Sidharth Malhotra

Sidharth Malhotra (Hindi pronunciation: [sɪˈd̪ʱːaːrt̪ʰ məlˈɦoːt̪ra]; born 16 January 1985) is an Indian actor who works in Hindi films. He is the recipient of several accolades, has received nominations for two Filmfare Awards, and appeared in Forbes India's Celebrity 100 list from 2016 to 2018.

He began his career as a fashion model but left it to pursue acting, working as an assistant director to Karan Johar in My Name Is Khan (2010). Malhotra made his acting debut with Johar's teen film Student of the Year (2012), a commercial success that earned him a nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Male Debut. He went on to star in a string of popular films including the romantic comedy Hasee Toh Phasee (2014), the thriller Ek Villain (2014), and the family drama Kapoor & Sons (2016).

This early success was followed by a career downturn, with critical and commercial setbacks such as A Gentleman, Ittefaq (both 2017), Aiyaary (2018), and Jabariya Jodi (2019). He made a strong comeback with his acclaimed portrayal of Vikram Batra in the war film Shershaah (2021), for which he received a nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Actor. He has since found commercial success with the romantic comedy Param Sundari (2025).

Beyond acting, Malhotra is a brand ambassador for several products and companies. He is married to actress Kiara Advani, with whom he has a daughter, Saraayah Malhotra.

Early life and work

Malhotra was born in Delhi, India into a Punjabi family, to Sunil Malhotra, a former captain in the Merchant Navy, and Rimma Malhotra, a homemaker. His father was a Hindu while his mother is Sikh, and he identifies with both religions, growing up being influenced by Ramayana stories through his paternal grandmother while he frequented Delhi's Gurdwara Bangla Sahib due to his mother's influence.

Malhotra was educated at Don Bosco School (Alaknanda, New Delhi), and at Naval Public School, Delhi. He then graduated from Shaheed Bhagat Singh College, Delhi. At the age of 18, he began modelling. Although he was successful, he decided to quit after four years because he was dissatisfied with the profession.

Career

Early work and breakthrough (2012–2016)

Keenly interested in pursuing a film career, Malhotra successfully auditioned for a film to be directed by Anubhav Sinha. However, the film was shelved, and he instead worked as an assistant director to Karan Johar on the 2010 film My Name Is Khan. In 2012, he made his film debut with Johar's teen drama Student of the Year alongside newcomers Varun Dhawan and Alia Bhatt. He was cast as Abhimanyu Singh, a scholarship student, who competes with his wealthy best friends to win an annual school championship. Film critic Rajeev Masand of CNN-IBN considered his performance to be "earnest", adding that he had "a pleasing presence". Student of the Year was a financial success, grossing ₹1.09 billion (US$13 million) Worldwide. The film earned him several nominations including Filmfare Award for Best Male Debut and won him the Stardust Award for Breakthrough Performance – Male.

Following a year-long absence from the screen, Malhotra starred opposite Parineeti Chopra in the 2014 romantic comedy Hasee Toh Phasee, which tells the love story of a scientist and an under-confident aspiring businessman. Saibal Chatterjee of NDTV praised his screen presence and compared it to the early work of Amitabh Bachchan. While, Sukanya Verma found him to be "immensely likeable" as Nikhil. The film performed moderately well at the box office, with global revenues of ₹620 million (US$7.3 million). In the Mohit Suri-directed romantic thriller Ek Villain, he played Guru Divekar, a hardened criminal whose terminally-ill wife (played by Shraddha Kapoor) is murdered by a serial killer (played by Riteish Deshmukh). Shubhra Gupta of The Indian Express reviewed his performance as "watchable even if he has a hard time doing menace — he just seems so nice and wholesome all the time, even when he is crunching bones." The film became a commercial success with worldwide revenues of over ₹1.7 billion (US$20 million). The box office performance of the film established him as one of the most promising new actors of Hindi cinema.

Malhotra next appeared in a 2015 remake of the 2011 American film Warrior, titled Brothers, directed by Karan Malhotra and co-starring Akshay Kumar. The film received negative reviews and under-performed at the box office. Malhotra's next release, the Shakun Batra-directed family drama Kapoor & Sons (2016), proved to be a critical and commercial success, grossing ₹ 1.53 billion worldwide. Featuring an ensemble cast including Fawad Khan, and Alia Bhatt, the film tells the story of two brothers of contrasting personalities (Malhotra and Khan) who return home to their dysfunctional family after their grandfather suffers from a cardiac arrest. A reviewer for India Today thought that Malhotra was overshadowed by Khan in the film, though Namrata Joshi of The Hindu wrote that "he holds his own with his solid presence and vulnerable glances".

Career fluctuations (2016–2020)

Malhotra followed the success of Kapoor & Sons with a starring role in the romantic comedy Baar Baar Dekho alongside Katrina Kaif, playing a time-travelling mathematician. Directed by Nitya Mehra, the film was poorly received and Shubhra Gupta was critical of his "one-note performance". Later in 2017, he starred in dual roles for the first time in the action comedy A Gentleman with Jacqueline Fernandez from the writer-director duo Raj Nidimoru and Krishna D.K., which was produced by Fox Star Studios; although highly anticipated, it opened to a poor reception. Rachit Gupta of Filmfare stated Malhotra does everything expected from a "commercial film hero". Both films were box-office bombs.

In a 2017 remake of the 1969 mystery film Ittefaq, Malhotra starred alongside Sonakshi Sinha and Akshaye Khanna. Released in 2017, the film was positively received by critics, where a critic from India Today praised his performance but cited Khanna as the "star of the film". but failed at the box office with a lifetime collection of ₹ 500 million. Neeraj Pandey's Aiyaary (2018) featured Malhotra along with Manoj Bajpayee and Rakul Preet Singh. The film opened on a note of ₹ 30 Million and collected ₹ 183.1 million. In a mixed review, Rohit Vats of Hindustan Times stated, "As an earnest apprentice, Malhotra begins well but can’t hold on to it for long. Like most of the other actors, he too falls prey to a confused screenplay."

Malhotra's two releases of 2019 were poorly received and were deemed box office failures. He first starred in the romantic-comedy Jabariya Jodi, his second collaboration with Parineeti Chopra. The film had negative reviews and was considered a flop. Nandini Ramnath felt his character was too wispy to leave any traces. His second appearance was in Milap Milan Zaveri's action film Marjaavaan, co-starring Ritesh Deshmukh and Tara Sutaria. Ronak Kotecha criticised his "one-note" character but was appreciative of his "honest performance".

Shershaah and subsequent film projects (2021–present)

In 2021, Malhotra had a lead role in the biographical war film Shershaah, based on the life of the Indian army officer Vikram Batra. Malhotra portrayed dual roles of Vikram Batra opposite Kiara Advani and his brother Vishal Batra. After several delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the film premiered on Amazon Prime Video. It received mixed reviews from critics. Praise was directed at Malhotra's performance in particular, with Saibal Chatterjee writing that he "has what it takes to flesh out a real-life martyr who has left behind a larger-than-life aura". Shershaah was the most-watched film on Prime Video in India at the time of its release. The film also earned him his first nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Actor.