Sidharth Malhotra

Breakthrough and early commercial success (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, where one of his fellow assistants was aspiring actor Varun Dhawan.^[9][8][10] In 2012, he made his film debut with Johar's teen drama Student of the Year alongside Alia Bhatt and Dhawan, both in their film debuts. He was cast as Abhimanyu Singh, a scholarship student, who competes with his wealthy best friends to win an annual school championship.^[11] Film critic Rajeev Masand of CNN-IBN considered his performance to be "earnest", adding that he had "a pleasing presence".^[12] Student of the Year was a financial success,^[13] grossing ₹1.09 billion (US$11 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.^[14][15]

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.^[16][17] 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.^[18][19] The film performed moderately well at the box office, with global revenues of ₹620 million (US$6.4 million).^[20] 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."^[21] The film became a commercial success with worldwide revenues of over ₹1.7 billion (US$18 million).^[22] The box office performance of the film established him as one of the most promising new actors of Hindi cinema.^[23][24]

Malhotra next appeared in a 2015 remake of the 2011 American film Warrior, titled Brothers, directed by Karan Malhotra and co-starring Akshay Kumar.^[25][26] The film received negative reviews and under-performed at the box office.^[27] 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.^[28][29] 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.^[30] 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".^[31][32]

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.^[33] Directed by Nitya Mehra, the film was poorly received and Shubhra Gupta was critical of his "one-note performance".^[34][35] 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.^[36] Rachit Gupta of Filmfare stated Malhotra does everything expected from a "commercial film hero".^[37] Both films were box-office bombs.^[38][39]

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".^[40][41][42] Ittefaq underperformed at the box office with a lifetime collection of ₹ 500 million.^[43] Neeraj Pandey's Aiyaary (2018) featured Malhotra along with Manoj Bajpayee and Rakul Preet Singh. 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."^[44]

Malhotra had two releases in 2019. He first starred in the romantic-comedy Jabariya Jodi, his second collaboration with Parineeti Chopra.^[45] The film had negative reviews and was considered a flop.^[46][47] Nandini Ramnath felt his character was too wispy to leave any traces.^[48] His second appearance was in Milap Milan Zaveri's action film Marjaavaan,^[49] co-starring Ritesh Deshmukh and Tara Sutaria. Ronak Kotecha criticised the "one-note" nature of his overly commercialized character but was appreciative of his "honest performance".^[50] Marjaavaan was a box office success.^[51][52]

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.^[53] Malhotra portrayed dual roles of Vikram Batra opposite Kiara Advani and his brother Vishal Batra.^[54] After several delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the film premiered on Amazon Prime Video.^[55] It received mixed reviews from critics.^[56] 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".^[57] Shershaah was the most-watched film on Prime Video in India at the time of its release.^[58] The film also earned him his first nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Actor.^[59]

Malhotra's sole film release of 2022 was the fantasy comedy Thank God, co-starring Ajay Devgn, which failed commercially.^[60] The following year, he played an Indian spy stationed in Pakistan before the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 in the thriller Mission Majnu. Following several delays from its planned theatrical release, the film was ultimately released on Netflix.^[61][62] Monika Rawal Kukreja of Hindustan Times compared it unfavourably to Shershaah and stated that Malhotra was let down by the script despite being in "top form, with a charming onscreen presence".^[63] In 2024, Malhotra led the police procedural series Indian Police Force, created by Rohit Shetty for Amazon Prime Video.^[64] The Hindu's Shilajit Mitra found a "decency in Malhotra that’s refreshing for a Rohit Shetty protagonist", but bemoaned that he "strains at playing broad".^[65] He once again played a heroic army officer in the action film Yodha, terming such parts his focus as an actor.^[66] In a mixed review for the film, The Wire's Puja Awasthi termed him "the most dependable action hero among his contemporaries".^[67] Yodha failed commercially.^[68]

In 2025, Malhotra starred in Param Sundari, opposite Janhvi Kapoor as a man who creates a fradulent matchmaking app, leading him to be paired with a South Indian woman already engaged to someone else.^[69] The film faced substantial online backlash for perpetuating regressive stereotypes about South Indian culture, especially in its depiction of Kapoor's character, Sundari.^[70] WION's Shomini Sen described Malhotra as "limited in the acting department" and found his portrayal of the archetypal Punjabi man to be weaker than that of his contemporaries.^[71] Additionally, critics lamented the lack of chemistry between the lead pair.^[72] Param Sundari emerged as a moderate commercial success.^[73]

Malhotra portrayed Rishi, a man who returns to his ancestral village in The Vvaan: Force of the Forrest opposite Tamannaah Bhatia, his only release of 2026.^[74][75] The film is inspired by the folklore of the Van Devi Temple.^[76] Chirag Sehgal of News18 reviewed, "Malhotra does his part well, handling both the dramatic and lighter portions with sincerity, Though the screenplay doesn’t offer him enough".^[77]

Films

Television

Music video appearances