Career
He started his career in Hindi cinema as an actor with small roles in six films, like Taqdeer (1967) and Aradhana (1971). He was the male lead in the 1970s Umang, which did not do well at the box office, and Gumraah (1976) with Reena Roy and Danny. His directorial debut was the film Kalicharan (1976) which he obtained through a recommendation by Shatrughan Sinha. Kalicharan was one of the biggest hits of its time. As of 2005, he had written and directed 15 movies out of which 13 were highly successful. In 1982, he started Mukta Arts Private Limited which, in 2000, became a public company, with Subhash Ghai as its chairman and managing director.
His most notable films in the 1980s were Karz (1980), Vidhaata (1982), Hero (1983), Karma (1986) and Ram Lakhan (1989). He went on to win a Filmfare Best Director Award for Saudagar (1991) which pitted legendary actors Dilip Kumar and Raaj Kumar against each other. His 1993 release Khalnayak which was known for its controversies for its use of the popular song "Choli Ke Peeche Kya Hai" and its star Sanjay Dutt's breakthrough performance.
Two of his films in the late 1990s, Pardes (1997) (Foreign) and Taal (1999) (The Beat) were released internationally and featured in the top 20 movies in the U.S. box office charts for several weeks. His following films, Yaadein (2001) and Kisna (2005) were box office and critical failures.
He then took a break from directing and turned producer having success with box office hits such as Aitraaz (2004), 36 China Town (2006) and Apna Sapna Money Money (2006). As a producer, most of his films were average except for Iqbal (2005) which was written by Vipul K Rawal.
In 2006, he set up his own state-of-the-art film institute Whistling Woods International in Mumbai. The institute trains students in filmmaking: production, direction, cinematography, acting, animation, etc. Like Alfred Hitchcock he is known to give brief cameos in his directorial ventures.
After a three-year hiatus from directing he returned in 2008 with Black and White released on 7 March 2008 and, later Yuvvraaj also released in 2008, which was a flop at box office. Incidentally the song "Jai Ho" was to be part of this film, but Ghai felt it was unsuitable for the actor Zayed Khan to perform onscreen; later it was used in Slumdog Millionaire. After his Oscar win, A. R. Rahman revealed in an interview that it was Ghai who had asked him to use the words "Jai Ho" in a song.
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