Whenever we talk about some of the most influential and formidable filmmakers of Hindi Cinema of the modern times, we tend to tilt towards names like Shoojit Sircar, Sriram Raghavan, Zoya Akhtar, and Anurag Kashyap. We still tend to gaze at mainstream and over-the-top and larger-than-life cinema with disdain and debate. What we don't realize is that hardcore commercial potboilers will always be rooted in Hindi Cinema's ethos.

And one of those filmmakers that has understood the psyche of the audiences is Rohit Shetty, the man who has consistently given one blockbuster after another. Today is a special day for the director, today is the day when it all began for him, his journey as a filmmaker, his journey behind the lenses and narrating stories that he wanted to tell with flying cars and massive stars. His directorial debut, Zameen, dealt with a dense subject like terrorism and didn't find many takers. But one failure wasn't enough to leave him dejected and depressed.