Bollywood ace filmmaker Shashank Khaitan on Thursday announced that he is venturing into film production with the banner named ‘Mentor Disciple Films’.

Before making his directorial debut in 2014 with ‘Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania’, Kolkata-born Shashank assisted veteran filmmaker Subhash Ghai on movies like ‘Black and White’ and ‘Yuvvraj’.

Later while studying at a film school in Mumbai, he directed a movie titled ‘Sherwani Kaha Hai?’ in 2011, which remains unreleased, PTI reported from Mumbai.

In a social media post, the 39-year-old writer-director said he has always been fortunate to have outstanding mentors throughout his life and it is with this intention that he decided to help budding filmmakers.

“I am super happy to announce my foray into Production with ‘Mentor Disciple Films’. I have been blessed with outstanding mentors in every sphere of my life and with every story and film, under this banner, I hope to continue learning and giving back,” Khaitan wrote.

His first film as director, ‘Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania’ was backed by Karan Johar’s Dharma Productions, with whom he later collaborated on three other projects.

The commercial success of ‘Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania’, Varun Dhawan and Alia Bhatt, spawned another movie in the same universe titled ‘Badrinath Ki Dulhania’ with the same actor duo.

In 2018, Khaitan directed Ishaan Khatter and then debutante Jahnvi Kapoor in ‘Dhadak’, the Hindi adaptation of the acclaimed Marathi film ‘Sairat’.

Khaitan last helmed a short in the Netflix anthology ‘Ajeeb Daastaans’ (2021). He is currently filming for his next film ‘Mr Lele’, starring Vicky Kaushal, Kiara Advani and Bhumi Pednekar.