Rajkumar "Raju" Hirani (born 20 November 1962) is an Indian filmmaker known for his works in Hindi films.

His first film as a professional editor was Vidhu Vinod Chopra's action drama Mission Kashmir (2000).

Although Hirani wanted to make films, he took a one-year break and came back with the script of the comedy-drama Munna Bhai M.B.B.S.

His latest film Dunki, starring Shah Rukh Khan was released theatrically on 21 December 2023 with mixed reviews.

His ancestors originally belonged to Mehrabpur, a city now in the Naushahro Firoz District, Sindh, of Pakistan.

His father then asked him to apply to the Film and Television Institute of India in Pune, but the acting course had shut down and his chances of admission to the directorial course looked slim as there were far too many applicants.

The film received positive reviews from critics upon release, with particular praise for Hirani's direction and screenplay.

In 2006, Hirani directed the second installment of the Munna Bhai franchise, titled Lage Raho Munna Bhai, which retained some of the original cast, including Sanjay Dutt, Warsi, and Boman Irani, and added Vidya Balan as the female lead replacing Gracy Singh.

Hirani's next directorial venture was the coming-of-age comedy-drama 3 Idiots (2009), loosely adapted from the novel Five Point Someone by Chetan Bhagat.

3 Idiots received widespread critical acclaim upon release, and emerged as the highest-grossing Indian film up until then, earning ₹4.60 billion (US$53 million) in global ticket sales.

After a 5-year hiatus, Hirani returned to direction with the science fiction satirical comedy drama PK (2014).

PK garnered the Telstra People's Choice Award at the Indian Film Festival of Melbourne.

The film follows the life of actor Sanjay Dutt (one of Hirani's closest collaborators), his addiction to drugs, arrest for alleged association with the 1993 Bombay bombings, relationship with his father, comeback in the industry, the eventual drop of charges from Bombay blasts, and release after completing his jail term.

Upon release, it received generally positive reviews from critics and was praised for Ranbir Kapoor's performance; some criticised its image-cleansing of its protagonist.

Hirani directed Dunki (2023), a comedy-drama film on immigration produced by himself and Red Chillies Entertainment (with whom he is working with for the first time) and written by him and Joshi.

[18] When someone says to me, ‘Our minds are preconditioned to believe things, and you gave us a different viewpoint to think,’ I feel like I’ve done something worthy.

Hirani's films are often based on themes that explore particularly different critical social issues like middle-class aspirations, reforms, self-conviction and relationships, albeit with healthy humour and an immense emotional quotient.

Munna Bhai MBBS (2003) deals with the corruption of hospitals and the cruelty of doctors, Lage Raho Munna Bhai (2006) deals with Gandhi's thinking and reforming people with soft-hearted behaviour, 3 Idiots (2009) with the education system, pressure on students for marks and passion of individuals, PK (2014) with religion and superstition and Sanju (2018) with relationships and media outrage.

[21] Film critic Komal Nahta called Hirani "a magician more than a director" while reviewing Sanju, adding that he "narrates the complex story of a misdirected, ignorant, and foolish young man with such sensitivity that the human drama becomes quite a masterpiece of a film.

He has garnered appraisal from several industry's successful makers and his contemporaries like Karan Johar who said, I've been pitted against everyone and I feel envious, not jealous.

All values in Indian Rupees (₹) are converted to US Dollars ($) based on the average yearly exchange rate data from World Bank.