Gulshan Rai was a producer and distributor for Hindi films

Bollywood

Bollywood is the informal term popularly used for the Hindi-language film industry based in Mumbai , Maharashtra, India. The term is often incorrectly used to refer to the whole of Indian cinema; it is only a part of the total Indian film industry, which includes other production centers producing...

. He produced successful films in the 1970s directed by Yash Chopra

Yash Chopra

Yash Raj Chopra is an Indian filmmaker, film director, screenwriter, and a highly successful Bollywood producer. Waqt, Deewar, Kabhi Kabhie, Silsila, Lamhe, Chandni, Darr, Dil To Pagal Hai, and Veer-Zaara are some of his highly popular movies...

 and in the 1990s directed by his son Rajiv Rai

Rajiv Rai

Rajiv Rai is an Indian film writer, editor and director. He is the son of the late producer Gulshan Rai. He has directed all this films under his father's production company Trimurti Films...

.

Gulshan Rai was born in Srilanka, Colombo and moved to Bombay (now Mumbai

Mumbai

Mumbai , formerly known as Bombay in English, is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the most populous city in India, and the fourth most populous city in the world, with a total metropolitan area population of approximately 20.5 million...

) in 1947. He started off his career in the film industry as a distributor. In 1970, he started his production company Trimurti Films

Trimurti Films

Trimurti Films Pvt. Ltd. is one of the biggest and oldest film production companies in India.200px|right|thumb|Trimurti Films LogoThe company was founded by Gulshan Rai in 1970 and his son Rajiv Rai is the current owner of the company after Gulshan Rai's death in 2004. The company came into the...

and the first film produced was Johny Mera Naam

Johny Mera Naam

Johny Mera Naam is a 1970 Indian Hindi movie. Directed by Vijay Anand, it stars the director's brother, Dev Anand and Pran in the role of a pair of brothers separated in childhood. Hema Malini, Jeevan, Premnath, I. S. Johar and Iftekhar also star in this movie. It is considered a Dev Anand...

(Johny is my name) which was a success.

In the 1970s, his Yash Chopra-directed films made Amitabh Bachchan

Amitabh Bachchan

Amitabh Bachchan is an Indian film actor. He first gained popularity in the early 1970s as the "angry young man" of Hindi cinema, and has since appeared in over 180 Indian films in a career spanning more than four decades...

 a superstar

Superstar

A superstar is a widely acclaimed celebrity.Superstar or superstars may also refer to:-People:* Warhol Superstar, associates of Andy Warhol* WWE Superstar, the term used to refer to entertainers from the WWE...

 and launched successful careers for script writers Salim-Javed

Salim-Javed

Salim-Javed were a scriptwriter duo who wrote a number of commercially and critically successful Hindi films in the 1970s and early 1980s. The duo, composed of Salim Khan and Javed Akhtar, made the writer's role popular with their names appearing in the posters of the films, and in some films they...

. The notable films were Deewar

Deewar

Deewaar, or Deewar , is a 1975 Indian drama directed by Yash Chopra, written by Salim-Javed, and starring Amitabh Bachchan and Shashi Kapoor...

(The Wall) (1975) and Trishul

Trishul (film)

Trishul is an Indian Hindi film directed by Yash Chopra and produced by Gulshan Rai in 1978. It is written by Salim-Javed, with music by Khayyam and lyrics by Sahir Ludhianvi. The movie was a "blockbuster" Hit at the box-office and one of the top grossers of 1978, along with Muqaddar Ka Sikander...

(The Trident) (1978).

In the 1980s and 90s, he produced films in the action genre

Action genre

The word action has more than one meaning in fiction. Action is one of the fiction-writing modes authors use to present fiction. The term is also used to describe an exiting event or circumstance.-Action as a fiction-writing mode:...

 directed by his son Rajiv Rai

Rajiv Rai

Rajiv Rai is an Indian film writer, editor and director. He is the son of the late producer Gulshan Rai. He has directed all this films under his father's production company Trimurti Films...

, and were notable for their music (composed by Kalyanji-Anandji & later by Viju Shah

Viju Shah

Viju Shah is a music director of Hindi cinema. He is the son of music director Kalyanji Virji Shah of composer duo Kalyanji Anandji...

). They were Tridev

Tridev

Tridev is a 1989 Indian film directed by Rajiv Rai. The movie is an action-packed saga of three men — Naseeruddin Shah, Sunny Deol and Jackie Shroff — standing up against a crime lord called Bhujang , who has plans to spread menace in the country...

(The three gods), Vishwatma

Vishwatma

Vishwatma is a 1992 Indian action film directed by Rajiv Rai. This film marked the Hindi film debut of the late actress Divya Bharti and Jyotsna Singh who did not appear in any other films after this. The film was a boxoffice success...

, Mohra

Mohra

Mohra is a 1994 Indian movie starring Akshay Kumar, Sunil Shetty, Raveena Tandon, Paresh Rawal and Naseeruddin Shah.The film was one of the major hits of 1994 in India...

(The Pawn) and Gupt (Secret).

He died in Mumbai

Mumbai

Mumbai , formerly known as Bombay in English, is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the most populous city in India, and the fourth most populous city in the world, with a total metropolitan area population of approximately 20.5 million...

after a prolonged illness, aged 80.

Gulshan Rai made film Vidhata, which was directed by Subhash Ghai.

External links