2018. Retrieved 16 September 2023.
  6. Ghosh, Devarsi (25 March 2018). "Ritesh Shah on the success of 'Raid' and writing for Bollywood: 'Ghosts don't scare me, people do'". Scroll. Retrieved 16 September 2023.
  7. Bhanot, Saurav (27 September 2016). "Meet Ritesh Shah, The Man Behind The Powerful Dialogues Of Pink". ScoopWhoop. Retrieved 16 September 2023.
  8. Saxena, Deep (3 October 2017). "Pink 'air-lifted' this Kahaani writer's career". Hindustan Times. Retrieved 16 September 2023.
  9. "Ajay Devgn announces film on Ramsay family: A fascinating journey of hardships". India Today. IANS. 7 November 2019. Retrieved 27 February 2020.