Nikkhil's film career spans over twenty five years. He began assisting art-house film directors, Saeed Mirza, Kundan Shah, and
Sudhir Mishra. Subsequently, he worked under
Dharma Productions, the production house of the late
Yash Johar, father of
Karan Johar and
Yash Raj Films. Advani started his career by assisting
Saeed and
Aziz Mirza in directing Naya Nukkad (1994), and his very first outing as a co-screenplay writer for
Iss Raat Ki Subah Nahin (1996) was critically appreciated. Then, he was an assistant director and assisted Karan Johar in his first two directorial projects,
Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (1998) and
Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham (2001). Advani also had an acting guest appearance in Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, along with
Farah Khan during the Neelam Show sequence. Similarly, he assisted
Aditya Chopra on
Mohabbatein (2000). Advani made his directorial debut with the critically acclaimed film
Kal Ho Naa Ho (2003), is a
romantic comedy-drama film starring
Jaya Bachchan,
Shah Rukh Khan,
Saif Ali Khan, and
Preity Zinta, with
Sushma Seth,
Reema Lagoo,
Lillete Dubey, and
Delnaaz Paul in supporting roles. The film received positive critical feedback and was commercially successful, and was the highest-grossing Indian film of the year. It explores several themes, such as the depiction of
non-resident Indians,
inter-caste marriage, terminal illness, and homosexuality through innuendo and
homosocial bonding. It won two
National Film Awards, eight
Filmfare Awards, thirteen
International Indian Film Academy Awards, six
Producers Guild Film Awards, three
Screen Awards, and two
Zee Cine Awards in 2004. Advani directed and co-wrote the screenplay for
Salaam-e-Ishq (2007) an Indian
romantic drama film directed by Advani, it featured an
ensemble cast of
Salman Khan,
Priyanka Chopra,
Anil Kapoor,
Juhi Chawla,
Akshaye Khanna,
Ayesha Takia,
John Abraham,
Vidya Balan,
Govinda,
Shannon Esra,
Sohail Khan and
Isha Koppikar in lead roles. The film weaves 6 love stories together thanks to the relationships of the people within it. The film was Advani's second directorial venture after
Kal Ho Naa Ho (2003) and the unofficial remake of Hollywood film
Love Actually (2003). In 2009, Advani directed
Chandni Chowk to China, an
action comedy film that stars
Akshay Kumar and
Deepika Padukone in the lead roles with
Mithun Chakraborty and
Hong Kong action cinema actor
Gordon Liu. The film revolves around a vegetable cutter from
Chandni Chowk in
Delhi who finds himself on an adventure in China after the residents of an oppressed village deem him to be the
reincarnation of a slain Chinese revolutionary. The film was distributed in the U.S. and co-produced by
Warner Bros. It is
Warner Bros. Pictures first Hindi film. Released on 16 January 2009, it was the third highest-grossing film of the year at the Indian Box Office. Following this Advani produced
Jaane Kahan Se Aayi Hai (2010), a
Bollywood science fiction romance film directed by
Milap Zaveri. It stars
Riteish Deshmukh,
Jacqueline Fernandez,
Sonal Sehgal, and Ruslaan Mumtaz in lead roles. In 2006, Advani directed and wrote the story and screenplay
Patiala House (2011) starring
Rishi Kapoor,
Dimple Kapadia,
Akshay Kumar and
Anushka Sharma in the title roles. Advani is a National Award-winning filmmaker whose children's film
Delhi Safari (2012) was India's first 3-D Stereoscopic animation feature. It advocated for wildlife conservation and is currently being developed into a full-fledged franchise in Hollywood. After this release, Advani partnered with Monisha Advani and Madhu Bhojwani to form
Emmay Entertainment, a motion picture production company. The first feature film produced by Emmay Entertainment was
D-Day (2013), a film directed by Advani, in association with DAR Motion Pictures, which was released on 19 July 2013, which was received with positive reviews along with a few awards. Advani's recent directorial work has been produced under the
Emmay Entertainment banner, founded by Monisha Advani, Madhu Bhojwani, and himself. The production house is one of Mumbai's leading production companies creating innovative and edgy content for both feature films and Web and is currently working with
Disney,
Fox Star India,
Netflix,
Amazon Prime, and
Sony. Headlined by Emmay Entertainment, the production house released films like
Airlift (2016), starring
Akshay Kumar and
Nimrat Kaur, based on true-life events of the evacuation of 170,000 Indians from Kuwait during the first Gulf War. Airlift is produced by
T-Series, Cape of Good,
Emmay Entertainment, and Abundantia Entertainment. The film was their first to cross 1 billion on the box office and also their first to receive a
National Film Award. Advani then teamed up with
Siddharth Roy Kapur under the banner of
UTV Motion Pictures to produce & direct
Katti Batti (2015) a romantic comedy-drama film starring
Imran Khan and
Kangana Ranaut in the lead roles. For his next film, Advani directed
Hero (2015) a
romantic action film co-written by Umesh Bist and himself, a remake of
Subhash Ghai's 1983 blockbuster film
of the same name. The film starred debutantes
Sooraj Pancholi and
Athiya Shetty, Advani's latest release was
Batla House (2019), an
action thriller film written by
Ritesh Shah. Inspired by the
Batla House encounter case that took place on 19 September 2008, the film stars
John Abraham as a police officer named Sanjeev Kumar Yadav, the film follows who played a crucial role in the encounter. The story showcases the encounter and in its aftermath, Sanjeev's struggle to catch the fugitives and prove the
encounter wasn't a fake one while dealing with nationwide hatred and
post traumatic stress disorder. The film was theatrically released in India on 15 August 2019 during
Independence Day weekend. It became commercially successful at the box office. In addition to his directorial work, he has produced several films by other directors under the Emmay banner. Like
Airlift (2016),
Lucknow Central (2017),
Satyameva Jayate (2018),
Baazaar (2018),
Marjaavaan (2019),
Indoo Ki Jawani (2020),
Bell Bottom (2021),
Satyameva Jayate 2 (2021). ==Other ventures==