Gauri Shinde Biography

Gauri Shinde is one of the most successful, rising director of Bollywood. She directed the thoroughly acclaimed movie 'English Vinglish' (2012). Gauri is married to director R.Balki.

Gauri Shinde was born on 6th July 1974 and raised in Pune and was schooled in St. Joseph's High School. She graduated from Symbiosis Institute of Mass Communication in Pune. Till she finished her college, she developed an interest in Film Making. She came to Mumbai and did an internship under Documentary Director Siddharth Kay. She then began working for Advertising Agencies like IBW, Bates Clarion and then Lowe Lintas, where R.Balki worked as a creative director. She made over 100 ad films. She also made some short films. Her short film 'Oh Man' (2001) was selected for the prestigious Berlin Film Festival.

Gauri's First feature film as an Independent Director was 'English Vinglish' which marked the comeback of Sridevi. Shinde made the movie based on her own relationship with her mom who used to do business of pickles in Pune and found it difficult to converse in English, which embarrassed Gauri as a child. The movie was released first in the Toronto Film Festival on 14th September 2012 following a commercial world wide release on 5th, October 2012. The movie got rave reviews and also were commercially successful. Gauri won a Filmfare Award for the Best Debut Director for the same. She also won a Laadli National Media Award for Gender Sensitivity. Gauri featured on Rediff's list of Bollywood's 5 best directors of 2012.