Name one versatile DIRECTOR in BW

I cant think of one myself...

Because:

Kabir Khan- obsessed with wars/agents/India-Pakistan
Raju Hirani- obsessed with political/social/religious satires
Imtiaz Ali- obsessed with self discoveries
Prakash Jha- obsessed with politics
Anurag Kashyap- obsessed with dark films and curses
Ram Gopal Verma- obsessed with underworld
Ashutosh Gowarikar- tried to be versatile with Whats Your Rashee but didnt succeed. Good at historicals/patriotic films
Karan Johar- obsessed with high drama and rich society lifestyles
SLB- Curtains, Ghagras, Havelis and melodramatic songs
JP dutta- another war obsessed filmmaker
Vishal Bhardwaj- Obsessed with Shakespeare, Ruskin Bond and general quirkiness/absurdities
Vikramaditya Motwane- makes high drama art films only
Shoojit Sarkar- Does better at slice of life films
Zoya Akhtar- realism and rich people angst films
Anand L Rai- Comedies with elements of high drama
Sriram Raghavan- Thrillers only
Vikram Bhatt- obsessed with erotic thrillers
S Barjatiya- OTT family dramas
Abbas-Mustan- Twist, twist twist...after every 5 minutes
Mohit Suri- Melodramatic love stories
R Omprakash Mehra- Mostly makes socio-political dramas with strong personal stories.
Farah Khan, Sajid Khan, Anees Bazmee etc- Comedy brigade



Now coming to ones who are slightly more versatile:

Anurag Basu- Started with stories of adultery, conceit and went on to make bittersweet movies like Barfi and JJ... However the underlying themes of these movies remained same: finding love/closure/both.
Mani Ratnam- Makes romantic films like Alaiypauthey, OKK, as well as highly dramatic pieces like Raavan, Iruvar etc... But he is not exactly a BW director... is he?


In both the above cases the directors can do no more than 2-3 genres of film each.
Which makes me conclude there is no truly versatile filmmaker in BW atleast who can make films ranging from slice of life romcoms to political thrillers to fantasies..


Can you think of a versatile director from BW? 😃

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Imtiaz Ali... so much versatility... I am unable to digest... 😆...

Originally posted by: advay_chandni

Hrishikesh Mukherjee but he is not alive anymore

Currently I guess SLB he had done great movies like Khamoshi too

Havent seen much of Hrishikesh Mukherjee's work so cant comment on that.

But Khamoshi also had SLB style dramatic moments and great song sequences...
And this is one film directed a long time ago. Since then SLB's prevailing obsession has been large havelis and curtains.

Originally posted by: IF.91

RAJKUMAR SANTOSHI ... handsdown

Ghayal

Andaz apna apna

Damini

Just 3 films r enough to prove his mastery over diverse generations.

Havent seen Ghayal..

But seems like Rajkumar Santoshi's films can be divided into two genres:
Comedies like AAA and APKGK
Dramas with political/ social messages like Damini, Lajja, pukar

Originally posted by: Sri-R

Raj Mouli

He either makes period films or out and out masala entertainers

Eega was the only somewhat unique film.
But thats just one film.
I dont see Rajamouli compromising his cinematic sensibilities and ever making a subtle film.

Mani - likes political angle in every movie. I guess there are only 1 or 2 exception.

Every director has their strength and they need to play on that. Trying to be master of none is over rated.

To answer you question- There have been many...

Vijay Anand

Guide - Epic
Kaala Bazar - Social
Teesri Manzil - Mystery
Tere Ghar Ke Samne - Romance
Tere Mere Sapne - Social
Rajput - Masala
BlackMail - Thriller

Guru Dutt

Baazi - Noir
Nr & Mrs 55- Comedy
Pyaasa- Social
Kaagaz Ke Phool- Unofficial Biopic
Aar Paar - Thriller
Baaz - Action/Adventure

I think as of the current generation, Anurag Basu and Raju Hirani comes the closest. Gauri Shinde may be too but need to wait for more movies to see this. I consider Raju Hirani as though he focuses on same theme of societal malices, at least he brings about different concepts and characterisations. I disagree with SLB as of recently, I find that his movies only rotate around sensuality like Ram Leela and a certain extent Bajrao Mastani did. Remove sensuality from his films and there won't be much to his films. Bajrao Mastani differed only to an extent because of Kashi-Bai and PC's acting. Hopefully, he does something different with Padmavati.

The Ghost director AAMIR KHAN 😆

Shoojit Sircar (Yahaan, Vicky Donor, Madras Cafe and Piku) and Shimit Amin (Ab Tak Chhappan, Chak de India, Rocket Singh SOTY) are pretty versatile. Not surprisingly both of them are pure directors rather than writer directors. From what I have seen writer-directors are more likely to make films on similar themes and eventually fizzle out (obviously there are some exceptions).

RGV during his peak (1989-2004) was also quite versatile. He made films like Shiva, Raat, Kshana Kshanam, Rangeela, Daud, Satya, Mast, Kaun, Jungle, Company, Bhoot and Naach in this phase. That's a pretty good range IMO. Really harsh to pigeonhole him as a "underworld" director.

Originally posted by: IF.91

RAJKUMAR SANTOSHI ... handsdown

Ghayal

Andaz apna apna

Damini

Just 3 films r enough to prove his mastery over diverse generations.

Great shout! He also directed Khakee which was the last truly great masala film in BW. Frauds like Rohit Shetty and Farah Khan should watch that film and feel embarrassed about what they peddle in the name of Masala cinema!