The man behind the award-winning, coming-of-age drama Udaan and the lyrical romance drama Lootera, Vikramaditya Motwane is a director, producer, and writer, whose works in Hindi cinema have won him several accolades and honors. Along with Vikas Bahl, Anurag Kashyap, and Madhu Mantena, Vikramaditya co-owns the Indian film production and distribution company Phantom Films. Having been associated with films like Dev.D (2009), Udaan (2010), Queen (2014), and NH10 (2015), he has established himself as a filmmaker par excellence in Bollywood.

Early Life
Born in Mumbai, Maharashtra, to a Sindhi father and a Bengali mother, Vikramaditya`s parents parted ways when he was just 10. He, in fact, credits him becoming a filmmaker to their divorce, "Post my parents` divorce, when I was 10, my mother Deepa Motwane took up a job as a line producer with documentary filmmaker Shukla Das, who was a cousin of hers. When I was 17, she did a TV talk show and I helped her with research and assisted her as she was also producing that show."

Personal Life
Vikramaditya Motwane is married to his childhood sweetheart Ishika Mohan, who is now a Bollywood still photographer. Their love story began at the Jamnabai Narsee School, Mumbai, where they were both classmates and used to confess their feelings toward each other by writing love letters. They have been together ever since but tied the knot in 2005.

Ishika has worked on films like Veer Zaara (2004), Slumdog Millionaire (2008), Wake Up Sid (2009), Udaan (2010), and Lootera (2013).

Movie Career
As a Director
Through his mother`s contacts, Vikramaditya came in touch with the Bollywood director Sanjay Leela Bhansali and assisted him in Dil De Chuke Sanam (1999) and Devdas (2002). He then assisted Deepa Mehta in the drama film Water, where he met Anurag Kashyap, who was writing the screenplay of the movie. He subsequently worked with Anurag Kashyap in unreleased Indian crime thriller film Paanch. In spite of not getting a theatrical release in India, Paanch was shown as the closing film in Osian`s Cinefan Festival of Asian and Arab Cinema in 2005.

In 2010, Vikramaditya made his directorial debut with the coming of age drama film Udaan. Starring Ronit Roy as a strict father, and Rajat Barmecha, as his helpless son, the movie tells the tale of thousands of youths from India`s middle-class families. Udaan opened to an overwhelming response from all the quarters, with the Vikramaditya taking home his first Filmfare Award for Best Film (Critics). He was also acknowledged as the best director at The Global Indian Film and Television Honours.

Three years later, he directed his second movie-Lootera. An Indian period romance film, Lootera was based on O. Henry`s story The Last Leaf and starred Ranveer Singh and Sonakshi Sinha in the lead roles. Set in the era of the 50s, the movie received an outstanding critical response and with the positive word of mouth, fared well commercially too. His 2017 directorial venture includes the Rajkummar Rao and Geetanjali Thapa starrer thriller film Trapped.

As a Writer
In 2007 and 2009 respectively, Vikramaditya Motwane along with Anurag Kashyap wrote the screenplays of Dhan Dhana Dhan Goal and Dev.D. While the former was a big box-office dud, the later received rave reviews for its intricate writing and outstanding direction. He has also collaborated with Anurag Kashyap for writing the screenplays of Udaan and Lootera.

As a Producer
Vikramaditya Motwane, under Phantom films, has produced movies like Lootera (2013), Hasee Toh Phasee (2014), Queen (2014), Ugly (2014), NH10 (2015), Hunterrr (2015), Bombay Velvet (2015), Shaandaar (2015), Super 30 (2019) and Ghoomketu (2020)