Laxman Utekar – Bollywood ace director with Mimi and Chhaava to his credit

Laxman Utekar is an immensely talented film director and cinematographer belonging to Bollywood and Marathi cinema. Utekar started his career as a cinematographer in Hindi cinema. As a cinematographer, he did memorable films like English Vinglish and Dear Zindagi. Later he directed critically acclaimed Bollywood films like Luka Chuppi, Mimi, Zara Hatke Zara Bachke and Chhaava.

Utekar started his career as a spot boy in films

Starting off his career as a spot boy, Laxman become a camera attendant and then, a camera assistant. He later turned director of photography and director in Hindi cinema. Laxman Utekar marked his career as a cinematographer through Salman Khan starrer Khanna & Iyer. He later did camera work for some of the amazing films of 2010s like English Vinglish, Dear Zindagi, Hindi Medium and 102 Not Out.

He made his directorial debut through Marathi films

While he was working as cinematographer in Hindi cinema, he had a parallel film journey in Marathi film industry. He made his directorial debut in 2014 with Marathi film Tapaal. In 2016 he directed one more Marathi film, Lalbaugchi Rani, before completely switching to Bollywood. Both his films were box office hits. In 2019, he marked his directorial debut in Bollywood with box office hit, Luka Chuppi.

From 2019 to 2025, he directed 4 films – Luka Chuppi, Mimi, Zara Hatke Zara Bachke and Chhaava and did cinematography of one film – Teri Baaton Mein Aisa Uljha Jiya. Except Mimi, all the films were theatre releases and profitable films. But among all his films, Mimi earned him more recognition as a director. But due to pandemic, the movie was released in OTT. In 2025, his historical drama, Chhaava based on the life of Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj was well received. I posted one biography of Laxman soon after his first Bollywood project. You can read it here.

Laxman Utekar – Some interesting and less-known facts

1. As a film director of both Bollywood and Marathi cinema, he has 100% success till 2025.

2. During his early days as a spot boy and camera attendant, he used to observe the DOPs and then started thinking that he can also shoot films on his own.

3. Except Mimi, all his directorial ventures were box office hits. Mimi released on OTT platform was widely well received and accumulated numerous awards including two National awards for acting performances. He also did cinematography for Kriti’s hit film, Teri Baaton Mein Aisa Uljha Jiya.

4. Kriti Sanon frequently worked with Laxman, and starred in his first two Bollywood films. The director gave her the box-office hit, Luka Chuppi and career defining role, Mimi. Mimi gave her the first National Film award and Filmfare award in best actress category.

5. Laxman Utekar has a good record with actor Vicky Kaushal. Both their films together – Zara Hatke Zara Bachke and Chhaava became box office hits.

6. After establishing his career as a successful director in Bollywood, he continued with camera work for other directors. He did cinematography for Teri Baaton Mein Aisa Uljha Jiya, which became a box office hit.

7. He was the cinematographer of Akshay Kumar starrer, Blue, which was the most expensive Bollywood film when it was made. But the movie was a disaster at box office.

8. Initially he was to do cinematography of Amit Ravindernath Sharma – Ajay Devgn project, Maidaan. The film got delayed multiple times due to different reasons and when finally released in 2024 after 5 years, Laxman was not a part of the project. Laxman also got busy with his projects.