Shraddha Kapoor (born 3 March 1987) is an Indian actress and singer who works in Hindi films. 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.
Kapoor gained wide recognition for playing a singer in the commercially successful romantic drama Aashiqui 2 (2013).
For which she received several accolades including a Film fare nomination for the 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), all of which rank among her biggest commercial successes. She followed it by starring in a series of commercially unsuccessful films, including Rock On 2 (2016) and Haseena Parkar (2017).
In addition to acting in films, Kapoor has sung several of her film songs. She is the celebrity endorser for several brands and products, and in 2015, she launched her own line of clothing. She participates in stage shows and concerts. Kapoor features in listings of the most attractive and popular celebrities in India.
Early life and background
Kapoor was born and raised in Mumbai in a mixed ethnic family. On her father’s side, Kapoor is of Punjabi descent, and on her mother’s side, she is of Marathi ancestry. 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.
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, and her grand-aunts Lata Mangeshkar and Asha Bhosle. 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.
Shraddha Kapoor Biography
During one of David Dhawan’s shoots, Kapoor befriended actor Varun Dhawan, to play with him, and they were holding a torch pretending it to be a camera while delivering film lines to each other, and they were also dancing to Govinda’s film songs.
Kapoor did her schooling at Jamnabai Narsee School and at the age of 15, she shifted to the American School of Bombay, where she was schoolmate with actress Athiya Shetty and actor Tiger Shroff. In an interview with The Times of India, Shetty revealed that they all used to participate in dance competitions.
Believing herself to be competitive at the age of 17, Kapoor played soccer and handball as she thought these games were challenging. When interviewed by The Hindustan Times in 2016, both Kapoor and Shroff admitted that they had a crush on each other in school, but never proposed to each other.
Kapoor then enrolled in Boston University to major in psychology, but subsequently left in her freshman year to appear in her debut film after she was seen on Facebook by producer Ambika Hinduja, who cast her for a role in Teen Patti.
In an Interview with the Filmfare magazine, Shakti Kapoor revealed that Kapoor was barely 16 years old when she was offered her first film by Salman Khan. After he was fascinated by one of her school play performances, but Kapoor, considering herself to be studious, rejected the proposal as she was also aspiring to become a psychologist.
Kapoor was trained as a singer since her childhood as her maternal grandfather (the cousin of singers Lata Mangeshkar and Asha Bhosle), and mother are classical singers.
Career
Debut and early work (2010–11)
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: Though a bit raw, she has a lot of potential.” Nikhat Kazmi reviewed: “Shraddha Kapoor makes an interesting debut as the edgy youngster who sheds her specs for sleaze, with alacrity.”
Kapoor was nominated for the Filmfare Award for Best Female Debut, but the film failed to do well at the box office. 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.
Kapoor portrayed the lead role of a teenage student who plots against her boyfriend after he cheats on her. The film underperformed at the box office and received mixed reviews from critics. However, Kapoor’s performance received a positive critical reception. Taran Adarsh wrote.
Shraddha is a revelation, catching you unaware with a confident performance. Komal Nahta added: “Shraddha Kapoor does well. She performs very confidently and impresses in her second film.”
For her performance, Kapoor received the Stardust Searchlight Award for Best Actress. However, she signed on to Vishesh Films’ Aashiqui 2 instead, thereby cancelling the three-film contract with Yash Raj Films.
Commercial successes (2013–16)
The film was a major box office success with a global revenue of 1.09 billion (US$17 million).
Film critic Anupama Chopra called Kapoor a “real triumph” and added that her “porcelain face has a haunting vulnerability.” However, Vinayak Chakravorty of India Today wrote that she “looks pretty [though] fails to add spark.”
Kapoor received several nominations in the Best Actress category, including one at the Filmfare Awards. Kapoor next reunited with Suri for the thriller Ek Villain (2014), for which she also sang the song “Galliyan”.
Raedita Tandon of Filmfare called the film a “gritty, engaging thriller”, and stated that Kapoor was a revelation in it. The film eventually emerged as a major commercial success with domestic revenues of over 1 billion (US$15 million). She played the Ophelia-based character, a journalist named Arshia, opposite Shahid Kapoor and Tabu. Writing for Deccan Chronicle.
Also that year, Kapoor performed an item number in the Karan Johar-produced thriller Ungli.
In preparation for her role, she learned different genres of dance form from choreographers Prabhudeva and Remo D’Souza. Produced by Walt Disney Pictures, the film earned 1.57 billion (US$24 million) worldwide to become her highest-grossing release.
Commercial struggles (2017 onwards)
Neither Ok Jaanu nor Half Girlfriend performed well at the box office. She played the title role in the film alongside her brother Siddhanth Kapoor, who essayed Ibrahim’s character. The film met with negative reviews and performed poorly at the box office.
Other work and media image
In addition to acting in films, Kapoor has supported charitable organisations, performed for stage shows and sang in her films. Kapoor is the brand ambassador of several products, including Lakmé, Veet.
Lipton, Marico’s Hair & Care and many others. Bollywood Hungama named her “one of the most wanted names” in the advertising industry. Later, in March 2015, she launched her own line of clothing for women, named Imara, in association with Amazon.com.