Aditya Datt – Bollywood film director of ‘Aashiq Banaya Aapne’ and ‘Commando 3’

Aditya Datt is a film director of Bollywood cinema, best known for his debut work, Aashiq Banaya Aapne, followed by Dil Diya Hai, Good Luck!, Will you Marry Me?, Table No. 21 and Commando 3. Mostly associated with commercial movies, Table No. 21 based on Article 21 of Indian Constitution was well received. In 2019 he directed the third film of Commando series starring Vidyut Jammwal, and it became the highest grosser of the series, though it opened to mixed reviews.

Aditya Datt is the grandson of lyricist Anand Bakshi

Aditya was born in 1984 into a family with filmy roots. He is the grandson of acclaimed Hindi lyricist Anand Bakshi, best known for his association with R. D. Burman and Laxmikant Pyarelal in the 1970s and 1980s. However Aditya chose a different line in movies, and marked his debut as a director through 2005 musical triangle, Aashiq Banaya Aapne starring newcomer Tanushree Dutta, Emraan Hashmi and Sonu Sood. Though the movie opened to negative reviews and was a box office failure, all its songs were smash hits. The movie also brought him to limelight.

He was signed by T-Series to direct three films. His second release, Dil Diya Hai also starred Emraan Hashmi in lead role, and this movie too was a love triangle. Like his debut flick, Himesh Reshammiya composed music for this one too, and all the songs got noticed. Later he worked with actor Rajeev Khandelwal for the movies, Will You Marry Me? and Table No.21. Though both were commercial failures Table No.21, based on the subject of ragging received positive reviews.

Commando 3 is his biggest hit up-to-date

In a career spanning to 15 years, he directed only 6 films. Commando 3 is the most successful film among all. It was his first action film and he repeated the lead pair of its prequel, Vidyut Jammwal and Adah Sharma. In 2018 he directed a web series, Karenjit Kaur – The Untold Story of Sunny Leone.

Aditya Datt – Some interesting and less-known facts

Tanushree and Aditya Datt during a party

1. Himesh Reshammiya composed and rendered his voice for the title tracks of Aditya’s first two releases – Aashiq Banaya Aapne and Dil Diya Hai. Both the sensuous songs were chartbusters too. In fact Himesh bagged Filmfare award for best playback singer and musical success of Aashiq Banaya Aapne cemented his position as a leading singer-composer of Bollywood.

2. He dated Aashiq Banaya Aapne actress Tanushree Dutta for some time and got engaged too. However they broke up.

3. He launched models – Tanushree Dutta and Geeta Basra to Bollywood screen through his first two movies – Aashiq Banaya Aapne and Dil Diya Hai respectively.