Devashish Makhija Height, Age, Girlfriend, Family, Biography & More

Some Lesser Known Facts About Devashish Makhija

• Devashish Makhija’s ancestral families came to Kolkata after the partition of India in 1947 and settled in the Park Circus area of Kolkata.
  

  Devashish Makhija’s mother with her family after the Partition of India

• Before he was born, the area became crowded with Bangladeshi refugees where he saw a man being chased and killed with swords when he was only eight.
  

  A childhood photo of Devashish Makhija (holding bats) with his mother and sister

• On 6 December 1992, when Babri Masjid was demolished in Ayodhya, he survived an attack on himself as he, his mother, and other Hindu families living in the building were attacked.

• He said in the interview that his mother had sent her daughter to their relative’s house nearby, and his father had gone away for some work and could not return in time.

• During the night, the Muslim people, who lived near their building, attacked them and were about to enter their house before running away after seeing a nearby Air Force patrol jeep.

• In an interview, Makhija said that the attack that night changed his viewpoint on many things in the world, and he became more realistic in his approach towards life.

• He later wrote a film script on this accident, naming it Paanch Rupaye Ka Anda. The script could not turned into a film due to lack of funds.
  

  Poster of the script of Paanch Rupaye Ka Anda

• During his school years, he took part in several co-curricular activities such as debates, singing, and dancing. He also used to do Karate and became national champion in 1988.
  

  Devashish Makhija practising Karate during his school days

• While studying economics in college, he lost interest in his studies. He applied for a design course at the National Institute of Design but could not get any admission.
  

  Devashish Makhija during his college days

• During his college years, he did an internship at an advertising agency. After completing his formal education, he worked at Mccann (formerly Mccann Erickson).
  

  Devashish Makhija (in blue jacket) when he was working in the advertising field

• He lost interest in his job after a few months and moved to Mumbai (formerly Bombay) to pursue a career in the entertainment field.

• During his initial days in Mumbai, he shared a room with 6 people in Nagari Nivara Parishad, a slum rehab colony, behind Film City.

• He used to design houses and roamed with his friend Rajat Nagpal when someone gave him a book titled The Film Industry Index which had phone numbers of every filmmaker and production house.

• Makhija called on every number mentioned in that book which took him around 5 months. He often used to eat Parle G with Dal when he did not have enough money to eat.

• Noted film director Anurag Kashyap was the first director to offer him a chance to work with him. He worked on a film project with him for three months which later got shelved.
  

  Devashish Makhija when he was working as an assistant director

• Later, he researched for six months and created a detailed plot for the film which was later titled Black Friday; he earned a monthly salary of Rs 6000 at that time.

• He later worked on many films such as Jaane Tu… Ya Jaane Na. In 2005, he got a chance to direct a film by Jaideep Sahni and Aditya Chopra; however, the project was later shelved.
  

  Devashish Makhija while working as a director

• More than 20 film projects have been shelved during his career. He wrote a story on M. F. Husain which was to be directed by Husan’s son, Owais, but the idea was later dropped.

• While writing the scripts for different plots, Makhija often used to write short stories. In a bid to sustain his career and manage his expenses, he started writing stories for publishing brands.

• Two of his books titled When Ali Became Bajrangbali and Why Paploo Was Perplexed became very popular among the children.
  

  Cover of a few books written by Devashish Makhija

• In an interview, he said that he often reads about violent revolts. He claimed that he read about 7000-8000 pages of various materials about Naxalism and the Kashmir issue.

• Yash Raj Films offered him a 3-year deal to make romantic films; however, he rejected the deal as he wanted to make films about real-life issues.
  

  Devashish Makhija while researching Naxalism

• He later became popular when his debut film Oonga, made half in Hindi and half in Odia, had its world premiere at the New York Indian Film Festival in 2013.

• In 2015, he authored a collection of 49 short stories titled Forgetting under the publishing brand HarperCollins.
  

  Devashish Makhija during the release of his book, Forgetting

• Makhija has made many short films including El’ayichi (2015), Taandav (2016), and Cycle (2021).

• He later made critically acclaimed films such as Ajji (2017), Bhonsle (2018) and Joram (2023).
  

  Devashish Makhija (centre) while promoting his film

• He launched his production house Makhijafim Private Limited in 2021. His first production film was Joram in 2023.

• Most of Makhija’s films have received positive ratings from critics; however, his films have not done well at the box office.

• In an interview, he revealed that he uses a computer, iPad, and mobile to do most of his writing work. He said that he works in such a way that the least number of papers is required.
  

  Devashish Makhija working on his iPad

• In 2024, news went viral that mentioned that Devashish Makhija had become bankrupt as his films failed at the box office, and he was begging his landlord to not evict him. ^[3]Hindustan Times

• Later, Makhija wrote in his Facebook post that during the interview with Pranav Chokhani, he discussed the financial difficulties that he faced during his career and wrote that a few parts of the 2-hour interview were made into a headline that misrepresented his situation. ^[4]Facebook – Devashish Makhija
  

  Facebook post by Devashish Makhija

• He is a nature lover.

• In March 2024, he appeared on Pranav Chokhani’s YouTube channel, where he talked about the hardships in his life and his financial struggles. He revealed that he suffered a heart attack at the age of 31, and while shooting for the film Ajji, he was diagnosed with prostate cancer. ^[5]The Indian Express