Born in Mumbai, to Raksha and Parry Dholakia, an advertising professional, Rahul also has an elder sister Moha.

[3] While still in college he started working in his father's advertising agency, Mora Ava.

[4][5] After making a couple of documentaries and commercials, and even running TV station, called 'TV Asia' for a while,[6] he made his feature film debut with the Hindi-English bilingual, Kehtaa Hai Dil Baar Baar (2002), starring Paresh Rawal and Jimmy Shergill.

His next film based on a real-life story of 10-year-old Parsi boy, Azhar Mody, known as Parzan, who disappeared during the 28 February 2002 Gulbarg Society massacre, which took place during communal riots in Gujarat in 2002, Parzania won him the National Film Award for 2006.

[7][8] he has directed the film Raees, which was released on 25 January 2017 and received positive reviews.