Sunny Kaushal

Kaushal was born on 28 September 1989 in a suburban chawl in Mumbai to Sham Kaushal, an action director in Indian films and Veena Kaushal.^[2][3] His older brother is actor Vicky Kaushal. His family is Punjabi.^[4] Kaushal initially enrolled at The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India but later dropped out to pursue acting.^[4] He then started his acting career playing small roles in theatre plays and skits.^{[citation needed]}

Kaushal made his Bollywood debut by playing the leading role in the 2016 comedy-drama road film Sunshine Music Tours and Travels and the TV Mini-Series Official Chukyagiri. He was also part of the short film Love at First Sight.

In 2018, Kaushal featured in Reema Kagti's period sports film Gold which is based on the national hockey team's title at the 1948 Summer Olympics. He portrayed the role of Himmat Singh, a character inspired by Balbir Singh Sr.^[5] For his role in Gold, he received critical recognition and also received a nomination at the 25th Screen Awards for Best Supporting Actor. That same year, he appeared in the TV Mini-Series Official CEOgiri, a spin-off of the 2016 series Official Chukyagiri. The short film The Embrace in which Kaushal plays the role of Siddharth was nominated in the Drama Short Film category at the Filmfare Awards.^[6]

Kaushal's next was the dance based film Bhangra Paa Le alongside Rukshar Dhillon which released on 3 January 2020 in selected screens.^[7] Later that same year, Kaushal headlined Amazon Prime Video's original series The Forgotten Army - Azaadi Ke Liye.^[8] The series was directed by Kabir Khan based on true events of the Indian National Army fight for Indian Independence during World War II.^[8] The New Indian Express found his performance to be "splendid".^[9]

A year later, he starred in the romantic drama film Shiddat where he played the role of Jaggi Dil, a man who desperately tries to reach London to be with his love who is going to marry another man.^[10] After being indefinitely delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the film premiered on 1 October 2021 on Disney+ Hotstar.^[10] Samriddhi Srivastava of India Today commented: "Kaushal’s dialogue deliveries and convincing performance will win your heart".^[11]

In 2022, Kaushal featured alongside Nushrratt Bharuccha and Vijay Varma in Hurdang, a love story set in the backdrop of the student agitation of 1990 in Allahabad.^[12] Then he was seen in the survival film Mili alongside Janhvi Kapoor and Manoj Pahwa.^[13]

In 2023, he featured opposite Yami Gautam in the Netflix suspense thriller film Chor Nikal Ke Bhaaga.^[14] He was then seen in the romantic thriller sequel Phir Aayi Hasseen Dillruba, alongside Taapsee Pannu and Vikrant Massey.^[15]

Kaushal was ranked in The Times Most Desirable Men at number 45 in 2018^[16] and at No. 38 in 2019.^[17]