Born in Karachi, British India on 19 August 1940, his family moved to India post 1947. He began his career as a cinematographer. He has worked on Sir Richard Attinburough’s 1982 film “Gandhi” as a second unit director and also with Shyam Benegal on his earlier films. He has also been an assistant cinematographer to V.K. Murthy. Other than film he has also worked in television. His directorial debut was Naseeruddin Shah and Smita Patil starrer “Aakrosh” in 1980 and he went on to direct 15 more movies since.

In his 2004 film “Dev” starring Fardeen Khan and Kareena Kapoor, Govind Nihalani turned lyricist with the Hindustani number “Tujh Sang Bandhi Dor” set to tune by Aadesh Srivastava and sung by Sonu Nigam.

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