# Gauri Shinde
**Gauri Shinde** (गौरी शिंदे; born 1974) is an Indian film director, screenwriter, and advertising filmmaker from Pune, Maharashtra, known for the feature films *English Vinglish* (2012) and *Dear Zindagi* (2016), both of which she wrote and directed.
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Born | 1974, Pune, Maharashtra, India; spouse is filmmaker R. Balki[1](https://in.bookmyshow.com/person/gauri-shinde/30174) |
| Advertising career | Worked at IBW, Bates Clarion, and Lowe Lintas; directed over 100 ad films before her first feature[2](https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/hindi/bollywood/news/balki-and-i-saw-two-back-to-back-films-on-our-first-date-gauri-shinde/articleshow/16697950.cms) • [3](https://www.hopeproductions.in/the-team/) |
| Short film | *Oh Man!* (2001), which premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival[4](https://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/bollywood/dear-zindagi-director-gauri-shinde-interview-there-is-no-point-in-directing-a-film-if-i-cant-have-my-say-shah-rukh-khan-alia-bhatt-4393603/lite/) • [3](https://www.hopeproductions.in/the-team/) |
| Debut feature | *English Vinglish* (2012), Sridevi's return to film after a 15-year hiatus; premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival[1](https://in.bookmyshow.com/person/gauri-shinde/30174) • [3](https://www.hopeproductions.in/the-team/) |
| Second feature | *Dear Zindagi* (2016), starring Alia Bhatt and Shah Rukh Khan, released 25 November 2016[4](https://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/bollywood/dear-zindagi-director-gauri-shinde-interview-there-is-no-point-in-directing-a-film-if-i-cant-have-my-say-shah-rukh-khan-alia-bhatt-4393603/lite/) |
| Producing | Co-founder of Hope Productions (2011); produced *Shamitabh* (2015), *Pad Man* (2018), *Chup* (2022), and *Ghoomer* (2023)[5](https://www.hopeproductions.in/about/) • [3](https://www.hopeproductions.in/the-team/) |
| Recognition | Filmfare Award for Best Debut Director; Laadli National Media Award for Gender Sensitivity; Rediff's list of Bollywood's 5 Best Directors of 2012; Financial Times 2012 list of '25 Indians To Watch'[1](https://in.bookmyshow.com/person/gauri-shinde/30174) • [6](https://thereviewmonk.com/person/gauri-shinde/) |
## Early life and advertising
Shinde was born and raised in Pune, where she attended St. Joseph's [High School](https://www.edgepedia.org/high-school) and graduated from the Symbiosis Institute of Mass Communications[1](https://in.bookmyshow.com/person/gauri-shinde/30174). While in college she interned as a copywriter, and because she wanted to work in cinema she joined the film departments of advertising agencies after moving to Mumbai[4](https://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/bollywood/dear-zindagi-director-gauri-shinde-interview-there-is-no-point-in-directing-a-film-if-i-cant-have-my-say-shah-rukh-khan-alia-bhatt-4393603/lite/). She first interned under a documentary director and then worked for the agencies IBW, Bates Clarion, and Lowe Lintas[1](https://in.bookmyshow.com/person/gauri-shinde/30174) • [2](https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/hindi/bollywood/news/balki-and-i-saw-two-back-to-back-films-on-our-first-date-gauri-shinde/articleshow/16697950.cms).
She has said she took a sabbatical to study in New York because she did not yet have the confidence to direct an ad film[2](https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/hindi/bollywood/news/balki-and-i-saw-two-back-to-back-films-on-our-first-date-gauri-shinde/articleshow/16697950.cms). After her time at the films division of Lowe Lintas she moved into independent filmmaking and directed more than a hundred commercials for brands including Havells, Tanishq, LG, and [Axis Bank](https://www.edgepedia.org/axis-bank)[3](https://www.hopeproductions.in/the-team/). Her first short film, *Oh Man!* (2001), premiered at the [Berlin International Film Festival](https://www.edgepedia.org/berlin-international-film-festival); in a 2016 interview she said she was not entirely serious about becoming a feature filmmaker at that stage, and that only as she made more commercials did she begin to want to tell her own stories[4](https://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/bollywood/dear-zindagi-director-gauri-shinde-interview-there-is-no-point-in-directing-a-film-if-i-cant-have-my-say-shah-rukh-khan-alia-bhatt-4393603/lite/). She credits her advertising background with giving her production knowledge and budget discipline, saying she never had to reshoot or go over budget in her advertising days[4](https://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/bollywood/dear-zindagi-director-gauri-shinde-interview-there-is-no-point-in-directing-a-film-if-i-cant-have-my-say-shah-rukh-khan-alia-bhatt-4393603/lite/).
## English Vinglish (2012)
Her feature debut *English Vinglish* is a comedy-drama about Shashi, a Pune housewife mocked for her poor English by her husband and daughter, who blossoms during a month in New York when she secretly enrolls in an English class[7](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2012/oct/04/english-vinglish-review) • [8](https://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/bollywood/ten-years-of-sridevi-movie-english-vinglish-gauri-shinde-8190514/). The film marked the return of the star Sridevi to the screen after a 15-year hiatus and opened to glowing reviews[8](https://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/bollywood/ten-years-of-sridevi-movie-english-vinglish-gauri-shinde-8190514/); the Guardian's Peter Bradshaw called it likable feelgood entertainment and noted Shinde, then a former ad director, making her feature debut[7](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2012/oct/04/english-vinglish-review).
The story came from Shinde's mother. Shinde has described the film as her way of saying sorry and thank you to her mother, and in a 2022 anniversary interview said her mother felt like the star of the film and still treats it as a gift[9](https://www.filmfare.com/interviews/mind-your-language-1250.html) • [8](https://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/bollywood/ten-years-of-sridevi-movie-english-vinglish-gauri-shinde-8190514/). The film premiered at the [Toronto International Film Festival](https://www.edgepedia.org/toronto-international-film-festival) in 2012, earned Shinde the Filmfare Award for Best Debut Director and a Laadli National Media Award for Gender Sensitivity, and placed her on Rediff's list of Bollywood's 5 Best Directors of 2012[3](https://www.hopeproductions.in/the-team/) • [1](https://in.bookmyshow.com/person/gauri-shinde/30174). On Rotten Tomatoes it holds an 83% critics score, the highest of her directed films[10](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/gauri_shinde_3).
## Dear Zindagi (2016)
Her second feature, *Dear Zindagi*, stars [Alia Bhatt](https://www.edgepedia.org/alia-bhatt) as Kaira, a young cinematographer who works through her relationships and family conflicts in sessions with a therapist played by [Shah Rukh Khan](https://www.edgepedia.org/shah-rukh-khan)[4](https://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/bollywood/dear-zindagi-director-gauri-shinde-interview-there-is-no-point-in-directing-a-film-if-i-cant-have-my-say-shah-rukh-khan-alia-bhatt-4393603/lite/). Shinde wrote, directed, and co-produced the film, released 25 November 2016[3](https://www.hopeproductions.in/the-team/). She has said the idea came to her in New York in 2014 during one of her travels, and that the script took nearly five months to write, faster than *English Vinglish*, which she had written without a deadline[11](https://www.bollywoodhungama.com/news/features/woman-make-difference-gauri-shinde/) • [4](https://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/bollywood/dear-zindagi-director-gauri-shinde-interview-there-is-no-point-in-directing-a-film-if-i-cant-have-my-say-shah-rukh-khan-alia-bhatt-4393603/lite/).
The film was noted for taking up therapy, a subject rarely covered in [Hindi cinema](https://www.edgepedia.org/hindi-cinema), and it found its audience particularly among younger female viewers[12](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/dear_zindagi). Reception was more divided than for her debut: it holds a 73% Tomatometer score on Rotten Tomatoes[10](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/gauri_shinde_3), and reviewers praised Alia Bhatt's performance and the film's treatment of mental health while criticizing its length and uneven writing[12](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/dear_zindagi). Both of Shinde's directorial ventures became box-office hits[13](https://www.hindustantimes.com/bollywood/i-don-t-want-to-be-the-greatest-filmmaker-gauri-shinde/story-yGOHImDtI6LbWtI4BzjRvM.html).
## Working method and themes
Both of Shinde's features center on women, though she says this was not a conscious decision: she has described Kaira's problems as universal ones that could have belonged to a man, and says writing about her own gender comes naturally because she has more to tell from that perspective[13](https://www.hindustantimes.com/bollywood/i-don-t-want-to-be-the-greatest-filmmaker-gauri-shinde/story-yGOHImDtI6LbWtI4BzjRvM.html). She resists being called an activist or a women's director, saying she writes the stories she wants to write[13](https://www.hindustantimes.com/bollywood/i-don-t-want-to-be-the-greatest-filmmaker-gauri-shinde/story-yGOHImDtI6LbWtI4BzjRvM.html).
Her working process is deliberately slow. She does not begin production until she has a bound script she is confident in, and she has said that unless a story is one she is dying to tell she sees no point in making the film, which is why her films take years to arrive[4](https://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/bollywood/dear-zindagi-director-gauri-shinde-interview-there-is-no-point-in-directing-a-film-if-i-cant-have-my-say-shah-rukh-khan-alia-bhatt-4393603/lite/) • [14](https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/hindi/bollywood/gauri-shinde-my-films-take-time-to-incubate-and-take-birth/amp_articleshow/134444185.cms). She has said there are bits of her own experiences and thoughts about self-worth in all her films[14](https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/hindi/bollywood/gauri-shinde-my-films-take-time-to-incubate-and-take-birth/amp_articleshow/134444185.cms). She also refuses to share directing credit; she says no one, including her husband, will be her co-director, because two people cannot have one vision[4](https://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/bollywood/dear-zindagi-director-gauri-shinde-interview-there-is-no-point-in-directing-a-film-if-i-cant-have-my-say-shah-rukh-khan-alia-bhatt-4393603/lite/).
## Hope Productions and producing work
Shinde and [R. Balki](https://www.edgepedia.org/r-balki) started Hope Productions in 2011, around *English Vinglish*, to control the production of their own films and to develop original content and new talent[5](https://www.hopeproductions.in/about/). Balki produced her directorial debut, while Shinde has produced his films *Shamitabh* (2015), *Pad Man* (2018), *Chup* (2022), and *[Ghoomer](https://www.edgepedia.org/ghoomer)* (2023)[4](https://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/bollywood/dear-zindagi-director-gauri-shinde-interview-there-is-no-point-in-directing-a-film-if-i-cant-have-my-say-shah-rukh-khan-alia-bhatt-4393603/lite/) • [3](https://www.hopeproductions.in/the-team/). She has said she serves as a sounding board for Balki but has never officially worked on his films, and that she visits his sets as a worker rather than as his wife[4](https://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/bollywood/dear-zindagi-director-gauri-shinde-interview-there-is-no-point-in-directing-a-film-if-i-cant-have-my-say-shah-rukh-khan-alia-bhatt-4393603/lite/).
## The long pause after 2016
No Shinde feature was released between *Dear Zindagi* in 2016 and the mid-2020s. She had scripted a third film just before the COVID-19 lockdown, but the pandemic delayed her plans; in 2021 she said she had no choice but to wait and was not in a rush[15](https://www.livemint.com/mint-lounge/features/the-gauri-shinde-view-of-the-world-11594964981312.html) • [16](https://www.hindustantimes.com/entertainment/bollywood/gauri-shinde-on-break-from-direction-since-2016-i-had-no-choice-the-pandemic-hit-but-there-s-no-rush-101629643758398.html). During the lockdown she kept working in commercials, directing two ads remotely in which family members filmed while she directed over live video feed[15](https://www.livemint.com/mint-lounge/features/the-gauri-shinde-view-of-the-world-11594964981312.html).
Her third feature remains in development or production. An untitled project starring [Mona Singh](https://www.edgepedia.org/mona-singh), with Shinde as director, is listed by IMDb as in production[17](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt31070182/), and Hope Productions states that her third feature film is set to start production soon[3](https://www.hopeproductions.in/the-team/). In a 2026 interview she reiterated her unhurried approach, saying her films take time to incubate and take birth[14](https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/hindi/bollywood/gauri-shinde-my-films-take-time-to-incubate-and-take-birth/amp_articleshow/134444185.cms).
## References
1. [Gauri Shinde - Movies, Biography, News, Age & Photos, BookMyShow](https://in.bookmyshow.com/person/gauri-shinde/30174)
2. [Balki and I saw two back to back films on our first date: Gauri Shinde, Times of India](https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/hindi/bollywood/news/balki-and-i-saw-two-back-to-back-films-on-our-first-date-gauri-shinde/articleshow/16697950.cms)
3. [The Team - Hope Productions](https://www.hopeproductions.in/the-team/)
4. [There is no point in directing a film if I can't have my say, says Dear Zindagi director Gauri Shinde, The Indian Express](https://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/bollywood/dear-zindagi-director-gauri-shinde-interview-there-is-no-point-in-directing-a-film-if-i-cant-have-my-say-shah-rukh-khan-alia-bhatt-4393603/lite/)
5. [About Us - Hope Productions](https://www.hopeproductions.in/about/)
6. [Gauri Shinde — Credits & Filmography, TheReviewMonk](https://thereviewmonk.com/person/gauri-shinde/)
7. [English Vinglish – review, The Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2012/oct/04/english-vinglish-review)
8. [Ten years of English Vinglish: Director Gauri Shinde on 'blind date' with Sridevi, The Indian Express](https://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/bollywood/ten-years-of-sridevi-movie-english-vinglish-gauri-shinde-8190514/)
9. [Mind your language, Filmfare](https://www.filmfare.com/interviews/mind-your-language-1250.html)
10. [Gauri Shinde Movies List, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/gauri_shinde_3)
11. ["Being a woman does make a difference" – Gauri Shinde, Bollywood Hungama](https://www.bollywoodhungama.com/news/features/woman-make-difference-gauri-shinde/)
12. [Dear Zindagi, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/dear_zindagi)
13. [I don't want to be the greatest filmmaker: Gauri Shinde, Hindustan Times](https://www.hindustantimes.com/bollywood/i-don-t-want-to-be-the-greatest-filmmaker-gauri-shinde/story-yGOHImDtI6LbWtI4BzjRvM.html)
14. [Gauri Shinde: 'My films take time to incubate and take birth', Times of India](https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/hindi/bollywood/gauri-shinde-my-films-take-time-to-incubate-and-take-birth/amp_articleshow/134444185.cms)
15. [Opinion | The Gauri Shinde view of the world, Mint Lounge](https://www.livemint.com/mint-lounge/features/the-gauri-shinde-view-of-the-world-11594964981312.html)
16. [Gauri Shinde on break from direction since 2016, Hindustan Times](https://www.hindustantimes.com/entertainment/bollywood/gauri-shinde-on-break-from-direction-since-2016-i-had-no-choice-the-pandemic-hit-but-there-s-no-rush-101629643758398.html)
17. [Untitled Mona Singh/Gauri Shinde Project, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt31070182/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Film people and crafts › Directors, producers, and screenwriters › Indian and South Asian film directors › Hindi cinema directors › Contemporary Hindi directors*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 17, 2026; Sep 20, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 20, 2026; Oct 11, 2026; Oct 12, 2026; Oct 15, 2026; Oct 21, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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