Sidharth Malhotra (born 16 January 1985) is an Indian film actor and former model who appears in Bollywood films. At the age of 18, Malhotra began a career as a model. Dissatisfied with the profession, he quit and subsequently assisted Karan Johar on the 2010 film My Name Is Khan. He made his acting debut with Johar's comedy-drama Student of the Year (2012), for which he received a Filmfare Award for Best Male Debut nomination. In 2014, Malhotra portrayed leading roles in two commercially successful filmsâ€"the romantic comedy Hasee Toh Phasee and the thriller Ek Villain.
Life and career
Malhotra was born on 16 January 1985 in Delhi to Sunil, a former employee of the Indian Merchant Navy, and Rimmi Malhotra, a homemaker. He was schooled at Delhi's Don Bosco School and Naval Public School, and later attended the Bhagat Singh College. At the age of 18, Malhotra dabbled in modelling “just for fun and easy pocket moneyâ€; he performed several photo shoots and fashion shows but decided to quit after four years as he was dissatisfied with the profession. Interested to pursue an acting career, he successfully auditioned for a film to be directed by Anubhav Sinha. However, the film was shelved, following which he worked as an assistant director to Karan Johar on the 2010 film My Name Is Khan.
In 2012, Malhotra made his acting debut with Johar's Student of the Year alongside Varun Dhawan and Alia Bhatt. He was cast as Abhimanyu Singh, a scholarship student of limited financial means, who competes with his wealthy best friend Rohan (played by Dhawan) to win an annual school championship. Film critic Rajeev Masand of CNN-IBN considered Malhotra's performance to be "earnest", adding that he had "a pleasing presence." Student of the Year was a financial success, grossing 700 million (US$11Â million) domestically.
Malhotra was next paired opposite Parineeti Chopra and Adah Sharma for the romantic comedy Hasee Toh Phasee (2014), which tells the love story of a drug-abusing scientist and an under-confident aspiring businessman. Mohar Basu of Koimoi found his performance to be "restrained" and described his chemistry with Chopra as "lively" and "heartfelt"; Saibal Chatterjee of NDTV praised his screen presence and compared it to the early work of Amitabh Bachchan. The film performed moderately well at the box office, with global revenues of 620 million (US$9.7 million). His second release in 2014 was the Mohit Suri-directed romantic thriller Ek Villain. Malhotra was cast as Guru, 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: "Sidharth Malhotra is watchable even if he has a hard time doing menace â€" he just seems so nice and wholesome all the time, even when he is crunching bones." The film was generally perceived to be plagiarised from the Korean film I Saw the Devil, although Suri dismissed the allegations. The film eventually emerged as a major commercial success with domestic revenues of over 1 billion (US$16 million). The box office performance of the film established Malhotra as one of the most successful among the new generation of Bollywood actors.
As of October 2014, Malhotra is filming alongside Akshay Kumar, Jacqueline Fernandez and Jackie Shroff for a remake of the Hollywood film Warrior (2011), entitled Brothers, to be directed by Karan Malhotra. He has also committed to play a superhero in Vikramaditya Motwane's social drama Bhavesh Joshi, and a time traveler in debutant director Nitya Mehra's untitled science fiction film, opposite Katrina Kaif.
In the media
In 2013, Malhotra performed at a concert in Hong Kong alongside his Student of the Year co-stars Varun Dhawan and Alia Bhatt. He co-hosted the 2013 Stardust Awards ceremony with Dhawan and Ayushmann Khurrana, and also hosted a segment of that year's Filmfare Awards ceremony. Also in 2013, Malhotra performed at a special event alongside Dhawan, Bhatt, Roy Kapur, Shraddha Kapoor and Huma Qureshi to raise funds for the flood-affected victims of Uttarakhand. He also shot for a PETA advertisement to create awareness about dogs.
Malhotra was ranked 12 in The Times of India '​ "50 Most Desirable Men" listing of 2012. He was also voted as the most good looking debutant of 2012 by a UK poll. Malhotra is the first man to feature twice on the cover of Men's Health India.
Filmography
Awards and nominations
Other honours
- 2014: Times of India's Most Desirable Men of 2013 #11
- 2013: Times of India's Most Desirable Men of 2012 #12
- 2013: The Times of India Hotlist Most Promising Newcomer 2012Â :#3
- 2013: The Times of India 50 Handsome Hunks in 100 years of Indian Cinema :#27
- 2014: Vogue Beauty Awards Most Beautiful Man