idharth Malhotra (born 16 January 1985)[1][2] is an Indian actor and former model who appears in Bollywood films. Malhotra began a career as a model at the age of 18. Dissatisfied by the profession, he went on to work as an assistant director to Karan Johar in the 2010 film My Name Is Khan. He made his acting debut with a leading role in Johar's comedy-drama Student of the Year (2012), for which he received a Filmfare Award for Best Male Debut nomination.
Malhotra played an aspiring businessman in the critically praised comedy-drama Hasee Toh Phasee in 2014, following which he starred as a hardened criminal in the romantic thriller Ek Villain (2014) and an aspiring author in the family drama Kapoor & Sons (2016). The latter two rank among Malhotra's highest-grossing films, with a worldwide gross of over ₹1 billion (US$15 million) each.
Malhotra's second release of 2014 was the Mohit Suri-directed romantic thriller Ek Villain. Malhotra was cast as Guru, 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: "Sidharth Malhotra is 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."[14] The film was generally perceived to be plagiarised from the Korean film I Saw the Devil, although Suri dismissed the allegations.[15] The film eventually emerged as a major commercial success with domestic revenues of over ₹1 billion (US$15 million).[16] The box office performance of the film established Malhotra as one of the most successful among the new generation of Bollywood actors.[17][18]
In 2015, Malhotra appeared in the remake of the Hollywood film Warrior (2011), entitled Brothers, directed by Karan Malhotra and co-starring Akshay Kumar, Jacqueline Fernandez and Jackie Shroff.[19][20] Despite high expectations from trade analysts, the film received negative reviews and under-performed at the box office.[21] However, his next release, the Shakun Batra-directed family drama Kapoor & Sons, proved to be a critical and commercial success.[22][23] Featuring an ensemble cast including Rishi Kapoor, Ratna Pathak Shah, Rajat Kapoor, 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. 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".[24][25]
As of May 2016, Malhotra has completed work on Nitya Mehra's Baar Baar Dekho, a romantic drama involving time travel, in which he stars opposite Katrina Kaif.[26] He is filming an untitled action-comedy film with Jacqueline Fernandez from the director duo Raj Nidimoru and Krishna D.K.,[27] and has also committed to reunite with Bhatt in the romance Aashiqui 3, which will mark his second collaboration with director Mohit Suri.[28] In addition, Malhotra will star in a remake of the 1969 mystery film Ittefaq.[29]
