Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra (born 7 July 1963) is an Indian film director, occasional actor and screenwriter.

[2] Mehra criticised the vote-bank politics behind the introduction of the Mandal Commission by VP Singh, and said it inspired him to pen the script of Rang De Basanti.

[2] In 1986, he established Flicks Motion Picture Company Private Limited, starting his career as an advertisement film maker.

He directed scores of television commercials for Indian and international clients, including Coke, Pepsi, Toyota, American Express and BPL.

[2] In 2001, he made his directorial debut with the supernatural action thriller Aks starring Amitabh Bachchan, Raveena Tandon and Manoj Bajpayee in lead roles.

Produced by Mehra's own company, the film received critical acclaim upon release, but emerged as a commercial failure at the box-office.

It received positive reviews from critics upon release, with praise for its credibility, direction, screenplay, soundtrack and the performances of the ensemble cast.

The film tells the story of an NRI who arrives in India with his ailing grandmother and begins discovering his roots before getting embroiled in a religious dispute involving a mysterious monkey-like attacker.

Produced by a consortium of several producers, the film opened to positive reviews from critics upon release, and emerged as a major commercial success at the box-office, grossing ₹201 crore (US$23 million), ranking as the eighth highest-grossing Hindi film of the year, and Mehra's highest grosser to date.

Mehra's latest film is Mirzya (2016), a contemporary retelling of the tragic love story of Mirza & Sahiba.