Nikkhil Suresh Advani (born 28 April 1971) is an Indian director, producer and screenwriter who works in Hindi cinema.
Advani started his career by assisting Saeed and Aziz Mirza in directing Naya Nukkad (1994), and his very first outing as a co-screenplay writer for Iss Raat Ki Subah Nahin (1996) was critically appreciated.
Advani made his directorial debut with the critically acclaimed film Kal Ho Naa Ho (2003), is a romantic comedy-drama film starring Jaya Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan, Saif Ali Khan, and Preity Zinta, with Sushma Seth, Reema Lagoo, Lillete Dubey, and Delnaaz Paul in supporting roles.
It explores several themes, such as the depiction of non-resident Indians, inter-caste marriage, terminal illness, and homosexuality through innuendo and homosocial bonding.
Advani directed and co-wrote the screenplay for Salaam-e-Ishq (2007) an Indian romantic drama film directed by Advani, it featured an ensemble cast of Salman Khan, Priyanka Chopra, Anil Kapoor, Juhi Chawla, Akshaye Khanna, Ayesha Takia, John Abraham, Vidya Balan, Govinda, Shannon Esra, Sohail Khan and Isha Koppikar in lead roles.
The film revolves around a vegetable cutter from Chandni Chowk in Delhi who finds himself on an adventure in China after the residents of an oppressed village deem him to be the reincarnation of a slain Chinese revolutionary.
Following this Advani produced Jaane Kahan Se Aayi Hai (2010), a Bollywood science fiction romance film directed by Milap Zaveri.
In 2006, Advani directed and wrote the story and screenplay Patiala House (2011) starring Rishi Kapoor, Dimple Kapadia, Akshay Kumar and Anushka Sharma in the title roles.
Headlined by Emmay Entertainment, the production house released films like Airlift (2016), starring Akshay Kumar and Nimrat Kaur, based on true-life events of the evacuation of 170,000 Indians from Kuwait during the first Gulf War.
[6] Advani then teamed up with Siddharth Roy Kapur under the banner of UTV Motion Pictures to produce & direct Katti Batti (2015) a romantic comedy-drama film starring Imran Khan and Kangana Ranaut in the lead roles.
It was directed by Nikhil Gonsalves and written by Suparn Verma, Vir Das, Nikkhil Advani, Amogh Ranadive, and Neeraj Pandey.
Headlined by Vir Das as ‘Hasmukh’ and Ranvir Shorey as ‘Jimmy’ the show also consisted of Amrita Bagchi, Mantra, Ravi Kishan, Manoj Pahwa, Joanna Robaczewska, Raza Murad, among others.
It was directed by both Nikkhil Advani and Nikhil Gonsalves and starred a huge cast of Mohit Raina, Tina Desai, Konkona Sen Sharma, Shreya Dhanwanthary, Prakash Belawadi, Mishal Raheja, Satyajeet Dubey, Natasha Bharadwaj, and Mrunmayee Deshpande amongst others.
Amongst which one such short film is Apartment directed by Advani, starring Richa Chadha, Sumeet Vyas, and Ishwak Singh.