Harshvardhan Kapoor
Early life
Harsh was born in Mumbai on 9 November 1990, the only son of actor Anil Kapoor and Sunita Kapoor. The youngest of three children, he is the brother of actress Sonam Kapoor and producer Rhea Kapoor. He did his early schooling at Arya Vidya Mandir in Juhu and A levels at Podar International. Kapoor pursued screenwriting at Chapman University in Orange County Southern California. While at Chapman, Harsh trained under screenwriter David S. Ward.
Harsh has often said in interviews that from a very young age, he was fortunate enough to have been exposed to various genres of cinema from all over the world. This exposure to different forms and aesthetics has been instrumental in shaping his choices and sensibilities in his own film career.
Before his acting debut, Kapoor worked as an assistant director on Anurag Kashyap's 2015 film Bombay Velvet.
Career
Harsh Varrdhan made his acting debut when Rakesh Omprakash Mehra approached him for an art house romantic musical called Mirzya. Written by the Oscar winning Gulzar, Mirzya used poetry and a Greek chorus as narrative guides, a style that was both bold and unconventional. Having signed the film in 2013, Harsh spent over a year preparing for the film. He learned horse riding and archery and worked on the two distinct characters that the film required him to play. Mirzya premiered at the prestigious London film festival in 2016 to positive reviews in the international press with the New York Times praising it but received mixed reviews back home in India and could not perform very well commercially. The Economic Times gave the film 3.5/5 rating and stated, "Impressive performance by Harsh Varrdhan Kapoor & Saiyami Kher, but a one-time watch."
Harsh’s next film was Vikramaditya Motwane’s vigilante drama Bhavesh Joshi Superhero. Financed by Eros, and later Reliance and Phantom Films, the film released to polarising reviews in June 2018. In spite receiving positive reviews, the film was a box-office bomb grossing just ₹4.35 crore on a ₹21 crore budget.
During the pandemic, Harsh worked closely with acting coaches Jeff Goldberg and Suraj Vyas to hone his craft. He has, on many occasions, spoken candidly about how implicitly he trusts his mentors to guide him on new projects.
In 2020, he worked with Vikramaditya Motwane again in the Netflix film AK vs AK, in which he played a fictionalised version of himself and shared the screen with his father and sister. Harsh had reportedly also signed on to play the lead in Sriram Raghavan’s Andhadhun but eventually had to withdraw due to scheduling conflicts.
In 2021, he appeared in one of the episodes of Netflix show Ray. While reviewing Hindustan Times's Rohan Naahar wrote "Manoj Bajpayee, Harsh Varrdhan Kapoor, Ali Fazal and Radhika Madan lead a handful of excellent performers in Netflix's irreverent but inconsistent anthology, based on Satyajit Ray's short stories."
In 2022, he acted in and co-produced a film titled Thar which was released on Netflix on 6 May 2022. The film also starred his father, Fatima Sana Shaikh and Satish Kaushik in key roles. It was directed and co-written by Raj Singh Chaudhary. In order to play a quiet character with many shades of grey, he worked hard on his physicality so that body language could speak louder than words. That released on Netflix in 2022 to rave reviews both domestically and internationally.
He is working on the biopic of the olympic gold medalist Abhinav Bindra, in which he will act and is the producer of it.
Filmography
Films
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | Bombay Velvet | — | Assistant director |
| 2016 | Mirzya | Munish/Adil | |
| 2018 | Bhavesh Joshi Superhero | Sikandar "Siku" Khanna / Bhavesh Joshi / Insaaf-Man | |
| 2020 | AK vs AK | Himself | Cameo |
| 2022 | Thar | Siddharth Kumar | Also producer |
Television
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | Ray | Vikram Arora | Episode: "Spotlight" |
Awards and nominations
| Award | Year | Category | Nominated work | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Big Star Entertainment Awards | 2016 | Most Entertaining Debut Actor | Mirzya | Won | |
| Indian Television Academy Awards | 2022 | Best Actor - Original Film (OTT) | Thar | Won | |
| Filmfare Awards | 2017 | Best Male Debut | Mirzya | Nominated | |
| Filmfare Glamour and Style Awards | 2016 | Fashion Debut of the Year | — | Won | |
| Filmfare OTT Awards | 2022 | Best Actor - Web Original Film | Thar | Nominated | |
| Best Web Original Film | Nominated | ||||
| Screen Awards | 2016 | Best Male Debut | Mirzya | Won | |
| Stardust Award | 2016 | Best Acting Debut (Male) | Mirzya | Won |
Notes
References
- ^ "Harsh Varrdhan Kapoor receives sweet birthday wishes from sisters Sonam-Rhea and parents Anil-Sunita. See photos". The Indian Express. 9 November 2022. Retrieved 24 February 2023.
- ^ "Harshvardhan Kapoor: If I had my way, I would do one film every two years". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 10 September 2016. Retrieved 14 September 2016.
- ^ "Mirzya star Harshvardhan Kapoor: At 16, I predicted Anurag Kashyap will change the film industry". India Today. Retrieved 24 February 2023.
- ^ "Physical transformation hardest part of prep: Harshvardhan Kapoor". Indian Express. 10 September 2016. Archived from the original on 15 September 2016. Retrieved 14 September 2016.
- ^ Roshmila Bhattacharya (3 October 2016). "Harshvardhan Kapoor walks down the memory lane". Mumbai Mirror. Retrieved 24 February 2023.
- ^ "Harshvardhan Kapoor: I Am Nothing Like My Father Anil And Sister Sonam". NDTV.com. Retrieved 24 February 2023.
- ^ "EXCLUSIVE: I was never dating Sapna Pabbi, says Harshvardhan Kapoor". pinkvilla. 13 September 2016. Archived from the original on 14 September 2016. Retrieved 14 September 2016.
- ^ "Consider Aamir my inspiration, says Harshvardhan Kapoor". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 17 September 2016. Retrieved 14 September 2016.
- ^ "Mehra searches for today's Mirza-Sahiban through his adaptation of Punjab's love story". The Indian Express. 30 September 2016. Retrieved 24 February 2023.
- ^ "Mirzya co-stars Harshvardhan Kapoor, Saiyami Kher have become friends for life". The Indian Express. 5 October 2016. Retrieved 24 February 2023.
- ^ "Harshvardhan Kapoor trained in horse-riding for two years for Mirzya". Hindustan Times. 15 September 2016. Retrieved 24 February 2023.
- ^ "'Mirzya' wows audience at the London Film Festival". The Times of India. ISSN 0971-8257. Retrieved 24 February 2023.
- ^ PTI (7 October 2016). "'Mirzya' review: Impressive performance by Harshvardhan Kapoor & Saiyami Kher, but a one-time watch". The Economic Times. The Times Group.
- ^ "Harshvardhan Kapoor already shaping up for his next film with Vikramaditya Motwane". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 20 October 2016. Retrieved 14 September 2016.
- ^ "Bhavesh Joshi Superhero gets the Chavanprash advantage, thanks to Arjun Kapoor. Watch video". Hindustan Times. 13 May 2018. Retrieved 24 February 2023.
- ^ "Bhavesh Joshi Superhero - Movie - Box Office India". www.boxofficeindia.com. Archived from the original on 1 August 2018. Retrieved 20 October 2019.
- ^ "Sometimes, great movies bomb at the box office. Like Bhavesh Joshi, 5 films you need to discover online". www.hindustantimes.com. 18 August 2018. Archived from the original on 15 December 2018. Retrieved 14 December 2018.
- ^ "Harshvardhan Kapoor". www.platform-mag.com. Retrieved 24 February 2023.
- ^ "AK VS AK: Harshvardhan Kapoor's Performance Gets a Thumbs, Actor Elated with the Response".
- ^ Hungama, Bollywood (8 October 2021). "3 Years of Andhadhun: Director Sriram Raghavan reveals how Harshvardhan Kapoor lost the lead role to Ayushmann Khurrana : Bollywood News - Bollywood Hungama". Bollywood Hungama. Retrieved 24 February 2023.
- ^ "Netflix's 'Ray': The perks and perils of stardom". The Hindu. 21 June 2021. Retrieved 19 December 2021.
- ^ "Ray review: Manoj Bajpayee, Harsh Varrdhan Kapoor stand out in irreverent but inconsistent Netflix anthology". Hindustan Times. 25 June 2021. Retrieved 13 November 2022.
- ^ HT Entertainment Desk (6 May 2022). "Anil Kapoor, Harshvardhan Kapoor and Fatima Sana Shaikh host Thar special screening". Hindustan Times. Retrieved 9 May 2022.
- ^ IANS (26 April 2022). "Director Raj Singh Chaudhary opens up on shooting in the rugged Rajasthan desert". Pinkvilla. Archived from the original on 19 October 2022. Retrieved 11 May 2022.
- ^ "Anil Kapoor-Harsh Varrdhan Kapoor starrer Thar to release on Netflix on this day". The Indian Express. 10 April 2022. Retrieved 24 February 2023.
- ^ Bradshaw, Peter (6 May 2022). "Thar review – Anil Kapoor's violent cop thriller puts the punch in Rajasthan". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 24 February 2023.
- ^ "Thar review: Old wine in a rustic but beautiful bottle". The Week. Retrieved 24 February 2023.
- ^ Hungama, Bollywood (9 February 2023). "Harsh Varrdhan Kapoor reveals details about his upcoming project; says, "I want the Abhinav Bindra biopic to be a theatrical" : Bollywood News - Bollywood Hungama". Bollywood Hungama. Retrieved 27 February 2023.
- ^ Kulkarni, Onkar. "Harsh Varrdhan Kapoor shares an update on Abhinav Bindra biopic". The Times of India. ISSN 0971-8257. Retrieved 27 February 2023.
- ^ "Big Star Entertainment Awards 2015 nominations". Pinkvilla. 3 December 2015. Archived from the original on 5 December 2015. Retrieved 5 December 2015.
- ^ "ITA Awards 2022 complete winners list". Indian Express. 12 December 2022. Archived from the original on 26 December 2022. Retrieved 4 January 2023.
- ^ "Harshvardhan Kapoor is fighting with Filmfare. But how credible are awards ANY way?". India Today. 20 January 2017.
- ^ "Winners of the absolut ELYX Glamour and style awards 2016". Filmfare. 16 October 2016. Archived from the original on 19 October 2022. Retrieved 11 April 2022.
- ^ "Nominations announced for Danube Properties Filmfare OTT Awards 2022". FILMFARE. 21 December 2022. Archived from the original on 20 December 2022. Retrieved 21 December 2022.
- ^ "Winners of 22nd Annual Star Screen Awards 2015". Bollywood Hungama. 8 January 2016. Archived from the original on 10 January 2016. Retrieved 8 January 2016.
- ^ Sen, Sushmita (20 December 2016). "Sansui Colors Stardust Awards: Anushka Sharma, Amitabh Bachchan bag Best Actor titles; complete list of winners". International Business Times. Archived from the original on 1 August 2017. Retrieved 10 February 2022.