A BRIEF PROFILE OF VIPUL AMRUTLAL SHAH – FOUNDER OF SUNSHINE PICTURES
Vipul Amrutlal Shah is one of the leading filmmakers in Bollywood today. He enjoys a very successful track record as a filmmaker in Indian motion picture business. His first three directorial ventures – Aankhen, Waqt and Namastey London – have been huge hits. Even his first film as a producer, Singh is Kinng, emerged as one of the biggest hits of Bollywood, grossing over Rs.150 Crores worldwide. A graduate with a Bachelor’s Degree in Commerce from NM College of Commerce, Mumbai, Vipul Amrutlal Shah started his career with acting in Gujarati plays before enriching his resume with his works on television and feature films.
Theatre:
Starting in 1983, Vipul Amrutlal Shah started acting in Gujarati plays and in a period of 4 years gave more than 600 shows of these plays in Gujarat, Mumbai and Kolkatta. Majority of these plays were big hits.
In 1987 he directed his first play “AANDHALO PATA” (translation in English “BLINDFOLD”) which was a huge hit with the general public. Thereafter he was involved with story writing, direction and acting of many plays which had runs of more than two years each. In 1994 he directed his second play “Action Replayy” a musical Gujarati play which was a huge hit [Landmark Play] and ran for 250 shows.
Television:
In 1993 Vipul Amrutlal Shah ventured into Gujarati Television. He produced and directed 140 
episodes of 6 Gujarati Serials for Ahmedabad Doordarshan (Television). All of these serials were hugely successful with high TRP ratings and this started his journey towards mainstream television.
1994 saw the show “Jeevan Mrityu” with 35 episodes go on air on “In Mumbai” Channel with famous filmstar Aamir Khan making a guest appearance.
In 1995 Vipul Amrutlal Shah joined television production company Divya Drishti Television Network Ltd. (DDTNL) as Director and shareholder and directed the highly successful TV Serial “Ek Mahal Ho Sapno Ka” – both in Hindi for Sony Television and in Gujarati for Doordarshan. This was the first daily soap on Indian Television to be telecast at prime time that ran for 1000 episodes in Hindi and 700 episodes in Gujarati.
From 1995 onwards, simultaneous to working with DDTNL, Vipul Amrutlal Shah worked closely as producer and creative director with television software production house Shobhna Desai Productions Pvt. Ltd. (Erstwhile Shobhna Desai Productions – Proprietor Ms. Shobhna Desai) of various television shows “Alpviram”, “Kaun Apna Kaun Paraya”, “Naam Gum Jayega” all for Sony TV, “Mille Sur Mera Tum Hara” with UTV for Doordarshan for telecast on National network, “Babul Ki Duayen Leti Ja” for Zee TV, “Shod” for In Mumbai channel and more recently “Mamta” for Zee TV “Thodi Khushi Thode Gam” and “Durgesh Nandini” for Sony TV.
If you consider the landmarks in television, through 2014, Mr. Vipul Amrutlal Shah’s Pukaar will probably be one of the year’s highlights. The mini-series not only marked a comeback for Shah after a decade of concentrating on the 70mm projects but also marked the television debut for Veteran Actor Raj Babbar. The mini-series with its impeccable mix of action and drama stole the hearts of the audience from the word go. The 24 episode series has been applauded not only by its vast viewership but also enjoyed a healthy TRP enjoying primetime on Life OK. While the aforementioned action and drama were certainly the main attractions, the production value that the series enjoyed also put it in a league of its own, something that Indian television hadn’t experienced for a long time.
Cinema:
In 2000 Vipul Amrutlal Shah directed his first Gujarati film “Darya Choru” (Son of the Sea) which was also the first Gujarati film to be made in 35mm Cinemascope. This film won 9 (nine) Gujarat State awards including the awards for the best Director and best Film.
In 2002 Vipul Amrutlal Shah directed his first Hindi film, “Aankhen”, based on the Gujarati Play “Andholo Pata” which won 5 (five) film awards in various categories and Vipul Amrutlal Shah received nomination as Best Director from Filmfare, Screen, Stardust and Zee TV. The star cast of the film included Amitabh Bachchan, Akshay Kumar, Paresh Rawal, Susmita Sen and Arjun Rampal. A huge hit and one of the Top 5 films of that year, Aankhen had a silver jubilee in Mumbai & Delhi.
2005 saw Vipul Amrutlal Shah making his debut as Producer with “Waqt” (Race against Time), under the banner of Block Buster Movie Entertainers, with a cast that included Amitabh Bachchan, Akshay Kumar, Priyanka Chopra, Shefali Shah, Boman Irani and Rajpal Yadav. While Shefali Shah won the award for Best Supporting Actor (Female), the film was one of the biggest box office hits of that year – one of the Top 3 films of the 2005 and had a silver jubilee run in Mumbai and Delhi.
In 2007 Vipul Amrutlal Shah produced and directed “Namastey London” with a multinational cast and production crew – and shot extensively in London. The star cast comprised of Akshay Kumar, Rishi Kapoor, Katrina Kaif, Paresh Rawal, Upen Patel and actors from United Kingdom and Pakistan. The film, released on 23rd March, 2007, became a huge success and did worldwide business of Rs.750 million in its first three weeks. One of the biggest hits of 2007, Namastey London’s script was selected to be preserved in the Oscar Library.
2008 saw Vipul Amrutlal Shah making his debut only as a Producer with “Singh Is Kinng”, the film, starring superstar Akshay Kumar, was directed by Anees Bazmee [of No-Entry & Welcome fame]. Once again, it comprised of a multinational crew and a cast that featured Bollywood actors like Katrina Kaif, Neha Dhupia, Sonu Sood, Kiron Kher and Om Puri. The film set several box office records on its release and became one of the biggest hits of 2008.
In 2009 Vipul Amrutlal Shah directed “London Dreams” with Salman Khan, Ajay Devgn, Asin and Om Puri.
In 2010 Vipul Amrutlal Shah produced and directed “Action Replayy” with Akshay Kumar, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Kiron Kher, Om Puri, Rajpal Yadav, Aditya Roy Kapur and Ranvijay Singh in November, 2010.
In 2011 Vipul Amrutlal Shah produced and released the film “Kucch Luv Jaisaa” with Rahul Bose and Shefali Shah in the lead roles.
In 2011 Vipul Amrutlal Shah produced “Force” with John Abraham and Genelia in the lead roles. Film “Force” has become the biggest hit of John Abraham’s career. This film has won 3 awards as of now under the following category; Filmfare awards Best Debut (Male), Stardust awards Breakthrough performance supporting (Male), Cosmopolitan Fun Fearless Awards Best Debut (Male). All the above awards are won by the Actor Vidyut Jammwal.
In 2013, Vipul Amrutlal Shah produced “Commando” with Vidyut Jamwal and introduced Pooja Chopra in the lead roles. It changed the action landscape of Bollywood, with Vidyut partaking in never-witnessed-before action sequences, hand-to-hand combat, mid-air splits and somersaults, extreme acrobatics et al, all done *without* body double or cables, but by the actor himself. In that respect, COMMANDO took action in Hindi movies to another level. COMMANDO is, perhaps, the first Hindi movie that attempts to showcase a series of death-defying, high-octane stunts performed by the lead man himself.
2014 has clearly been a wonderful year for Vipul Amrutlal Shah, the filmmaker has been associated with some great work this year and his efforts have been applauded enthusiastically. Earlier this year, Vipul Amrutlal Shah presented “Holiday – a soldier is never off duty” an action drama, directed by A R Murugudoss. The film starring Akshay Kumar and Sonakshi Sinha went one to be one of the biggest hits of the year. The film based on the army background saw Akshay playing the military man which clearly worked wonders with the audience.
In 2015, Sunshine commenced the Production of “Force 2” a worthy sequel to “Force” which by now is a recognized Franchise. “Force 2” is directed by the hugely talented Abhinay Deo (“Delhi Belly” and the popular TV Series “24”). The sequel features Sonakshi Sinha in the female lead with the male protagonist John Abraham. Extensively Shot in Budapest (Hungary), the film promises bigger scale in terms of form and content than the first film. Sunshine also produced a TV serial “PUKAR” in 24 episodes directed by Deven Bhojani (actor Director of great repute) that was aired on Life OK channel. The show garnered high TRPs while on air.
2016 proved to be yet another exciting year. Besides completing and releasing “Force 2”, Sunshine commenced the production of “Commando 2” again a sequel to the brand “Commando”. Directed by Deven Bhojani, this film was extensively shot in the captivating locales of Malaysia. Thereafter, Sunshine commenced production of “Namastey England” under Vipul Amrutlal Shah’s own direction with Arjun Kapoor and Parineeti Chopra in the lead.
2017 Commando 2 : Released on 3rd March 2017 and proved a Commercial success : Production of Namastey England was also in full steam. Also launched the production of “Commando 3” the third film in the franchise with Vidyut Jamwal in the lead and Aditya Datt as the Director.
2018 Namastey England released successfully on 19th October 2018. Production of Commando 3 was in full steam.
2019 Commando 3 finally concluded production and released on 29th November 2019. It proved a box office success and also garnered high ratings on Zee5 and Zee TV.
2020 Some more Aces up the sleeve : A slate of web series are under development for OTT platforms and One series to be produced for Hotstar. And many exciting feature films under development and lots more.
Adding to his successful career, Vipul Amrutlal Shah’s recent projects include “The Kerala Story” and “Bastar – the Naxal Story,” both of which promise to showcase his storytelling prowess in exploring diverse narratives and social issues. The Kerela Story has received love globally and people have lauded the brave storytelling. With his creative vision and dedication to his craft, Vipul Amrutlal Shah continues to captivate audiences and solidify his legacy as a visionary filmmaker in Bollywood.
Sunshine believes in working with the best talent in the business and the latest technologies available, and it is our constant endeavor to set high benchmarks of quality in everything we do. We also believe in nurturing upcoming fresh talent, as they are the stars on the horizon. At Sunshine Pictures, its always Sunrise !!!