Who's the boss now?

Ayan Mukerji started out assisting his brother-in-law Ashutosh Gowarikar on Swades (2004) and later moved to assisting Karan Johar on Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna (2006) at Dharma Productions where he's become a staple filmmaker with two hit films, Wake Up Sid (2009) and Yeh Jawani Hai Deewani (2013).

Before making super-hit commercial films like Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai (2010) and The Dirty Picture (2011), Milan Luthria was an assistant to Mahesh Bhatt and for Dharmesh Darshan on Lootere (1993). His most recent film, Once Upon ay Time in Mumbaai Dobara! (2013), was a disappointment at the box office.

Filmmaker Advani had quite the storied run as an assistant director. As a youngster, he worked under Aziz Mirza, Saaed Mirza, Sudhir Mishra, Manjul Sinha and Kundan Shah on the acclaimed television series Naya Nukkad in 1994. After assisting Mishra on the film and with the screenplay on Is Raat Ki Subah Nahin (1996), he became Karan Johar's A.D. on Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (1998). He then directed his first film Kal Ho Na Ho (2003) for Dharma Productions.

Vikramaditya Motwane's directorial debut Udaan (2010) premiered at the prestigious 'Un Certain Regard' section at the Cannes Film Festival in 2010. Prior to that, Motwane assisted Sanjay Leela Bhansali on Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam (1999) and Devdas (2002) and went to work with Anurag Kashyap on Paanch (2003) and Dev.D (2009).

Mohit Suri was an assistant director to Vikram Bhatt on Raaz (2002) and other films before launching his own career with Zeher (2005) starring Shamita Shetty, his cousin Emraan Hashmi and Udita Goswami, who would later become his wife. His next film is an adaptation of Chetan Bhagat's popular novel Half Girlfriend. 

Writer-director Raj Kumar Gupta made a strong debut with Aamir (2008) starring Rajeev Khandelwal. He's most well-known for bringing to life the Jessica Lal murder case with the hard-hitting No One Killed Jessica (2011). Gupta assisted Anurag Kashyap on Black Friday (2004) and No Smoking (2007) before turning to direction.

Director Shaad Ali earned the unique position of remaking his mentor's films. Ali was assistant to Mani Ratnam on Dil Se.. (1998) and Alaipayuthey (2000) which he remade into his directorial debut Saathiya (2000) starring Rani Mukerji and Vivek Oberoi. His upcoming feature is also a Mani Rathnam remake, O Kadhal Kanmani (2015) will be turned into a Hindi film starring Aditya Roy Kapur and Shraddha Kapoor.

Director Abhishek Chaubey has worked in close association with Vishal Bhardwaj on his films from Makdee (2002) to Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola (2013), both as a writer and assistant director. In 2010, he turned director with the critically acclaimed Ishqiya featuring Naseeruddin Shah, Vidya Balan and Arshad Warsi. He followed it up with a sequel, Dedh Ishqiya (2014), and his next film, Udta Punjab, is one of the most anticipated films of 2016.

Apoorva Lakhia was an assistant director on Mira Nair's Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love (1996) and worked on several Hollywood projects from The Ice Storm (1997) to A Perfect Murder (1998). He worked as an assistant director on Ashutosh Gowarikar's Oscar-nominated Lagaan (2001) and directed his first film the next year, Mumbai Se Aaya Mera Dost, starring Abhishek Bachchan and Lara Dutta.

Starting with Kaizad Gustad's Bombay Boys (1998) and then assisting her brother Farhan on Dil Chahta Hai (2001) and Lakshya (2004), Zoya Akhtar moved on to writing and directing Luck By Chance (2009), an insider's look at the Hindi film industry. In turn, Farhan Akhtar also started out as an assistant to Pankaj Parashar on Himalaya Putra (1997), Akshaye Kumar's debut in Hindi cinema.

Before churning out 100 crore blockbusters like Singham (2011) and Chennai Express (2013) and blowing up cars in the process, Rohit Shetty was an  teenage assistant director to filmmaker Kuku Kohli on Phool Aur Kaante (1991), Suhaag (1994) and Zulmi (1999). There, he met actor Ajay Devgn who would go on to star in most of Shetty's hits.

Reema Kagti began her career as a director with multi-starrer Honeymoon Travels Pvt. Ltd. (2007) and divided audiences with the twisty Talaash (2012) starring Aamir Khan, Kareena Kapoor and Rani Mukerji. Kagti had been a former assistant director to several leading filmmakers starting with Rajat Kapoor on his unreleased debut film Private Detective (1997) and later Farhan Akhtar on Dil Chahta Hai (2001), Ashutosh Gowarikar on Lagaan (2001) and Mira Nair on the Indian production unit of Vanity Fair (2004).

Like Reema Kagti and Apoorva Lakhia, Kiran Rao was a fellow assistant Ashutosh Gowarikar's Lagaan (2001). Rao also assisted Mira Nair on her Golden Globe nominee Monsoon Wedding (2001) before writing and directing her first film, Dhobi Ghat starring Aamir Khan, Prateik and Monica Dogra. Audiences are still waiting for her next feature film.

Neeraj Ghaywan followed his stint as an assistant director to filmmaker Anurag Kashyap on Gangs of Wasseypur (2012) and Ugly (2013) with his own debut film, Masaan (2015). Starring Richa Chadda, Sanjay Mishra and newcomers Vicky Kaushal and Shweta Tripathi, the film won the FIPRESCI Prize at the Cannes Film Festival last year when it screen in the Un Certain Regard section.

Before being known as the director of big budget set pieces like Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam (1999), Devdas (2002) and Bajirao Mastani (2015), filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali was Vidhu Vinod Chopra's assistant director on Parinda (1989), 1942: A Love Story (1994) and Kareeb (1998). Since then, Bhansali has ventured into other departments of filmmaking from producing, editing to music direction as well.

Primarily known as an actor, Rajat Kapoor has been steadily making feature films since 1997. He previously assisted Mani Kaul and Kumar Sahani for around three years and was greatly influenced by their style of filmmaking on his films like Private Detective (1997) and Ankhon Dekhi (2014).

Writer-director Amit Kumar's debut film, Monsoon Shootout, with Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Vijay Varma first screened at the Cannes Film Festival in 2013 in its Midnight Screening section. Prior to that, he was an associate director to Asif Kapadia (director of the celebrated documentaries Senna and Amy) on The Warrior (2001) starring Irrfan Khan. His upcoming film credit includes directing the second unit on the Hollywood feature, Colonia, with actors Emma Watson and Daniel Brühl to be released in 2016.

The multi-faceted Tigmanshu Dhulia started out as a casting director before moving to assist to Pradeep Kishen on Electric Moon (1992) and Ketan Mehta on Sardar (1993). His directorial debut, Haasil (2003), was well-received by audiences and critics alike. Since then, he has written and directed the National Award-winning Paan Singh Tomar (2012), as well as other films, and returned to acting with Gangs of Wasseypur (2012) and Shahid (2013).

The National Award winner, Kamal Swaroop's Om Dar-B-Dar (1998) never actually released in India but has gone on to achieve cult status nevertheless. Swaroop got the concept for Om Dar-B-Dar from working on the sets of Gandhi (1982), on which he assisted filmmaker Richard Attenborough on the Academy Award-winning Best Picture in 1983.

While several of Karan Johar's assistants have gone on to become directors, Johar himself began his career in the film industry assisting Aditya Chopra on the blockbuster Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (1995) alongside Aditya's younger brother Uday Chopra. Three years later, he directed his first film with same lead pair as DDLJ, Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol.