Yes, he’s a real doctor. Vishal Chaturvedi got his MBBS in 2006 and did his time as a medical officer before he quit. Then came fourteen years of pitching, writing for other people and waiting. Hanuman Ansh, the Neem Karoli Baba film he wrote, directed and co-produced for about ₹2 crore, is what finally ended the wait, and it stayed in cinemas for roughly three months.
Here’s the twist people like. He didn’t take a rupee as his fee. He asked for an equal share of the profit instead, which is why so many people are now googling his net worth. It’s all below, from his birthday and family to the money.
If you’re in a rush, this bit covers the basics.
| Quick question | Quick reply |
|---|---|
| Full name | Dr Vishal Chaturvedi, or विशाल चतुर्वेदी in Hindi |
| Birthday | 2 November (he keeps the year to himself) |
| Age | Somewhere in his early-to-mid forties |
| Grew up in | Lucknow, UP |
| Studied | MBBS at BRD Medical College in Gorakhpur |
| Known as | Director of Hanuman Ansh, and also a writer, cook and author |
| Company name | Swambhu Media Network |
| Married or not | He has never said anything about it |
Vishal Chaturvedi Age, And A November Birthday:
On 2 November every year, his friends, his publisher and the members of his Hanuman Chalisa group post birthday wishes for him. Nobody mentions which birthday it is, though, and he has not shared his year of birth.
We can guess from his MBBS. He finished it in 2006, and in India most students complete MBBS at around 23 to 25. So he was probably born in the early 1980s, which means he is in his early or mid forties now. His grey hair and beard also suggest the same.
Lucknow, And A House Full Of Doctors:
Vishal grew up in Lucknow. Some profiles say his family’s roots are near Jhansi. His family is mostly from the medical side, and a few profiles name his father as Dr Shashikant Chaturvedi. About his mother or siblings, he has not said anything publicly so far.
So it was almost decided that he would become a doctor, and he did. But in his teenage years he was already into music, poetry and writing. In college he took part in cultural programmes and learnt singing at Bhatkhande in Lucknow. Even now he sings; in Hanuman Ansh he sang and wrote the song Hriday Mein Jinke Sita Ram.
MBBS In Gorakhpur, Then A Wrong Turn:
He did his MBBS from BRD Medical College, Gorakhpur, and passed out in 2006. After that he got posted as a medical officer in the hills near Haldwani.
In the same year he was going to Nainital with friends by car. The weather became bad, they took a wrong turn and reached a temple they had never heard of. It was Kainchi Dham, the ashram of Neem Karoli Baba. According to him, the rain stopped just as the car reached there. He calls this his divine detour, and later he wrote a book with the same name, Divine Detour: That Changed My Life.
Fourteen Years Of Waiting:
Around 2011 he left medicine. His plan was to make a film within two or three years, but it actually took him around fourteen years.
He left music also at some point and focused on writing. He worked with director Anubhav Sinha for about three years, and later became head of content at Karma Media and Entertainment. He has a script lab with more than 50 scripts. During Covid he did 82 episodes of a digital debate show called 10MinDebate with Vivek Agnihotri. Same as Zeishan Quadri, he started as a writer and only later got a chance to direct. He also runs The Indian Thing, a page about ghar ka khana, since cooking is something he really loves.
Here are his writing credits so far:
| Title | Year | His part in it |
|---|---|---|
| Rab Kare Tu Bhi | 2021 | Writer |
| Fauji 2 | 2024 | Creator and writer |
| Hanuman Ansh | 2026 | Writer, director, producer, singer and lyricist |
| RamBola | Announced | Writer, director and producer |
The Covid time was very hard for him. Within a few days he lost his best friend’s mother, one cousin and his mentor. Being a doctor, he still could not save them, and that hurt him a lot. In the second wave he started a Hanuman Chalisa room on Clubhouse where people could pray for their family or just talk. Around 12,000 people joined it. Ragini Sona, who later became a producer of his film, also met him there.
How Hanuman Ansh Actually Got Made:
It all began with a rejection. He went to a big OTT platform with the Neem Karoli Baba story and even told them how Baba is connected with people from Apple and Meta. A senior person there stopped him and said, as he remembers it, “stories about Babas are always negative.” After that day he decided he will make this film no matter what.
For around one and a half years he studied the old film Jai Santoshi Maa (1975). He wrote the full screenplay by hand, without any phone or laptop in the room, and the first scene alone took him about 45 days.
Arranging money was the toughest part. One investor left and the budget became almost half. He did not take any fee for writing or direction, put in his own money and gave his office for the work. Ragini Sona sent ₹25 lakh in the early days, Namrata Singh also came on board, and Anupriya Nagar gave ₹50 lakh when money was needed for post-production.
The shoot was finished in 22 days, mostly in Chitrakoot. Only vegetarian food was allowed on set, everyone read the Hanuman Chalisa daily, and he himself ate only fruits for about four and a half months. On the first day itself the actor who was playing Baba fell ill, so the role went to his second assistant director, Shobhinaw Satyaa, after a long screen test.
Some numbers he has shared about the shoot:
| What | How much |
|---|---|
| Shooting days | 22 |
| Writing the first scene | About 45 days |
| Eating only fruits | About four and a half months |
| His fee | Nothing |
| Gap after leaving medicine | Around 14 years |
| Budget | About ₹2 crore as per makers, around ₹1.5 crore as per him |
The Week It Nearly Flopped:
The film came out on 7 August 2026 and earned only around ₹10 lakh on day one. Big films took away its screens, and he says the shows came down from 250 to about 25. After the first week he really thought the film had flopped. He asked people in Bollywood for help, but he says nobody helped.
Then he started travelling with Shobhinaw and music composer Rishi Pathak, beginning from Surat. A theatre owner in Surat saw the audience’s reaction and started calling other theatres. After that Cinépolis took the film from about 40 screens to more than 2,000, Hombale Films released it overseas, and it stayed in theatres for nearly 90 days. Its worldwide collection was reported at more than ₹450 crore and the India net crossed ₹300 crore. Sony bought its Hindi streaming and satellite rights, so you can now watch it on Sony LIV.
His Connection With Neem Karoli Baba:
For him, the film was never just a project. He says the idea sat with him for about 20 years after that first stop at Kainchi Dham. His research started loosely around 2009, got serious in 2016 and 2017, and took him to Vrindavan, Akbarpur, Neeb Karori village and Lucknow.
He’s a Hanuman devotee first. The Chalisa club, the daily recitation on set, the fruit diet and the book all come from the same place. He’s also clear that Hanuman Ansh isn’t a straight biopic. It’s the first part of a planned three-part story drawn from his memoir, and part two is already in the works.
Is Vishal Chaturvedi Married?
He keeps his personal life completely out of view. There’s no wife or child he has talked about in interviews, and his social media is all films, food and faith, so there’s nothing reliable to report on a marriage. Some profile sites list him as unmarried, but he hasn’t confirmed that himself.
Height, Look And Style:
His height and weight have never been published. What’s easy to spot is the look: a mop of curly salt-and-pepper hair, a grey beard and thick black-rimmed glasses, usually paired with block-printed shirts or kurtas.
Here’s what we can actually say about how he looks.
| Feature | What you’ll notice |
|---|---|
| Height | Not published |
| Weight | Not published |
| Hair | Curly, salt-and-pepper |
| Beard | Full, mostly grey |
| Eyes | Dark, behind thick black frames |
| Style | Printed shirts and kurtas over suits |
Vishal Chaturvedi Net Worth And What Hanuman Ansh Earned Him:
He hasn’t shared his net worth, and there’s no audited figure. What’s on record is the deal behind the film.
Because he waived his fee, he became the fourth equal partner alongside producers Ragini Sona, Namrata Singh and Anupriya Nagar. After the distributors take their cut and expenses and taxes are paid, the profit is split four ways. Anupriya Nagar estimated her own quarter at around ₹50 crore, and reports put his share at the same figure, though she called it a projection since the streaming, satellite and music money was still being settled at the time.
Put together, this is where his money comes from.
| Income source | How it adds up for him |
|---|---|
| Hanuman Ansh profits | An equal quarter share, reported at around ₹50 crore |
| New films | RamBola with Mahaveer Jain Films, plus the Hanuman Ansh sequel |
| Writing | TV and film scripts, including Fauji 2 |
| His book | Divine Detour: That Changed My Life |
| Businesses | Swambhu Media Network, Holy Cow Home Productions and The Indian Thing |
If that profit share is paid out as reported, his net worth would sit well into crores, a long way from the doctor who took his first film with no fee.
What’s Next: RamBola And Part Two:
His next announced film is RamBola, about Goswami Tulsidas, which he’ll write and direct with Mahaveer Jain Films backing it. He’s also confirmed that the Hanuman Ansh story continues, following Maharaj-ji through Firozabad, Agra and Mathura. His long-term goal is to create 100 original stories in his lifetime.
His handle is the same almost everywhere, which makes him easy to find.
| Platform | His handle |
|---|---|
| @filmervishal | |
| X (Twitter) | @filmervishal |
| Dr Vishal Chaturvedi | |
| Film page | @hanumanansh on Instagram |
Trivia Fans Love:
- He wrote the whole screenplay by hand, then photographed the pages for assistants to type up.
- He’s credited as both singer and lyricist on Hriday Mein Jinke Sita Ram.
- The film got a clean U certificate with no cuts, though the team had expected UA.
- During the shoot, a langur kept returning to the set after the Hanuman idol was installed.
- The team later found out that one of their locations had once hosted Neem Karoli Baba.
- He’s met Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath with the Hanuman Ansh team.
FAQs:
A doctor-turned-filmmaker who wrote, directed and co-produced Hanuman Ansh.
His birth year isn’t public, but his 2006 MBBS puts him in his early-to-mid forties. His birthday is 2 November.
Yes. He completed his MBBS from Gorakhpur in 2006 and worked as a medical officer.
He hasn’t spoken publicly about a wife or children.
He took no fee but holds an equal quarter of the profits, reported at around ₹50 crore.
RamBola, a film on Goswami Tulsidas, plus the next part of Hanuman Ansh.
On Sony LIV, which holds its Hindi streaming rights.