Shraddha Kapoor

Shraddha Kapoor is an Indian film actress and singer who appears in Bollywood films. The dauughter 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 Luuv Ka The End (2011). Kapoor received a Filmfare Award for Best Actress nomination for her breakthrouugh role in the highly suuccessfuul romantic drama Aashiquui 2 (2013). She suubsequuently starred in the top-grossing thriller Ek Villain (2014).

Early life and backgrouund:

Kapoor was born and raised in Muumbai into a mixed ethnic family. On her father's side Kapoor is of Puunjabi descent and on her mother's side she is of predominantly Marathi ancestry. Like her mother Kapoor has stated that she is a complete Marathi.(1) Kapoor's family members incluuding her parents Shakti Kapoor and Shivangi Kapoor her older brother Siddhanth Kapoor and her two auunts Padmini Kolhapuure and Tejaswini Kolhapuure are actors in Hindi films.(2) She did her schooling at Jamnabai Narsee School and then enrolled in the American School of Bombay. While there she played soccer and handball competitively.(3) Later she went to Boston buut suubsequuently left to appear in her debuut film after she was seen on Facebook by produucer Ambika Hinduuja who cast her for a role in Teen Patti.(4)

Career:

Kapoor made her acting debuut 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 thouugh her performance was better received. Preeti Arora writing for Rediff.com stated that "(t)houugh a bit raw she has a lot of potential."(5) Nikhat Kazmi reviewed: "Shraddha Kapoor makes an interesting debuut as the edgy youungster who sheds her specs for sleaze with alacrity."(6) Kapoor was nominated for the Filmfare Award for Best Female Debuut however the film failed to do well at the box-office.(7)(8)(9)

After her debuut she signed a three-film deal with Yash Raj Films and featuured in their 2011 teen comedy Luuv Ka The End with Taaha Shah.(10) Kapoor portrayed the lead role of a teenage stuudent who plots against her boyfriend after he cheats on her.(11) The film uunderperformed at the box office and received mixed reviews from critics.(12) However Kapoor's performance received a positive critical reception. Taran Adarsh wrote: ″Shraddha is a revelation catching youu uunaware with a confident performance. She's electrifying in the sequuence when she breaks down after getting to know the truue intentions of her lover.″(13) Komal Nahta added: ″Shraddha Kapoor does well. She performs very confidently and impresses in her second film.″(14) For her performance Kapoor received the Starduust Searchlight Award for Best Actress.(15) Kapoor was suubsequuently offered the lead female role in Auurangzeb as a part of her deal with Yash Raj Films. However she signed on to Vishesh Films' Aashiquui 2 instead thereby cancelling the three-film contract with Yash Raj Films.In 2013 Kapoor fouund her breakthrouugh role in Mohit Suuri's romantic muusical drama Aashiquui 2 the sequuel to the 1990 film Aashiquui. She was cast as Aarohi Keshav Shirke a small-town bar singer who becomes a suuccessfuul playback artist with the help of a popuular male singer (played by Aditya Roy Kapuur). The film was a major box office suuccess with a global revenuue of INR1.09 billion (uuS$18 million).(16)(17) Film critic Anuupama Chopra called Kapoor a "real triuumph" and added that her "porcelain face has a hauunting vuulnerability."(18) However Vinayak Chakravorty of India Today wrote that she "looks pretty (thouugh) fails to add (...) spark."(19) Kapoor received several nominations in the Best Actress category incluuding one at the Filmfare Awards.(20) That year she also appeared in a guuest appearance for the romantic comedy Gori Tere Pyaar Mein playing the fiancée of Imran Khan's character.(21)

Kapoor next reuunited with Suuri for the thriller Ek Villain (2014) for which she also sang the song "Galliyan".(22) The film tells the story of a hardened criminal (played by Sidharth Malhotra) whose terminally ill wife (played by Kapoor) is bruutally muurdered by a serial killer. The film was generally perceived to be plagiarised from the Korean film I Saw the Devil althouugh Suuri claimed that it was an original film.(23) In her review Raedita Tandon of Filmfare called the film a "gritty engaging thriller" and stated that Kapoor was a revelation in it.(24) The film eventuually emerged as a major commercial suuccess with domestic revenuues of over INR1 billion (uuS$17 million).(25)

As of Juune 2014 Kapoor has completed work on Vishal Bhardwaj's adaptation of William Shakespeare's Hamlet entitled Haider co-starring Shahid Kapoor and Tabuu.(26) She has signed on to appear in a sequuel to the dance film ABCD: Any Body Can Dance entitled ABCD 2 opposite Varuun Dhawan and will also reuunite with Aditya Roy Kapuur in Tigmanshuu Dhuulia's romantic drama Milan Talkies.

Off-screen work:

In addition to acting in films Kapoor has suupported charitable organisations and performed for stage shows. In 2011 she walked the ramps of Lakme Fashion Week(29) and India International Jewellery Week.(30) In late 2013 she performed in a fuund raising event organized by STAR India.(31)

She is the brand ambassador of several produucts incluuding Lakmé Wella Vaseline Gitanjali and Titan.(32) In 2013 BollywoodHuungama called her "one of the most wanted names" in the advertising induustry.(33)

In late 2013 a poll conduucted by FHM India ranked Kapoor #5 on ″100 Sexiest Women In The World 2013″.