Martin Scorsese

The repertoire: Almost five decades behind the megaphone and Marty’s Mean Streets continue to get meaner. Making one great movie after the other, the urgency in his storytelling hasn’t diminished one bit. And if The Departed was anything to go by, the man’s just getting warmed up

High Five: Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, Goodfellas, The Departed, Casino

Wow moment: There are so many but the opening scene in Raging Bull where Robert De Niro’s bloated and aged Jake La Motta rehearses the lines “So give me a stage/ Where this bull here can rage/ And though I could fight/ I’d much rather recite”

t2 rating: 9.5/10

Quentin Tarantino

The repertoire: The man wrote his way to movie history. It has always been QT the screenwriter who has set the stage for QT the stylebhai to weave his magic. And what magic it has been, challenging the rules of the Hollywood game at every step. From giving new life to sidelined actors like John Travolta, Pam Grier, Harvey Keitel and David Carradine to offering tribute to some rare forgotten cinema, there’s nobody quite like QT

High Five: Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, Jackie Brown, Kill Bill Vol 1, Kill Bill Vol 2

Wow moment: The scene in Kill Bill Vol 2 when Bill appears for the first time in the Bride’s wedding rehearsal. Great lines, great style, quintessential QT

t2 rating: 9/10

Steven Spielberg

The repertoire: A visionary, a businessman, an industry, Spielberg can carry different tags but it is the director in him which started it all. While his first innings was pathbreaking in every sense of the term — the dinosaurs did disturb some roadwork — it is in his second innings that the thinker in him came to the fore. From Schindler’s List to Munich, it’s a new Spielberg who doesn’t mind ruffling a few feathers here and there

High Five: Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, ET, Schindler’s List, Munich

Wow moment: Metaphorically, when the great white shark sprang out of the waters in Jaws, a director was born, one who changed the way Hollywood worked.

t2 rating: 9/10

Joel & Ethan Coen

The repertoire: They think together, they write together, they direct together (even though they take different credits in their movies) and they make some magic together. Giving edgy comedy a whole new definition, the Coen brothers today are considered to be amongst the most important film-makers of their generation, having asked many difficult questions in their inimitable style. And if the buzz around their latest No Country for Old Men is anything to go by, there is more to come

High Five: Fargo, The Man Who Wasn’t There, The Big Lebowski, Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?, Miller’s Crossing

Wow moment: The angel sequence in Oh Brother, Where Art Thou? when Clooney and company meet them on road

t2 rating: 8.5/10

Clint Eastwood

The repertoire: No wonder Warren Beatty was an angry man at one of the award functions last year. He confessed he couldn’t keep up with the pace of Clinty. Ever since Unforgiven hit the bull’s eye, yesteryear’s cowboy superstar has been simply unstoppable. Churning out one classic after the other, the evergreen star of cinema has almost started to look younger!

High Five: Million Dollar Baby, The Bridges of Madison County, Unforgiven, Mystic River, Letters from Iwo Jima

Wow moment: The Million Dollar Baby scene in the hospital where Clint Eastwood’s Frankie meets Hilary Swank’s Maggie for the last time

t2 rating: 9/10

Steven Soderbergh

The repertoire: It is difficult to believe that the man who made Traffic also made the Ocean’s movies. But that’s the genius of Soderbergh who shot to fame at Cannes with Sex Lies and Videotape. His greatest strength has been fearlessness to experiment, whether it is with form in a film like Full Frontal or with non-professional actors in a flick like Bubble. It is this versatility that finds him touted as tomorrow’s Spielberg

High Five: Traffic, Ocean’s Eleven, Erin Brockovich, Sex Lies and Videotape, Solaris

Wow moment: The arresting opening sequence of Traffic transporting you instantly to the Mexican desert where drugs are dealt like cards

t2 rating: 8.5/10

Francis Ford Coppola

The repertoire: It was a difficult choice to put him on this list given the number of years he’s been away but with the man making his new movie Youth Without Youth, there was no way The Godfather maker could be overlooked. The mafia movie and its sequels became so synonymous with Coppola that some of his other great work never got due recognition. Watch The Conversation for all the proof you need

High Five: The Godfather, The Godfather Part II, The Conversation, Apocalypse Now, The Outsiders

Wow moment: The last scene in The Godfather where Michael’s office door is closed as his wife watches on

t2 rating: 8.5/10

Christopher Nolan

The repertoire: He hasn’t put a foot wrong. From the moment he made the most bizarrely beautiful film about a man who loves following others (Following), Nolan has been the most intriguing director to hit Hollywood for some time. And then came Memento, a movie so momentous that it has countless websites dedicated to it, just to understand what exactly happened! Aamir Khan is trying too with the Ghajini remake

High Five: Memento, Insomnia, Following, Batman Begins, The Prestige

Wow moment: The opening credits of Memento when the polaroid picture fades out

t2 rating: 8/10

Ridley Scott

The repertoire: He’s really struggled in recent years with big movies like American Gangster and A Good Year getting universally panned but there’s no denying the versatility of Scott. Any man who can make both Thelma & Louise and Gladiator has to be special. Add Alien to that list and you have to take your hat off to Ridley

High Five: Alien, Thelma & Louise, Gladiator, Black Hawk Down, Blade Runner

Wow moment: The last scene of Thelma & Louise when the car is freeze-framed as it goes over the cliff. And you thought only John did it in Dhoom

t2 rating: 8/10

Michael Mann

The repertoire: He had the responsibility of directing Al Pacino and Robert De Niro together for the first time and he did generate some Heat. But it was Insider that made Mann one of the best new directors around. He has lived up to the promise making some great thrillers in Collateral and Miami Vice and even when he handled a sensational yet sensitive biopic like Ali, he didn’t disappoint

High Five: Heat, The Insider, Collateral, Miami Vice, Ali

Wow moment: In Heat, when Al Pacino and Robert De Niro face off for the first time ever in a coffee shop. It’s a war of words and everyone’s invited

t2 rating: 8/10