Raj Kanwar (28 June 1961 – 3 February 2012) was an Indian film director, writer and film producer of Hindi films based in Mumbai, India.
Family and personal life
He was educated in Col. Brown Cambridge School in Dehradun.
He has two sons (with his wife Anita Kanwar), Karan Raj Kanwar and Abhay Kanwar, both of whom have worked as film directors and producers. Filmmaker K. Pappu is his elder brother.
On 3 February 2012, he died in Singapore due to a kidney ailment.
Career
Kanwar began his career directing plays in Delhi. He then moved to Mumbai where he worked as an assistant to directors like Shekhar Kapur and Raj Kumar Santoshi. His directorial debut was Deewana. Released in 1992, the film was a box office Blockbuster and marked the screen debut of Shahrukh Khan. He directed several other box office hits like Laadla (1994), Jaan (1996), Jeet (1996), Judaai (1997), Daag: The Fire (1999) and Badal (2000). Kanwar went on to discover actors like Lara Dutta and Priyanka Chopra whom he cast in his film Andaaz in 2003. His last film was Sadiyaan (2010). Anurag Singh was a Chief Assistant with him for most of films. Most of the lead characters of his films are named Karan and Kajal.