Kunal Kapoor
| Kunal Kapoor | |
|---|---|
 Kunal KAPOOR.jpg | |
| Born | Kunal Raj Kapoor 18 October 1977 |
| 💼 Occupation | |
| 📆 Years active | 2005–present |
| 👩 Spouse(s) | Naina Bachchan |
Kunal Raj Kapoor (born 18 October 1977) is an Indian actor, writer and an entrepreneur. Kunal has acted in Hindi, Malayalam and Telugu movies. He is the co-founder of the crowdfunding platform Ketto.
Early life[edit]
Kapoor was born in Mumbai on 18 October 1977. His father, Rajkishore Kapoor was in the construction business and his mother, Kanan is a singer and homemaker. His parents are originally from Amritsar, Punjab. He is the youngest of three children, with two sisters Geeta and Reshma. In February 2015, he married Naina Bachchan, niece of Amitabh Bachchan, in a private family ceremony in Seychelles.[1]
Acting career[edit]
Kapoor trained for an acting career under Barry John, and became a part of Motley, a theatre group run by acting legend Naseeruddin Shah.[2] He began his career as an assistant director of Aks, which starred Manoj Bajpayee and in which Amitabh Bachchan played a major character.
Kapoor made his movie debut as the male lead opposite Tabu in Meenaxi: A Tale of Three Cities (2005) which was helmed by painter MF Hussain. His next film was the Aamir Khan starrer Rang De Basanti (2006), for which he received a nomination in the Filmfare Best Supporting Actor Award category. The film was successful both critically and commercially, and it was nominated in the Best Foreign Film category at the 2007 BAFTA Awards.[3]
Yash Raj Films (YRF) studio subsequently signed Kapoor for a three-film contract. He appeared in films like Laaga Chunari Mein Daag (2007), Aaja Nachle (2007) and Bachna Ae Haseeno (2008). After this, Kapoor took a break for two years, and then appeared in national award winner Rahul Dholakia's Lamhaa (2010) starring Sanjay Dutt. The film didn't do well but Kapoor received accolades for his performance as a young Kashmiri politician. Critics hailed it as "One of the most powerful performances of the year". That same year, Kapoor voiced the Indian God Rama in Mahayoddha Rama, an animation film made by Raizada Rohit Jaising Vaid.[4] In 2011, he appeared in the Shahrukh Khan starrer Don 2, where his performance was appreciated.[5]
In 2012, Kapoor played the lead role in Sameer Sharma's light-hearted comedy film Luv Shuv Tey Chicken Khurana which he co-wrote. The film received positive reviews and was hailed by critics as being amongst the ten best films of the year.[citation needed] The New York Times reviewed it favourably and called Kapoor the Indian Matthew McConaughey.[6] In 2014, he appeared in the off-beat comedy film Kaun Kitne Paani Mein.
Kapoor's next films to release were the epic action trilingual film, Veeram, directed by National Award winner Jayaraj, Gauri Shinde's next and Tigmanshu Dhulia's war drama Raagdesh based on the Indian National Army trials.[citation needed] In 2017, he started filming for one of the most expensive Indian movies; Gold. The film, based on the first Indian hockey team to win a Gold at the Olympics, saw him pairing up with Akshay Kumar for the first time. It was released on 15 August 2018.
Other work[edit]
Kapoor has endorsed popular brands like Thums Up, Indian Terrain, Ray-Ban, Mahindra Logan and Save the Children charity along with Gwyneth Paltrow.[citation needed]
In 2009, Kapoor started writing weekly columns for HT City, the lifestyle supplement of the Hindustan Times. These columns ended in November 2009 but still appear online on the social network Desimartini.[7]
He is a trained pilot, and rally car driver.[citation needed] In 2014, he started training for the Formula Three. He co-founded Asia's largest crowdfunding platform called Ketto,[8] which raises money for social and individual causes. To date, the platform has raised close to one billion rupees.[citation needed]
He is also known for his style and has been voted amongst the most stylish men in the country. Recently he was on GQ's list of the top ten stylish men in the country.
Filmography[edit]
Actor[edit]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Meenaxi: A Tale of Three Cities | Kameshwar Mathur | |
| 2006 | Rang De Basanti | Aslam / Ashfaqulla Khan | Nominated, Filmfare Best Supporting Actor Award |
| 2007 | Hattrick | Saby aka Sarbjeet Singh | |
| 2007 | Laaga Chunari Mein Daag | Vivaan Varma | |
| 2007 | Aaja Nachle | Imran Pathan | |
| 2008 | Bachna Ae Haseeno | Joginder Ahluwalia | |
| 2008 | Welcome to Sajjanpur | Bansi Ram | |
| 2010 | Lamhaa | Aatif | |
| 2011 | Don 2 | Sameer Ali | |
| 2012 | Luv Shuv Tey Chicken Khurana | Omi Khurana | |
| 2015 | Kaun Kitne Paani Mein | Raj Singhdeo | |
| 2016 | Dear Zindagi | Raghuvendra | |
| 2017 | Veeram | Chandu Chekavar | Malayalam film |
| 2017 | Raag Desh | General Shahnawaz | |
| 2018 | Gold | Samrat | |
| 2018 | Devadas | David | Telugu film |
| 2018 | Noblemen | Murali | Hindi film |
Assistant director[edit]
| Year | Title | Director | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Aks | Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra |
Awards and nominations[edit]
| Year | Award | Category | Film | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Zee Cine Awards | Best Newcomer | Meenaxi: A Tale of Three Cities | Nominated | |
| 2007 | Filmfare Awards | Best Supporting Actor | Rang De Basanti | Nominated | |
| International Indian Film Academy Awards | Best Supporting Actor | Nominated | |||
| 2017 | Asiavision Awards | Outstanding performance of the year | Veeram | Won | [11] |
| 2019 | Toronto international South Asian film awards | Special jury award | Won | [12] | |
| South Indian International Movie Awards | Best Actor in a Negative Role – Telugu | Devadas | Nominated | [13] |
See also[edit]
 |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to [[commons:Lua error in Module:WikidataIB at line 466: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).|Lua error in Module:WikidataIB at line 466: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).]]. |
References[edit]
- ↑ "Kunal Kapoor weds Amitabh Bachchan's niece". ABP News. 11 February 2015.
- ↑ Paitandy, Priyadarshini (7 June 2008). "Cool Kunal". The Hindu. Retrieved 6 October 2008.
- ↑ "'Rang De Basanti' loses at BAFTA awards". The Hindu. Press Trust of India. 13 February 2007. Retrieved 6 October 2008.
- ↑ Reddy, Sujata (4 August 2008). "Ramayana returns". Hindustan Times. Retrieved 6 October 2008.
- ↑ Don 2 review; critics reviews of Don 2 movie Archived 7 January 2012 at the Wayback Machine
- ↑ NY Times Movie Review
- ↑ "Kunal Kapoor columns". Desimartini. Retrieved 24 October 2008.
- ↑ "Speaker Profile of Kunal Kapoor at Etailing India". ETailing India.
- ↑ Gupta, Pratim D. (9 May 2006). "Pop poll of the star-struck". The Telegraph. Retrieved 6 October 2008.
- ↑ Shah, Diti; Navgire, Moses (26 February 2007). "Mumbai hosts Max Stardust awards". Tonight. Retrieved 6 October 2008.
- ↑ "Asiavision Movie Awards 2017: Deepika Padukone, Dulquer Salmaan, Manju Warrier, Tovino Thomas grace event [PHOTOS]". International Business Times. 28 November 2017. Retrieved 9 January 2020.
- ↑ "TISFA Winners: See the Full List". Toronto international South Asian film awards. Retrieved 9 January 2020.
- ↑ "SIIMA Awards 2019: Here's a complete list of nominees". Times of India. 19 July 2019. Retrieved 9 January 2020.
External links[edit]
- Kunal Kapoor on IMDb
