Even while working as an economist and statistician, he was actively involved with the English professional theatre circuit in
Delhi and Bangalore. He has acted in
Madness, adapted from
Paulo Coelho's
Veronica Decides To Die;
Manoj Mitra's
The Orchard of Banchharam;
Badal Sircar's
The Other Side of History; Sunil Ganguly's
Pratidwandi – The Adversary, adapted for the stage from
Satyajit Ray's
film of the same name and
Lucknow 76. He wrote and directed
Mindgame, an Indian adaptation of
Reginald Rose's
Twelve Angry Men, at the Alliance Francaise De Bangalore in 2006. In April 2008, he formed his own troupe, Pandora's Act, whose first production,
Feluda Pherot! at Rangashankara in July 2008 was a runaway success and was the first ever non-canonical dramatisation of Satyajit Ray's sleuth
Feluda. He was an assistant director, lyricist and actor in both
Anjan Dutt's
Madly Bangalee and
Aparna Sen's
Iti Mrinalini, in 2009. He has also written lyrics for films like
Cross Connection,
Le Chakka and
Josh, TV serials like
Coffee and More and
Dadagiri and non-film albums of
Usha Uthup.
2010–2012 In 2010 Mukherji directed his debut feature film, the award-winning blockbuster –
Autograph (starring
Prosenjit Chatterjee,
Indraneil Sengupta and
Nandana Sen) which was both critically acclaimed and commercially successful. The film won 41 awards and was an official selection at Abu Dhabi International Film Festival 2010, MIAAC Film Festival in New York 2010, Glasgow International Film Festival 2011 and
London Indian Film Festival 2011. In the same year he also made his acting debut on Bengali television in the
Rituparno Ghosh scripted mega serial
Gaaner Opare, produced by Ideas Entertainment. His work in 2011 included a major role in Anindya Banerjee's
Chaplin starring
Rudranil Ghosh and his second film, starring
Prosenjit Chatterjee,
Parambrata Chatterjee,
Raima Sen,
Abir Chatterjee and
Gautam Ghose, who returned to acting after a hiatus of 29 years. was recently the official selection at the Dubai International Film Festival and the closing film at the London Indian Film Festival, and had a 105-day run at the box office making it the biggest blockbuster of the year. has won 41 awards. His third feature film was
Hemlock Society, a romantic satire set at the backdrop of a school which teaches aspirants how to successfully commit suicide. It featured Parambrata Chatterjee and
Koel Mallick and won 21 awards.
2013–2016 Mukherji's fourth film,
Mishawr Rawhoshyo, based on
Kakababu with Prasenjit Chattopadhyay playing the lead character and
Indraneil Sengupta playing the role of Hani Alkadi, has been declared as one of the biggest blockbusters ever and the highest earning urban mainstream film. He has acted in films like
Dutta Vs Dutta,
Bapi Bari Jaa and the national award-winning
Shobdo. His fifth film
Jaatishwar, featuring
Prosenjit Chatterjee and
Jisshu Sengupta, is generally considered to be the best in his career and most critically acclaimed. It is the musical bridge between two centuries of Bengali culture and a biopic cum a musical cum a reincarnation drama. At the 61st National Awards 2014, the highest film honour in India, it won 4 national awards for Music Direction, Playback Singing, Costume and Make up. This was the highest tally for a film in India this year, and the second highest ever for a Bengali film. It also swept the Mirchi Music Awards in 2015 winning 7 awards. The following year at the 62nd National Awards 2015, Chotushkone won him the Best Director and Best Original Screenplay awards, along with winning the Best Cinematography. He also received the Young Achiever Award from Rotary International, the prestigious Shera Bangali Award from ABP Anando and the Shoilojanando Mukhopadhyay Memorial Award in 2012 for his contribution in the field of film direction. In 2013 he received the Uttam Kumar Memorial Award from the Government of West Bengal becoming the youngest director to achieve this. He has also received the oldest film award in India, the BFJA award, for remarkable contribution to Bengali Cinema in the last few years.
2017–2020 Mukherji has made his directorial debut in
Bollywood with the film
Begum Jaan which is a remake of his earlier
Bengali film
Rajkahini.
Vidya Balan plays the lead role of a brothel's madam during the
partition of India in 1947. He had two releases in 2018,
Uma and
Ek Je Chhilo Raja. Both featured
Jisshu Sengupta and were box office superhits. The former went to 10 film festivals around the world and won 6 awards while the latter won 23 awards and went to 7 film festivals around the world including Palm Springs International Film Festival. In 2018, it was reported that Mukherji will be directing a Junglee Pictures produced yet to be titled web-series in Hindi, based on the novel of noted novelist and blogger
Arnab Ray, The Mahabharata Murders. This will be his first foray into web-series direction. In 2019, he has three releases
Shahjahan Regency,
Vinci Da and
Gumnaami, the last two being both critical and commercial successes along with being a festival favourite.
Gumnaami won the Best Bengali Feature Film and Best Adapted Screenplay Awards at the 67th National Film Awards. The sequel of
Baishe Srabon, named
Dwitiyo Purush, released in January 2020, after which he had a long gap without releases due to the
COVID-19 pandemic. He has also completed another web-series,
Feluda Pherot, which is based on two
Feluda stories written by Satyajit Ray,
Chhinomostar Obhishaap and
Darjeeling Jomjomat.
2021–2024 In 2021 he had 4 releases, out of which 2 were Hindi films. He directed
Kakababur Protyaborton, which was based on the third film of the
Kakababu franchise, it had Prosenjit Chatterjee as Kakababu, Aryann Bhowmik, Anirban Chakrabarti in the lead roles. His next release was
X=Prem. A
black and white romance drama film with debutant actors, the film earned critical praise and received several awards and nominations at the
6th Filmfare Awards Bangla and
6th WBFJA Awards. His next projects that year were two Bollywood films:
Sherdil: The Pilibhit Saga and
Shabaash Mithu. The latter was the biography of one of the most influential Indian female cricketer
Mithali Raj. In 2023, he released
Dawshom Awbotaar, a
neo-noir crime thriller as the 4th installment
Srijit Mukherji's Cop Universe. It served as the prequel crossover of his previous films
Baishe Srabon and
Vinci Da. It became a huge box office success emerged as one of the highest grossing Bengali films of 2023. The film received multiple nomination and awards at the Filmfare Awards Bangla and
WBFJA Awards. His first release in 2024 was the
fantasy romantic comedy film Oti Uttam. For the first time ever in Indian Cinema, veteran actor
Uttam Kumar appeared in the movie through
Visual effects by using his scenes from his 56 existing old movies. His next release this year was a
biopic on the life of
Mrinal Sen. Titled
Padatik, it chronicles his active time and contributions to
Bengali cinema. His next thriller film titled
Tekka starring
Dev and
Rukmini Maitra released on the occasion Durga Puja 2024 and earned an 'organic blockbuster' tag. His next venture is
Feludar Goyendagiri (Season 2) which released on the occasion of Christmas 2024, digitally.
2025–present Srijit's next film
Shotyi Bole Shotyi Kichhu Nei released soon in January 2025. Then he had a Poila Baishakh release, with the sequel of
Hemlock Society,
Killbill Society, a romantic dark comedy film that released in April 2025. He also had a Durga Puja release that year, but in the digital space, with the second and final season of
Feluda Pherot, based on Jawto Kando Kathmandute by Satyajit Ray. Recently, an epic drama film titled
Lawho Gouranger Naam Re, based on the life and times of
Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu released on the occasion of Christmas 2025. Upcoming, he has a complete film in hand named
Winkle Twinkle, based on a play by
Bratya Basu, that is currently roaming in different festivals and is scheduled to release theatrically anytime in 2026. Another film by him is also announced, titled
Emperor vs Sarat Chandra, slated to release on 1 May 2026. ==Filmography==