What do the wives of these Indian directors do?

The limelight always finds celebrities all over the place in Bollywood but there are a few people who dread it like the plague. Especially the women behind the people who call the shots.
These women have chosen not to be just arm candies but to create niches for themselves. And hence they choose to accompany their celebrity husbands for their promotional events, parties and whatnot but still manage to independently function without their assistance.

1. Soni Razdan (wife of Mahesh Bhatt)

Soni Razdan is the mother of Alia Bhatt and Shaheen Bhatt and is the step-mother of Pooja Bhatt and Rahul Bhatt. She got married to Mahesh Bhatt in 1986 and is a British-born Indian actress and film director. She started her career in English theatre with John Fowler’s The Collector. She then entered Hindi stage with Bund Darvaze.

2. Suhasini Maniratnam (wife of Mani Ratnam)

Suhasini Maniratnam is an Indian actress who has worked in South Indian cinema. She has won the National Film Award for Best Actress for the movie Sindhu Bhairavi. She has received four Filmfare Awards as well. In 1996, she developed an interest in the field of direction and wrote a screenplay, Indira.

3. Lissy (wife of Priyadarshan)

Lissy is a former Indian actress and did a plethora of lead roles in Malayalam cinema. She has also acted in various Tamil and Telugu films. After her marriage in 1990, she quit acting. She was awarded the Shree Ratna Award by Kerala Kalakendram 2013. She was also chosen as the Woman Achiever of the Year 2013 in Chennai by Jaguar.

4. Aswini Iyer Tiwari (wife of Nitesh Tiwari)

Ashwini Iyer Tiwari has worked in the advertising industry for several years. She made her debut as a director with Nil Battey Sannata in 2016. Earlier, she was an Executive Creative Director at Leo Burnett.

5. Manjeet Lamba (wife of Rajkumar Hirani)

Manjeet Lamba is an Air India pilot who had an arranged marriage with Rajkumar Hirani. She often jokes about being the odd one in the family, as her son Vir has started working with his father.

6. Sunita Gowariker (wife of Ashutosh Gowariker)

Sunita Gowariker has worked as a model and air hostess in Air India. She then decided to become a producer and started with movie, Swades. She has also produced What’s Your Raashee? and Jodhaa Akbar.

7. Anupama Chopra (wife of Vidhu Vinod Chopra)

Anupama Chopra is an Indian author, journalist, film critic and director of the Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival. She is also the founder and editor of the digital platform Film Companion. She has written books on Indian Cinema and has been a film critic for NDTV, India Today and Hindustan Times. For her first book Sholay: The Making of a Classic, she received the National Film Award in the year 2000.

8. P S Bharathi (wife of Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra)

P S Bharathi got married to Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra in 1992 and is an editor, casting director, producer and director. She has played a crucial part in many movies like Mirzya, Bhaag Milkha Bhaag, Delhi 6, Rang De Basanti and Aks and has received a number of accolades for the same.

9. Tani Basu (wife of Anurag Basu)

She has directed two episodes of Stories by Rabindranath Tagore. She is also the writer of the story and screenplay for the movie, Barfi! She has also co-produced the movie Jagga Jasoos.

10. Richa Puranesh (wife of Dibakar Banerjee)

Richa Puranesh works for a Hindustan Unilever Ltd. The couple used to live in Delhi. But after the success of Khosla Ka Ghosla, they moved to Mumbai and started living with their daughter.

11. Pragya Yadav (wife of Abhishek Kapoor)

Pragya Yadav made her first appearance in Hawa Hawai. She is a Swedish actress who got married to Abhishek Kapoor in 2015. Pragya is involved in theatre and has received training from Institute of Advanced Acting and Behavioural Studies.

12. Maya Rohit Shetty (wife of Rohit Shetty)

Maya Rohit Shetty is a banker by profession and worked at Hongkong Shanghai Banking Corporation Ltd. Though her hubby is a famous filmmaker, she is never seen in public with him. It’s believed that she likes to keep a low profile.