With just four films as director under his belt, Vishal Bharadwaj is perhaps the brightest spark in the Indian film industry. Hailing from Uttar Pradesh, Vishal came to Delhi and initially started out by playing the harmonium for little known ghazal singers at Pragati Maidan. A friend then recommended him to Gulzar with whom he collaborated on TV serials such as 'Jungle Book', before composing the music for Gulzar’s Maachis (1996). The recognition was instant and Vishal won the Filmfare – R D Burman Award for New Music Talent. He then composed the music for a number of films such as Satya (1998), Chachi 420 (1998), Godmother (1999), Hu Tu Tu (1999), Nishabd (2007) and No Smoking (2007). His career as writer-director began with the children’s film Makdee (2002) and while the film did not really impress at the box-office, Vishal won cricitical acclaim. His next three films took an honest approach to man’s failings be it greed - Maqbool (2004 - adapted from Macbeth), dishonesty - The Blue Umbrella (Ruskin Bond short story) or jealousy - Omkara (2006 – adapted from Othello). While the essence of the original is maintained in all the three movies, Vishal’s creativity in making them relevant to the Indian context is what puts him in a league of his known. Vishal is currently working on Blood Brothers, a 11-minute short film, which is part of Mira Nair's series of HIV-AIDS awareness films.