Aditya Chopra

Yash Raj Films has time and again launched new actors irrespective of whether they hailed from a film family or not and they still continue to do so. Talent is what the production house has always emphasized on. While some have been fortunate enough to start their career with a dream break in a YRF film, some were lucky to have worked under the prestigious banner in the early years of their careers. The head honcho of YRF, Aditya Chopra believes in giving wings to the dreams of talented, aspiring actors - whether it was launching Anushka Sharma, Ranveer Singh, Arjun Kapoor, Parineeti Chopra, Bhumi Pednekar or Vaani Kapoor. Also, signing a three-film deal with YRF has only turned out to be a boon for these actors as these films only made them a bigger star and a better actor with every passing film, thereby helping them achieve greater heights. And last but not the least, we couldn't thank Adi Chopra enough for giving us an impeccable powerhouse of talent and energy, Ranveer Singh, who is the best thing to have happened to Bollywood after Ranbir Kapoor.

Mahesh Bhatt

While half of the nation's girls are thanking him for introducing 'serial kisser' Emraan Hashmi to Bollywood, the men couldn't thank him enough for launching Sunny Leone in B-town. But we would like to thank him for launching many such talented actors time and again. Right from Anupam Kher in 'Saaransh' to his own daughter Pooja Bhatt in 'Daddy', from Rahul Roy and Anu Aggarwal in musical blockbuster 'Aashiqui' to John Abraham in 'Jism', from Emraan Hashmi in 'Footpath' to the sexy siren Sunny Leone in 'Jism 2', Mahesh Bhatt has been an anchor to many aspiring actors, most of whom today are names to reckon with. Bhatt, who has an eye for true talent, has always been audacious enough to launch the maximum newcomers to the industry, film after film, and his confidence, we feel, lies in the content of his films. What we now need to wait and watch is when this maverick filmmaker would work with his talented actor-daughter Alia Bhatt who is the apple of every filmmaker's eyes these days! The day doesn't seem to be too far though!

Subhash Ghai

He is the true showman of Bollywood. After all, he showed the right direction to many aspiring actors in his over 40-year-long directorial journey and even gave the industry, quite a few gorgeous faces who went onto become stars and superstars in their own way. Ghai opened the window to glam world and stardom to some really talented actors like Madhuri Dixit, Meenakshi Sheshadri, Manisha Koirala and Mahima Chaudhury to name a few. For those not in the know, Jackie Shroff too was launched in showman's romantic drama, 'Hero' and Anil Kapoor too became a sought-after actor, thanks to Ghai's 'Meri Jung'. In fact, Anil Kapoor and Jackie Shroff's careers achieved greater heights after they appeared together in Ghai's blockbusters like 'Karma' and 'Ram Lakhan'. Although the filmmaker in him has taken a backseat these days, we wish he takes the directorial baton in his hand once again because we are eager to hear him shout, 'Lights, camera and action'!

Anurag Kashyap

His films generally make headlines for wrong reasons more than the right ones. After all, the filmmaker too happens to be in news more for the controversies he is involved in rather than the films he makes. But one cannot deny his path-breaking contribution to parallel cinema that has achieved greater heights, thanks to the 'intelligent' films he continues to make. However, what can be called his best and the biggest discovery is Nawazuddin Siddiqui whose life took a topsy-turvy turn after Anurag cast him as a protagonist in 'Gangs of Wasseypur' and its sequel. These two films changed the ball game for Nawaz who later went on to do pivotal roles alongside actors like Vidya Balan in 'Kahaani', Salman Khan in 'Kick' and 'Bajrangi Bhaijaan' and would seen creating more magic with Shah Rukh Khan in his forthcoming film 'Raees'. If Ranveer is the best thing to have happened to the commercial cinema, Nawaz is undoubtedly the parallel pride of Hindi cinema.

Ram Gopal Varma

Well, well! He is a genius in his own right, but he often loses the plot and goes completely off track as far as his professional life is concerned. But we will discuss that some other day. His contribution to Hindi cinema is absolutely commendable. After all, can you image Bollywood without films like 'Shiva', 'Rangeela', 'Satya', 'Sarkar' and 'Sarkar Raj'? And can you imagine Bollywood without Manoj Bajpayee who he discovered despite Manoj playing a miniscule role in Shekhar Kapur's 'Bandit Queen' and gave him Bhiku Mhatre, the role of a life time in 'Satya'? Although Urmila Matondkar had done films like 'Narsimha' and 'Chamatkar', she tasted success and stardom through RGV's 'Rangeela', 'Kaun', 'Daud', 'Satya' and 'Bhoot'. Even though RGV launched quite a few actors in his career and even re-launched them in subsequent films, most of them have sadly disappeared from the Bollywood scene.