Luv Ranjan is an Indian film & music director, writer, lyricist and producer who works in Hindi cinema and owns Luv Films. His notable films include the romantic comedies Pyaar Ka Punchnama (2011), Pyaar Ka Punchnama 2 (2015), Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety (2018), De De Pyaar De (2019) and Tu Jhoothi Main Makkar (2023).

Early life

After finishing his schooling from St. Paul's Academy, Ghaziabad, he studied at the Hindu College, Delhi University.

Career

Directing

He began his career as a director in 2011 with the film, Pyaar Ka Punchnama produced by Abhishek Pathak, Panorama Studios and Viacom18 Motion Pictures. The film is a romantic comedy which depicts the life of three young bachelors. In 2013, he wrote and directed Akaash Vani. Two years later, in 2015, he co-wrote and directed the sequel of Pyaar Ka Punchnama, Pyaar Ka Punchnama 2. The sequel too received much appreciation and performed well at the box office. He directed the film Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety in 2018. The film performed exceedingly well at the box office, although it holds a 40% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 10 reviews. All four of his directorial ventures starred Kartik Aaryan and Nushrat Bharucha in lead roles.

In December 2019, it was announced that Ranjan will direct a romantic-comedy, titled Tu Jhoothi Main Makkaar starring Ranbir Kapoor and Shraddha Kapoor in the lead roles. It went on floors in January 2021 and was released on 8 March 2023, coinciding with Holi.

Producing

He turned to production in 2012 with his childhood friend and co-producer, Ankur Garg, and founded their company, Luv Films. In 2016, he produced Life Sahi Hai, an Indian coming-of-age comedy web-series created by Tarun Jain. He directed and co-produced the comedy film, Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety, along with Ankur Garg and in collaboration with T-Series. It starred Kartik Aaryan, Nushrat Bharucha, and Sunny Singh in the lead roles. It emerged as a major commercial success and ranked as one of the highest-grossing Bollywood films of 2018. He next produced the urban romcom, De De Pyaar De, starring Ajay Devgn, Tabu, and Rakul Preet Singh. It was directed by his longtime editor, Akiv Ali.

Controversy

In her #MeToo account, the unnamed actress has accused Luv Ranjan of misconduct during a script reading session of Pyaar Ka Punchnama.

Later, he issued a statement on social media, strongly dismissing the allegations against him and said that he has “never misbehaved with any woman, but apologizes if he has hurt anyone.”

Facts

• Before making his directorial debut in 2011, Luv used to assist the renowned filmmaker, film director, producer, and writer Suneel Darshan. He had served as the assistant director in 3 of Suneel’s films titled Barsaat (2005), Dosti: Friends Forever (2005), and Mere Jeevan Saathi (2006). Soon after the filming for the last of these films was completed, he had taken a break to take up a writing course at the New York Film Academy – School of Film and Acting (NYFA).
• In an interview, he had recounted the story of how he got to work with Suneel. He was traveling to Nashik, Maharashtra when he got a call from Suneel after which he had deboarded the train and taken a cab back to Mumbai. Luv was interviewed the following day and hired soon after.
• He had turned to production in 2012 with his childhood friend and co-producer Ankur Garg. Soon after this, they had co-founded the Mumbai-based film production company Luv Films.
• In October 2018, an actress who had worked in the 2011 Indian Hindi-language romantic comedy film Pyaar Ka Punchnama (which was written and directed by Luv), had leveled allegations of s*xual harassment against him. She had claimed that Luv had harassed her on the sets of the film. He had denied all allegations and many actors and actresses from that film had come out in his support by stating that the accuser was only trying to gain some media attention and that coming out with such allegations 7 years after the alleged episode showed that the actress was only trying to gain some publicity.
• Luv Ranjan directed Tu Jhoothi Main Makkaar was released in 2023. But, Shraddha Kapoor was not his first choice. It was Deepika Padukone. She had signed the film initially. But, when Ranjan’s name came in the sexual misconduct, she dropped herself from the film project since her fans wanted her to do so.