Rajat Arora

Early life and education

Born and brought up in Delhi, Rajat is a BCom(Hons) graduate from Delhi University. He is also an alumnus of Asian Academy of Film & Television.

In the late '90s, Rajat was 21 when he left his South Delhi family for Mumbai, raring to "struggle" and achieve his childhood dream. Within months he was introduced to Sridhar Raghavan – who was then writing CID and Aahat. Soon, Rajat who was started as the dialogue writer, began contributing towards the story and screenplay for Aahat and C.I.D.

Career

Rajat's first break in Bollywood was as a dialogue writer for Bluffmaster (2005). The film was written by Sridhar Raghavan and directed by Rohan Sippy. The dialogues of the movie were termed to be fantastic by veteran film critic Taran Adarsh. While the movie received a warm response at the box office, critics described the dialogues as quotable.Some went on say the dialogues were the highlight of the movie and were outstanding.

He then collaborated with director Milan Luthria on Taxi No. 9211 (2006). The slice-of-life story, high on drama and action, written by Rajat was applauded by many and described as impeccable by critics. Taxi No. 9211 went on to become one of the highest grossing films of 2006.

After Hattrick (2007) and Chandni Chowk to China (2009), Rajat teamed up with Luthria again for Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai (2010). He muscled the single-screens' melodrama into multiplexes by channelling the '70s dialoguebaazi. The movie won many accolades from critics and viewers alike for its direction and its powerful and engaging screenplay.

Komal Nahta quotes 'Rajat Arora has penned an interesting story and padded it up with a highly engrossing screenplay that doesn't let the viewer lose grip for even a moment. Arora's dialogues, of course, are absolutely fantastic, many of them clapworthy.'

His next film, The Dirty Picture (2011) saw him double up as a lyricist for the chartbuster 'Ooh La La Tu Hai Meri Fantasy'. The movie was an instant blockbuster hit and was widely accepted by the masses and appreciated by critics alike.

The writer-director combo of Rajat and Milan who had achieved tremendous success with Once Upon A Time in Mumbai and The Dirty Picture, teamed up again to deliver another blockbuster success – Once Upon Ay Time in Mumbai Doobara! (2013). The dialogues of the movie were said to be applause worthy and were the cherry on the cake.

His next was as a script and screen play writer for Salman Khan starrer Kick (2014). As a Eid release, Kick received an overwhelming response at the box office. The total worldwide collection crossed INR 3 billion and was the highest grosser of 2014.

Kick was followed by Akshay Kumar starrer Gabbar Is Back (2015).

Television

Before his foray into Bollywood, Rajat Arora was the story, screenplay and dialogue writer for prime time Indian television shows. He has written over 100+ episodes of CID and Aaht.

Films

With almost 11 years under his belt as an independent writer in Bollywood, Rajat has written dialogues, screenplay, story and lyrics for multiple movies and songs respectively.

Awards and Accolades

In 2004, Rajat was awarded 'Best Teleplay Writer' by the Indian Televesion Academy. He even has an entry as the co-writer for C.I.D in the Guinness Book of World Records for 'Longest Single Shot Episode'.

Rajat has also been awarded the Hindi Seva Samman for his literary contribution towards Hindi Language.