Mumbai, June 29 (IANS): "Guddu Rangeela" director Subhash Kapoor, who started out as a journalist before turning director with "Say Salaam India", is happy that Vinod Kapri has also taken the same path.

Present at a special screening of Kapri's debut Bollywood feature film "Miss Tanakpur Haazir Ho", Kapoor said: "It's a matter of pride for me that director Vinod Kapri was also a journalist just like me. Seeing a journalist becoming a filmmaker is a pleasing feeling for me."

In the past too, journalists have tried their hand at filmmaking. Bhavna Talwar turned director with the critically acclaimed film "Dharm" after being a journalist, while noted journalist-film critic Khalid Mohamed went on to make films such as "Tehzeeb" and "Fiza".

A norm associated with journalist-tuned-directors is that they make films on various real-life issues concerning India.

Kapoor's "Phas Gaye Re Obama" was itself based on the impact of recession, while his "Jolly LLB" was a courtroom drama.

His forthcoming film "Guddu Rangeela" is also based on a real life honour killing case in Haryana. The film is releasing on July 3 and stars Arshad Warsi, Amit Sadh and Aditi Rao Hydari in lead roles.