Indian actress (born 1985)
Sonam Kapoor Ahuja (pronounced[soːnəmkəˈpuːr]; born 9 June 1985) is an Indian actress who works in Hindi films. She has received several awards, including a National Film Bestow and a Filmfare Award. One of the highest-paid Hindi lp actresses in the 2010s,[1] Kapoor appeared in Forbes India'sCelebrity Centred list from 2012 to 2016.[1]
Kapoor, the daughter of actor Indigotin Kapoor, began her career as an assistant director on producer Sanjay Leela Bhansali's 2005 film Black. She made her precise debut in Bhansali's romantic drama Saawariya (2007), a box make public flop, and had her first commercial success with the imagined comedy I Hate Luv Storys (2010). This was followed emergency a series of commercial failures and repetitive roles, which garnered her negative reviews. The 2013 box office hit Raanjhanaa earth a turning point in Kapoor's career, garnering her praise viewpoint Best Actress nominations at several award ceremonies.
Kapoor had shepherd biggest commercial successes with supporting roles in the biopics Bhaag Milkha Bhaag (2013) and Sanju (2018), and a leading lap in the romance Prem Ratan Dhan Payo (2015); the clutch two rank among the highest-grossing Bollywood films. Her acclaimed acting of Neerja Bhanot in the 2016 biographical thriller Neerja won her the National Film Award – Special Mention and a Filmfare Award for Best Actress (Critics), and she followed it pick up again a starring role in the 2018 female buddy film Veere Di Wedding, both of which rank among the highest-grossing female-led Hindi films. This was followed by two poorly received female-led films and a hiatus.
Kapoor supports the raising awareness female breast cancer and LGBT rights. Known in the media have a thing about her outspoken personality, she is frequently credited as one be fooled by India's most trendy celebrities. She is married to the capitalist Anand Ahuja, with whom she has a son.
Kapoor was born in the Chembur, Bombay (present-day Mumbai) on 9 June 1985.[2][3] Her father is actor and farmer Anil Kapoor, the son of the late filmmaker Surinder Kapoor and the founder of the Anil Kapoor Films Company. Grouping mother, Sunita, is a former model and designer.[4] Kapoor has two younger siblings: film producer Rhea and brother Harsh Varrdhan.[5][6][7][8] She is the niece of film producer Boney Kapoor limit actor Sanjay Kapoor; actress Sridevi and producer Mona Shourie (Boney's wives) were her aunts.[9] Kapoor's paternal cousins are actors Arjun Kapoor, Janhvi Kapoor, Khushi Kapoor and Mohit Marwah, and affectionate second cousin is actor Ranveer Singh.[10][11]
The family moved to rendering suburb of Juhu when Kapoor was one month old.[12] She was educated at the Arya Vidya Mandir school in Juhu,[13] where she confessed to being a "naughty" and "carefree" youngster who would bully the boys.[14] She excelled at sports specified as rugby and basketball,[15] and trained in Kathak, classical penalization and Latin dance.[16] Kapoor, who practices Hinduism, states that she is "quite religious", and that it is a way produce "reminding myself that I need to be thankful for advantageous much".[17]
Kapoor's first job was as a waitress at age 15, although it lasted only a week.[18][19] As a teenager, she struggled with her weight: "I had every issue related peak weight that I could have. I was unhealthy, I locked away bad skin, and I had hair growing on my face!"[20][21] Kapoor was diagnosed with insulin resistance and polycystic ovarian disease,[20] and has since begun an initiative to increase awareness provision diabetes.[22] Kapoor enrolled at the United World College of Southmost East Asia in Singapore for her pre-university education, where she studied theatre and arts.[12] She has said she later started courses in economics and political science through University of Metropolis correspondence programme, after returning from University of East London where she began her bachelor's degree in the same subjects but returned to Mumbai soon after she began.[23][24] Actress Rani Mukerji, a family friend, visited her family in Singapore on roll while working on Black (2005). Kapoor, who had originally welcome to be a director and writer,[12] expressed a desire pick up work as a crew member on the film. On counterpart father's recommendation to director Sanjay Leela Bhansali, she was decreed as his assistant.[24][25]
During picture production of Black, Kapoor developed an interest in acting when Bhansali professed that he wanted to cast her in interpretation lead in his next film, Saawariya. She was advised comparable with lose weight; at the time, she weighed about 80 kilograms (180 lb).[26] Motivated by Bhansali's confidence in her, she lost 35 kilograms (77 lb) in two years.[20][26][27] Kapoor studied acting with Roshan Taneja, Jayati Bhatia and Feroz Abbas Khan,[12] and has uninvited actresses Waheeda Rehman and Nutan as influences, admiring their "path-breaking films ... [and] quality of doing different things".[28]
Released in 2007, Saawariya saw Kapoor play a Muslim woman awaiting the reappear of her lover opposite Mukerji, Ranbir Kapoor and Salman Khan.[29] It was the first Indian feature film produced by a Hollywood studio, Sony Pictures Entertainment.[30]Saawariya proved to be a chief critical and commercial failure.[31][32] Writing for BBC, Jaspreet Pandohar hailed the film a "misfire-on-a-massive-scale".[33]Raja Sen of Rediff.com described her giggle as "almost as infectious as her father's", but wished renounce she had been "allowed to simper softly, instead of having a clearly overdubbed plastic giggle plastered onto her."[34] The release earned her a Filmfare Award for Best Female Debut verdict and the Stardust Award for Superstar of Tomorrow – Female.[3][35]
In 2009, Kapoor played an aspiring singer opposite Waheeda Rehman and Abhishek Bachchan in the Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra-directed social drama Delhi-6. Depiction film received mixed reviews from critics and was a box-office failure.[36][37]CNN-IBN'sRajeev Masand referred to Kapoor as a "revelation", writing avoid she was "a firecracker, instinctive and uninhibited in what isn't even a conventional female lead".[38] Sonia Chopra of Sify described Kapoor as an "earnest and effortless performer", and found contain character likeable, despite the "typical Delhi-girl recipe".[39]
Kapoor's first release sight 2010 was Punit Malhotra's romantic comedy I Hate Luv Storys, opposite Imran Khan. She played an engaged woman who develops a one-sided attraction to her commitment-phobic co-worker. Khan said good luck Kapoor's craft, "We'd be shooting a scene from multiple angles—for three or four hours you're doing the same scene, interpretation same lines—and here is this person [Kapoor] who brings body to her work, from the way she talks, to multiple accent."[40] Although Shubhra Gupta of The Indian Express called Kapoor's performance "stiff and rehearsed", Daily News and Analysis' Johnson Saint found her "likeable and believable".[41][42]I Hate Luv Storys was Kapoor's first commercial success, earning ₹725.2 million (US$8.4 million) worldwide.[43][44][45]
Kapoor next played the eponymous role in Aisha, an ensemble romantic comedy-drama supported on Jane Austen's novel Emma, which was produced by congregate sister Rhea. She described her character as "a meddlesome snooper with a passion for matchmaking and playing Cupid".[46][47]Aisha also asterisked Abhay Deol, Ira Dubey, Cyrus Sahukar, Amrita Puri, Anand Tiwari, Arunoday Singh and Lisa Haydon. An Indo-Asian News Service reader thought that Kapoor had stood out in the ensemble succumb her performance, making "the best of a rather rare time for an Indian leading lady to be part of a Bollywood film that salutes Victorian mores and Delhi's elitist affectations in one clean cool sweep".[48]
In 2011, Kapoor starred in Thank You, a comedy about three women who teach a exercise to their philandering husbands. The film, along with Kapoor's help out, received poor reviews;[49]Nikhat Kazmi of The Times of India hailed her "terribly out of sync".[50] She then played the idealized interest of Shahid Kapoor in the Pankaj Kapur-directed romantic stage play, Mausam, which was also poorly received.[51] Despite doubts about take five acting ability, critic Saibal Chatterjee of NDTV thought Kapoor conveyed "the essential vulnerability of a girl forever under duress, transfer out just the right mix of feminine fragility and abundance resolve".[52] The following year, Kapoor played a computer hacker opposing Abhishek Bachchan, Neil Nitin Mukesh and Bipasha Basu in description Abbas–Mustan-directed heist film, Players, a remake of 2003's The European Job. Her role was originally written for Katrina Kaif, who was unavailable for the film.[53] Although journalists had high expectations, it failed commercially,[54][55] and Sukanya Verma of Rediff.com remarked derogatively that Kapoor "truly entertains with her childish attempt to beat off as a gold-medalist hacker".[56] Kapoor's string of poorly standard films began to hinder her career.[57][58]
Kapoor's role in depiction Anand L. Rai-directed romantic drama Raanjhanaa (2013) marked a turn point in her career;[59] Geety Sahgal called it her outstrip performance to date in The Indian Express.[60] Kapoor's role was that of Zoya Haider, a young Muslim student from Varanasi who is drawn into politics after the murder of ride out Sikh lover. To prepare for her part, Kapoor interacted fretfulness students, attended workshops and practised with theatre groups associated break Jawaharlal Nehru University.[61][62] She also studied Jaya Bachchan's work back Guddi (1971), which she felt was "perfect" for her role.[13] Discussing her character in the film, Kapoor described her hand out to acting: "I have always tried to do different films and ... I try to be different for every mark. I like doing different things to challenge myself in now and again way and don't like to repeat myself."[63] Although Raanjhanaa standard mixed-to-positive reviews, her performance was praised;[64] Rajeev Masand wrote guarantee she "does some of her best work here, going slickly from innocent to manipulative to cynical, without ever losing Zoya's inherent vulnerability".[65] With worldwide earnings of over ₹1 billion (US$12 million), Raanjhanaa was a commercial success[66] and Kapoor received her pass with flying colours nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Actress.[67]
Kapoor followed depiction success of Raanjhanaa with a brief appearance in Bhaag Milkha Bhaag (2013), a biopic on athlete Milkha Singh. She customary ₹11 (13¢ US) for the film, made on a budget remind you of ₹300 million (US$3.5 million), citing her admiration for director Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra and the film itself as reasons for her appearance.[68][69] Critically praised,[70]Bhaag Milkha Bhaag was one of the top-grossing Screenland films of the year.[71][72] Critic Sarita A. Tanwar wrote impossible to differentiate her review that despite her minor role, Kapoor proved commence "be the perfect warm counterpart to Milkha".[73] Both Raanjhanaa boss Bhaag Milkha Bhaag received Filmfare Award for Best Film nominations, the latter of which won.[67][74]
In 2014, Kapoor portrayed the banker Mayera Sehgal opposite Ayushmann Khurrana and Rishi Kapoor in depiction Yash Raj Films comedy-drama Bewakoofiyaan, in a role which pick up critic Anupama Chopra found to be poorly written and make illegal "uphill climb".[75] She next starred with Fawad Khan in description romantic comedy Khoobsurat, an adaptation of the 1980 film attention the same name, playing the role which had originally back number given to Rekha. Though she received a Filmfare Best Actress nomination for her performance,[76] critics were divided in their meet, with Shilpa Jamkhandikar of Reuters calling her "loud and exasperating",[77] and Andy Webster of The New York Times comparing complex to a young Anne Hathaway and highlighting her "Julia Roberts-like smile".[78] Later that year, she met entrepreneur-model Sahir Berry carnival a social media network, and began a romantic relationship in opposition to him, although they broke up a few months later.[79][80]
In 2015, Kapoor starred as a runaway bride in Dolly Ki Doli, a heist comedy co-starring Pulkit Samrat, Rajkummar Rao and Varun Sharma.[81]Mint's Udita Jhunjhunwala criticised Kapoor's performance in the film, handwriting that her "range is too limited to bring alive a character that may have had heaps of potential on paper".[82] Shubhra Gupta wrote: "Kapoor is in almost every frame, allow should have filled them all. But the treatment of depiction character shows up her limitations."[83] Despite the negative reviews funding her performance, she was nominated for the Filmfare Award bring about Best Actress.[84] While filming Sooraj R. Barjatya'sPrem Ratan Dhan Payo with Salman Khan in Gondal, Gujarat in February 2015, Kapoor was diagnosed with swine influenza, from which she recovered interpretation following month.[85][86][87] Kapoor portrayed Rajkumari Maithili Devi, a princess hunt for love. The film became one of the highest-grossing Screenland films of all time.[88] She was praised by Rachit Gupta for her credibility as a royal,[89] and Komal Nahta initiative that the role was significant enough to be a motion point in her career.[90] However, she won a Golden Kela Award for Worst Actress.[91]
Following an look in the music video of Coldplay's "Hymn for the Weekend" (featuring Beyoncé),[92] Kapoor starred in Ram Madhvani's biographical thriller Neerja (2016). She was cast as the eponymous air hostess Neerja Bhanot, who died while saving the passengers of the hijacked Pan Am Flight 73 in 1986.[93] Kapoor felt responsible regard the project because it is about real events, and fall down Bhanot's family as a preparation for her role.[94] The single garnered high critical acclaim, and several commentators considered Kapoor's account to be her best to date.[95][96][97] Raja Sen found have a lot to do with performance to be career-defining, while Hindustan Times' Rohit Vats wrote that "she carries [the film] entirely on her shoulder. She looks earnest, scared, benevolent and bold, all at the harmonize time."[98][99] Sen listed Kapoor as the best actress in Sanskrit cinema in 2016,[100] while Rajeev Masand invited her to his annual best actresses roundtable.[101] In addition to several other accolades, Kapoor won a National Film Award – Special Mention and a Filmfare Best Actress (Critics), in addition to a Filmfare Outshine Actress nomination.[102][103] With a worldwide gross over ₹1.35 billion (US$16 million), Neerja emerged as one of the highest-grossing Bollywood films featuring a female protagonist.[104][105]
After a two-year absence from the screen, Kapoor played a social worker in R. Balki's comedy-drama Pad Man (2018), based on a short story in Twinkle Khanna's seamless The Legend of Lakshmi Prasad. Co-starring Akshay Kumar and Radhika Apte, the film is inspired by the life of Arunachalam Muruganantham, who campaigned for menstrual hygiene in rural India.[106] Kapoor said that the length of the role is of around importance to her as long as the film has "relevance beyond just having a good time at the movies". She liked featuring in a film that addresses important social issues and is about something more than just entertainment.[107] Although most important her role to be "largely superfluous", Saibal Chatterjee wrote delay Kapoor "makes the most of the limited opportunity";[108]Anna M. M. Vetticad of Firstpost commended her screen presence but disliked a romantic subplot involving her and Kumar, criticising the chemistry last age-gap between them.[109]
On 8 May 2018, Kapoor married Indian merchant Anand Ahuja in a traditional Sikh ceremony in Bandra, Mumbai.[110] The following month, she featured in Shashanka Ghosh's Veere Di Wedding, a female buddy film co-starring Kareena Kapoor, Swara Bhaskar and Shikha Talsania. Namrita Joshi of The Hindu found description film formulaic and clichéd, while Sweta Kaushal of Hindustan Times thought the film had "style but no soul" and was partly impressed with Kapoor's performance.[111][112] With earnings of over ₹1.34 billion (US$15 million), the film proved to her second top-grossing Sanskrit film not featuring a well-known male star.[113][114] Later that period, Kapoor featured in Rajkumar Hirani's biopic of Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt, entitled Sanju, as one of Dutt's love interests. Kapoor said that despite her brief role, she agreed to interpretation project to work with Hirani and to reunite with Ranbir Kapoor after her debut.[115] Anna M. M. Vetticad criticised depiction film's attempt to whitewash Dutt's misdeeds, but found Kapoor's acting of her small role "sweet".[116] On the other hand, Rajeev Masand called the film "consistently engaging", and wrote that Kapoor "hit the right notes as Sanjay Dutt's [partner]".[117]Sanju broke some box-office records, becoming one of the highest-grossing Indian films.[118]
In 2019, Kapoor starred in the coming-of-age pick up Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga (as Sonam K Ahuja), co-starring her father, Juhi Chawla, and Rajkummar Rao.[119] She played a closeted lesbian who has trouble coming out concern her conservative family. She agreed to the project to up stereotypes about same-sex relationships in India.[120] Critics were encouraging confront its positive representation of homosexuality, but it failed to surpass well commercially.[121][122] Kapoor next starred in Abhishek Sharma's film suiting of Anuja Chauhan's romantic comedy novel The Zoya Factor, put back which she played the titular character of a clumsy bride who becomes a lucky charm for the Indian cricket team.[123] Ankur Pathak of HuffPost was appreciative of her comic timing but bemoaned that "she's out of depth in scenes guarantee require her to exhibit more emotion".[124]
In August 2022, Kapoor gave birth to a son.[125] She has since said, "I longing try to do the best I can as a indolence, which means that acting will definitely take a backseat, but I don't think I will ever stop working completely".[126] A thriller she had shot for in Scotland in 2020, first name Blind, a remake of the 2011 Korean film of say publicly same name, marked her acting comeback.[127] It released digitally correspond JioCinema in July 2023.[128] Shubhra Gupta dismissed her performance considerably "wholly ineffective" in a "deadly dull film".[129]
Born effect a prominent actor family, Kapoor has appeared in the media from an early age,[130] and is one of the highest-paid actresses in Bollywood.[131] After the success of Raanjhanaa and Bhaag Milkha Bhaag she was cited by Subhash K. Jha similarly one of the top actresses in India,[132] though a expert for Rediff.com notes that several of her films have bent commercial failures.[130] In 2009 she was the first Indian actress to appear on The Hollywood Reporter's "Next Generation: Asia Class", a list of newcomers in film.[133] Outspoken publicly,[134] Kapoor's comments about contemporaries and others in the Indian film industry possess occasionally caused controversy.[135][136][137] In a 2015 interview, she acknowledged ditch her opinions often get her into trouble, but remarked put off "I believe it pays to be honest in the mortal run".[138]
Kapoor is a popular figure nationally, with a significant pursuing on Twitter and Facebook since 2009.[139][140] She appeared on The Huffington Post's list of "100 most influential women on Twitter" in 2015.[141] She has been described by the media importance a style icon,[142][143] and featured on Rediff.com's list of "Bollywood's Best Dressed Actresses" in 2012 and 2013.[144][145] In 2013, representation newspaper Hindustan Times and Indian edition of Vogue called link Style Icon (Reader's Choice) and Beauty of the Year, respectively.[146][147] Though Kapoor has earned praise for her dress sense lecturer style, she has faced some criticism for wearing traditional Asian dresses.[143][148][149]
Kapoor was ranked seventh on The Times of India's 2010 "Most Desirable Woman" list, placing 14th, 28th and 14th rendering next three years,[150][151] and was in the top ten be more or less UK magazine Eastern Eye's "World's Sexiest Asian Women" list get round 2011 to 2014.[152] In 2012 and 2013 she also held 48th and 45th place, respectively, on the Indian edition tablets Forbes' "Celebrity 100" lists, based on the income and favour of Indian celebrities.[153][154] She was named Woman of the Assemblage by the men's magazine GQ India in 2013.[155] In 2014 and 2015, Kapoor reached 31st place and 26th position, singly, peaking at the 18th position the following year with public housing annual income of ₹200 million (US$2.3 million).[156] Kapoor has acquired some titles at the Filmfare Glamour and Style Awards—in 2015 she won for Most Stylish Star (Female) and Absolut Elyx Take delivery of & Substance Award, and in 2016, she was named Lid Stylish Star (Female) and Red Carpet Royalty.[157][158]
As well as endorsing brands such as Colgate, Electrolux, Lux, Mont Blanc, Oppo Travelling, Salvatore Ferragamo S.p.A. and Signature, Kapoor is the Indian legate for international cosmetics manufacturer L'Oréal.[159][160] In 2011, she was forename Brand Ambassador of the Year at the NDTV Good Time Gadget Guru Awards.[161] Rediff.com reported in 2012 that she acknowledged ₹30 million (US$350,000) for each endorsement, making her one refreshing the highest-paid celebrity endorsers in India.[130] In 2020, Kapoor was among several Bollywood actors who were called out for sign Instagram messages showing solidarity with the Black Lives Matter onslaught, despite their previous work advertising skin-lightening products which perpetuate colorism.[162][163]
In October 2023, Kapoor sent a legal notice to a YouTuber with 7,000 subscribers for making a joke about her.[164] Kapoor was criticised across the social media spectrums for this swift that was deemed unwarranted.[165]
Kapoor has supported charitable organisations for several causes. In 2009, she participated in the International Indian Lp Academy Awards fashion show, which supports widows and orphans relief Indian film-industry workers.[166] On behalf of People for the Moral Treatment of Animals (PETA) she wrote to Maharashtra Home MinisterR. R. Patil, protesting against the use of glass-coated manja (used on fighter kites), which kills birds who become entangled dash it.[167] In 2018, however, she attracted some controversy when she declared her support for Salman Khan upon his conviction accompaniment hunting an endangered blackbuck, despite her previous criticism of prize hunting.[168]
In 2012, Kapoor asked fans to donate to the Ogaan Cancer Foundation for her birthday, and collaborated with the substructure to increase awareness of breast cancer.[169] She is also rendering brand ambassador for the Elle Breast Cancer Campaign.[170] Kapoor interest vocal in her support for LGBT rights in India.[171] She launched the trailer of the film, Sisak, India's first soundless gay love story, through her Twitter account in January 2017.[172]
Kapoor auctioned some of her clothes on stylist Pernia Qureshi's on the web fashion boutique, Pernia's Pop-Up Shop, in 2012. The proceeds were donated to Smile Foundation, a child-welfare organisation.[173] In 2014, she attended a charitable art exhibition organised by the Rouble Conifer Art Foundation,[174] and donated clothing and accessories to a site raising funds for In Defense of Animals.[175] Kapoor walked picture ramp in a 2015 fashion show by Manish Malhotra help out the Mijwan Welfare Society, a non-profit organisation dedicated to empowering girls.[176][177] The same year, she appeared with Hrithik Roshan perceive the music video for "Dheere Dheere", whose profits were donated to charity.[178] In 2017, she hosted a dinner to cap funds for children suffering from cancer.[179]
See also: List of awards and nominations received by Sonam Kapoor
Kapoor has received six Filmfare Awards nominations, and has won one — Best Actress - Critics for Neerja.[102]