Shashank Khaitan is an Indian director and film writer. He was born on February 27, 1982, in Kolkata, West Bengal, India. Shashank Khaitan is an Indian film writer and director who started his career as second fiddle to directors in movies like Subhash Ghai`s Black and White (2008) and Yuvraj (2008). His breakthrough as a director in Bollywood came with the film Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania (2014), and he moved on to its sequel Badrinath Ki Dulhania (2017).
The film Dhadak (2018) is his third directorial venture. His 2020 release includes Bhoot – Part One: The Haunted Ship. His 2021 release includes Ajeeb Dastaans. in 2017, Khaitan co-wrote the screenplay and dialogue for the Hindi adaptation of John Green’s 2012 novel The Fault in Our Stars with the intent to direct it for Dharma Productions with Janhvi Kapoor and Ishaan Khatter as leads. However, after the production house opted out of the film, he eventually went on to direct them instead in Dhadak, a remake of the Marathi film Sairat (2016) which was released the following year.
While Dhadak received negative reviews from film critics for glossing over the subject of caste-based discrimination and for being a poor remake of the original, it emerged as a commercial success with worldwide earnings of over ₹1.1 billion (US$14 million).
Khaitan turned producer for Dharma Productions with the comedy Good Newz (2019), which emerged as one of the highest-grossing Bollywood films of 2019, and the horror thriller Bhoot – Part One: The Haunted Ship (2020).[19] In 2021, he directed a segment titled Majnu in the Netflix anthology Ajeeb Daastaans.
Khaitan has completed working on the Vicky Kaushal, Kiara Advani, and Bhumi Pednekar starter, a comedy thriller titled Govinda Naam Mera which is set to release on 10 June 2022. His next directorial project, Bedhadak, has also been announced. A film that he will also write and produce.