Gentle. Soft spoken, Well read, Articulate. Producer, director and writer Vijay Bhatt, was one of the early pioneers of Indian cinema.

Moving to Bombay early in his life, Vijay Bhatt and his brother Shankarbhai produced the 1929 silent film ‘Delhi Ka Chhela’. For the next half century, he changed the course of Indian cinema by making some of its biggest hits including ‘Ram Rajya’ (1943), ‘Baiju Bawra’ (1952), ‘Goonj Uthi Shehnai’ (1959) and ‘Himalaya Ki God Mein’ (1965). He also founded the influential Film and Television Producers Guild of India.

Honoured by the late Prime Minister, Smt. Indira Gandhi, Vijay Bhatt received a gold medal in appreciation for his outstanding contribution to the growth and development of Indian cinema in 1978.

Vijay Bhatt remains the only Indian filmmaker whose film Ram Rajya was seen by Mahatma Gandhi. Ram Rajya premiered in America at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, on May 5, 1947, with subsequent screenings on May 6 and 7, 1947.

Vijay Bhatt visited the Soviet Union in 1954 as a member of the first Indian film delegation. He had taken with him his film, Baiju Bawra, which was highly appreciated in the country.

Bhatt’s contribution to the Indian film industry is immense. Not only did he make films with human values but also made careers of so many in the world of cinema. Some of the most popular being Naushad, Jayant, Meena Kumari, Jeevan, Bharat Bhushan, Rajendra Kumar and Manoj Kumar. 

After his passing, Bhatt was honoured with a retrospective of his films at the International Film Festival, Calcutta. Both filmmakers and artistes paid glowing tributes, and at the same time lamented the fact that he was never given the Dadasaheb Phalke Award, which he rightly deserved.

Explore the life and times of the legendary filmmaker, Vijay Bhatt