Shraddha Kapoor (born 3 March 1987) is an Indian actress and singer who works in Hindi-language films. She has been featured in listings of the most popular[2][3] and the highest-paid actresses in India[4][5] and is one of the most followed Indian actresses on Instagram. She has been featured in Forbes India's Celebrity 100 list since 2014 and was featured by Forbes Asia in their 30 Under 30 list of 2016.

The daughter of actor Shakti Kapoor, she began her acting career with a brief role in the 2010 heist film Teen Patti, and followed it with her first leading role in the teen drama Luv Ka The End (2011). Kapoor gained wide recognition for playing a singer in the commercially successful romantic drama Aashiqui 2 (2013), for which she received a nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Actress. The following year, she portrayed a character based on Ophelia in Vishal Bhardwaj's critically acclaimed drama Haider (2014), an adaptation of William Shakespeare's tragedy Hamlet. Kapoor established herself with starring roles in the romantic thriller Ek Villain (2014), the dance drama ABCD 2 (2015) and the action drama Baaghi (2016).[6][7] Following a series of poorly received films, her highest-grossing releases came with the comedy horror Stree (2018), the action thriller Saaho (2019), and the comedy-drama Chhichhore (2019).

Early life and background

Kapoor was born and raised in Mumbai. On her father's side, Kapoor is of Punjabi descent, and on her mother's side, she is of Marathi and Konkani ancestry. Her maternal grandfather Pandharinath Kolhapure, (the nephew of Deenanath Mangeshkar) belonged from Kolhapur and her maternal grandmother hailed from Panaji, Goa.[9][10][11] In an interview with The Hindustan Times, Kapoor revealed that, she was raised as a Marathi as her maternal relatives lived in Maharashtra.[12] She has said that she went through a tomboyish phase as a child and described herself as having a strong attitude, because of which she was deliberately picking fights with boys.[13]

Kapoor's family members include her father Shakti Kapoor and mother Shivangi Kapoor, her elder brother Siddhanth Kapoor, her two aunts Padmini Kolhapure and Tejaswini Kolhapure are all actors in Indian Cinema. She is the great-niece of Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhosle, Meena Khadikar, Usha Mangeshkar and Hridaynath Mangeshkar.[14] Hailing from a family of actors, Kapoor desired to become an actress since a young age. Wearing her parent's clothes, she used to rehearse film dialogues and dance to Bollywood songs in front of the mirror. She also accompanied her father to various shooting locations in her childhood. During one of David Dhawan's shoots, Kapoor befriended actor Varun Dhawan, to play with him,[15] and they were holding a torch pretending it to be a camera while delivering film lines to each other,[16][17] and they were also dancing to Govinda's film songs.[18]

Career

Acting debut, struggles and breakthrough (2010–2016)

Kapoor made her acting debut in the 2010 drama Teen Patti, alongside Amitabh Bachchan, Ben Kingsley and R. Madhavan. She played the role of a college girl. The film received generally negative reviews, though her performance was better received. Preeti Arora, writing for Rediff.com stated that: "[t]hough a bit raw, she has a lot of potential."[31] Nikhat Kazmi reviewed: "Shraddha Kapoor makes an interesting debut as the edgy youngster who sheds her specs for sleaze, with alacrity."[32] Kapoor was nominated for the Filmfare Award for Best Female Debut, but the film failed to do well at the box office.[33][34][35] After her debut, she signed a three-film deal with Yash Raj Films and featured in their 2011 teen comedy Luv Ka The End, with Taaha Shah.[36] Kapoor portrayed the lead role of a teenage student who plots against her boyfriend after he cheats on her.[37] The film underperformed at the box office and received mixed reviews from critics.[38] However, Kapoor's performance received a positive critical reception. Taran Adarsh wrote: "Shraddha is a revelation, catching you unaware with a confident performance. She's electrifying in the sequence when she breaks down after getting to know the true intentions of her lover."[39] For her performance, Kapoor received the Stardust Searchlight Award for Best Actress.[40] Kapoor was subsequently offered the lead female role in Aurangzeb as a part of her deal with Yash Raj Films. However, she signed on to Vishesh Films' Aashiqui 2 instead, thereby cancelling the three-film contract with Yash Raj Films.[36]

In 2013, Kapoor found her breakthrough role in Mohit Suri's romantic musical drama Aashiqui 2, the sequel to the 1990 film Aashiqui. She was cast as Aarohi Keshav Shirke, a small-town bar singer who becomes a successful playback artist with the help of a popular male singer (played by Aditya Roy Kapur). The film was a major box office success with a global revenue of ₹1.09 billion (US$15 million).[41][42] Film critic Anupama Chopra called Kapoor a "real triumph" and added that her "porcelain face has a haunting vulnerability."[43] However, Vinayak Chakravorty of India Today wrote that she "looks pretty [though] fails to add [...] spark."[44] Kapoor received several nominations in the Best Actress category, including one at the Filmfare Awards.[45] That year, she also appeared in a guest appearance for the romantic comedy Gori Tere Pyaar Mein, playing the fiancée of Imran Khan's character.[46]

Kapoor next reunited with Suri for the thriller Ek Villain (2014), for which she also sang the song "Galliyan".[47] The film tells the story of a hardened criminal (played by Sidharth Malhotra) whose terminally ill wife (played by Kapoor) is brutally murdered by a serial killer. The film was generally perceived to be plagiarised from the Korean film I Saw the Devil, although Suri claimed that it was an original film.[48] In her review, Raedita Tandon of Filmfare called the film a "gritty, engaging thriller", and stated that Kapoor was a revelation in it.[49] The film eventually emerged as a major commercial success with domestic revenues of over ₹1 billion (US$14 million).[50] Her second release that year was Vishal Bhardwaj's critically acclaimed drama Haider, an adaptation of William Shakespeare's Hamlet, set during the Kashmir conflict of 1995.[51] She played the Ophelia-based character, a journalist named Arshia, opposite Shahid Kapoor and Tabu. Writing for Deccan Chronicle, critic Kusumita Das praised Kapoor's effort in capturing the varied nuances of her character and noted that her portrayal was "surprisingly composed".[52] Also that year, Kapoor performed an item number in the Karan Johar-produced thriller Ungli.[53]