Sunil Agnihotri

Sunil Agnihotri Biography

Sunil Agnihotri is a noted film and television producer and director, best known for directing the fantasy serial – Chandrakanta on Doordarshan in the mid-1990s. Aired on Doordarshan during 1994-1995, it was the top rated program on Indian television and the story of princess Chandrakanta was partly based on Devaki Nandan Khatri's novel of the same name. The series created history of small screen and groomed the career of many of its actors including Shahbaz Khan, Javed Khan, Rajendra Gupta, Krutika Desai Khan, Durga Jasraj, Irrfan Khan and many more. Many of these actors were not popular in that time; and Chandrakanta provided a great break to their careers. From children to adults, 9 AM Sunday was reserved for this adventure during 1994-1995, exactly at the same time slot where epic series – Ramayana and Mahabharata were aired, marking a new beginning.

Sunil Agnihotri started off in the entertainment industry as an assistant director and has worked under many directors. He assisted Mukul Anand for Agneepath during his early days. He also worked with Video Magazines Lehren and Chalte Chalte. His video film Don 11 in 1988 with the famous song Hawa Hawa was an instant hit, still loved by music fans. Danga Fasaad in 1990 was his debut movie as an independent director. It was followed by Laat Saab in 1992 and the unreleased ‘Singer’ in 1993 with Ajay Devgan. Jai Kishen (1994) with Akhay Kumar in double role was a hit. But by that time he moved to television. His big break came as ‘Chandrakanta’ and the rest is history.

Then his series Yug, which ran from 1996 to 1998 in Doordarshan during afternoons was also a hit. Yug was the biggest daily soap ever made with about 75 most popular actors working together. Though he tried his luck once again in Bollywood, Daava starring Akshay Kumar and Raveena Tandon was a box office failure. Again he returned to small screen. Betaal Pachisi – was one of his top rated fantasy series during 1998. In 2011, Chandrakanta returned once again to television screen titled - Kahani Chandrakanta Ki. A few stars were replaced. In 2014, he launched Mika Singh as an actor with the movie - Balwinder Singh Famous Ho Gaya.

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Updated: November 29, 2015