Born on February 25, 1981, Shahid Kapoor is an Indian actor who primarily works in Hindi films. Originally known for his romantic roles, he has subsequently branched out into thrillers and action films. He has won multiple accolades, including three Filmfare Awards.
Kapoor, a dancer, received his training at Shiamak Davar’s academy. His parents are the performers Pankaj Kapur and Neelima Azeem. In the 1990s, he starred in music videos, TV advertisements, and a few films as a background dancer. In 2003, he made his big screen debut in the romantic comedy Ishq Vishk, which turned out to be a sleeper smash and earned him the Best Male Debut Filmfare Award. After that, he appeared in a number of financially unsuccessful films before appearing in the highest-grossing family drama Vivah (2006), directed by Sooraj Barjatya.
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For his roles as twin brothers in Vishal Bhardwaj’s action thriller Kaminey (2009) and a disturbed businessman in Imtiaz Ali’s romantic comedy Jab We Met (2007), Kapoor received accolades. The roles he played as Hamlet in Bhardwaj’s tragedy Haider (2014) and a drug-abusing singer in the crime drama Udta Punjab (2016) won him more praise. He received the Filmfare Award for Best Actor for the former, and the Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actor for the latter. The love movie Kabir Singh (2019) and the period drama Padmaavat (2018) were Kapoor’s highest-grossing films. Since then, he has starred in two television shows: Teri Baaton Mein Aisa Uljha Jiya (2024) and Farzi (2023), a crime drama series.
Apart from her acting career, Kapoor also presents award shows, donates to charitable causes, and has judged talent on the dance reality show Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa Reloaded (2015). He has two children with Mira Rajput, his spouse.
Shahid Kapoor Childhood And Upbringing
The 25th of February 1981 saw the birth of Shahid Kapoor in New Delhi, the son of actor Pankaj Kapur and actor-dancer Neelima Azeem. Shahid Kapoor is related to director Khwaja Ahmad Abbas on his mother’s side. When he was three years old, his parents got separated. His father moved to Mumbai and got married to the actress Supriya Pathak, while Kapoor stayed in Delhi to live with his mother and his maternal grandparents.
Kapoor was very close to his grandfather, who worked as a journalist for the Russian magazine Sputnik: “He would walk me to school every single day.” He would read me his letters and chat to me about his wonderful connection with Dad.” Kapoor’s father, a struggling actor in Mumbai at the time, would only come to celebrate his birthday once a year. His mother, a dancer, relocated to Mumbai when Kapoor was ten years old in order to pursue her career as an actor.
Azeem later married actor Rajesh Khattar in Mumbai. Kapoor lived with his mother and Khattar until 2001, when they decided to part ways. Kapoor’s passport still lists Khattar as his last name. His mother’s marriage to Khattar produced Ishaan, his maternal half-brother. Sanah and Ruhaan are his two paternal half-siblings from his father’s marriage to Pathak. Kapoor received his education at Rajhans Vidyalaya in Mumbai and Gyan Bharati School in Delhi. Shahid Kapoor then spent three years as a student at Mithibai College in Mumbai.
From a young age, Kapoor had a passion for dance, and at the age of 15, he enrolled in Shiamak Davar’s dance school. While attending the school, Kapoor participated as a background dancer in the Davar-choreographed films Taal (1999) and Dil To Pagal Hai (1997). Kapoor performed in the songs “Vogue” and “GoldenEye” during an institute stage show, garnering enthusiastic applause from the crowd.
He characterised the moment as the first time he “felt like a star”. Later on, he was hired by the institute as an instructor. At this time, Kapoor went to an audition with a friend to try out for a Pepsi commercial starring Shah Rukh Khan, Kajol, and Rani Mukerji, but he ended up getting the role for himself. Shahid Kapoor made appearances in music videos for a number of artists, such as vocalist Kumar Sanu and band Aryans, as well as television ads for Kit Kat and Close-Up, among other products. In 1998, Kapoor joined his father as an assistant director for the TV show Mohandas B.A.L.L.B.
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Jab We Met, Kaminey, and business swings (2007–2013) Kapoor’s 2007 debut, the group comedy Fool & Final, was a commercial failure. But the romantic comedy Jab We Met, which was directed by Imtiaz Ali, was his second release of the year and ended up being one of the highest grossing pictures of the year. The movie is about a troubled businessman named Kapoor, whose life takes a turn for the worse when he meets a talkative girl named Kareena Kapoor while on a train.
Ali requested Kapoor to play a more nuanced character since he believed that his past roles did not fully showcase his acting abilities. Rajeev Masand of CNN-IBN commented that he made a “indelible impression with a performance that is understated and mature” in a movie that he believed mostly belonged to Kareena Kapoor, while the BBC praised him for being “endearing” in the picture. Kapoor was nominated for the Filmfare Award for Best Actor for the first time because of his performance.
Shahid Kapoor Career
Film controversy and well-known actor (2014–2019)
After that, Kapoor got back again with director Vishal Bhardwaj to work on Haider (2014), a film that adapted William Shakespeare’s tragedy Hamlet and was based in the 1995 Kashmir conflict. In the film, Kapoor portrayed the title role alongside Tabu and Shraddha Kapoor. Kapoor declined his pay to star in the movie, calling it the “toughest” of his career. He picked up a Kashmiri dialect and shaved his head for the part. Haider won praise from critics, but Indian nationalists took issue with the way it portrayed the situation in Kashmir. The movie is a “immensely effective reimagining of Shakespeare,” according to Sanjukta Sharma of Mint, who also commended Kapoor for his “impressive zest and inventiveness” in the role.
Projects on hiatus and streaming (2020–present)
Following a three-year hiatus, Kapoor returned to the cinema in the sports drama Jersey (2022), which is a reimagining of the Telugu film of the same name and centres on a former cricket player who want to return in his late 30s. He needed thirteen stitches to repair a forehead injury he sustained while filming a cricket scene. The COVID-19 outbreak caused multiple delays in the film’s production and distribution. The Times of India’s Archika Khurana commended him for his legitimacy as a cricket player. At the box office, it was not a big hit.
In 2014, Kapoor received an initial offer to act in the crime drama film Farzi, directed by Raj & DK. It was developed into a streaming series before the end of the decade, a format Kapoor was eager to try, and it debuted on Amazon Prime Video in 2023. Shahid Kapoor portrayed Sunny, a dejected artist who chooses to produce fake currency.
Private life and non-screen employment
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India’s tabloids have been heavily covering Kapoor’s personal life. He started dating Kareena Kapoor in 2004 while Fida was being filmed, and the two of them talked about their relationship in public. After Mid Day released a series of photos showing them cuddling in public, they became embroiled in a widely reported controversy. The pair claimed the photos weren’t real, but the publication insisted there was no misconduct. 2007 saw the pair split up while Jab We Met was being filmed. Following their breakup, Kapoor made the decision to keep his private life out of the spotlight. On the other hand, rumours about his relationships with Priyanka Chopra and Vidya Balan were circulated by tabloids. 2012 saw Kapoor file a police report accusing former actress Vastavikta Pandit of stalking.
In March 2015, Kapoor announced that he would soon be getting married to 13-year-old Mira Rajput, a student at a New Delhi university. According to The Times of India, Kapoor got to know Rajputs via the Dharmic religious organisation Radha Soami Satsang Beas. On July 7, 2015, the couple tied the knot in a private ceremony in Gurgaon. Rajput gave birth to their son Zain in September 2018 and their daughter Misha in August 2016.
Apart from her film roles, Kapoor also does stage performances and presents award shows. He took part in the RockStars globe tour in 2006, performing with Salman Khan, John Abraham, Kareena Kapoor, and three other famous people. Shah Rukh Khan and Rizal Kapoor co-hosted three Screen Awards presentations between 2010 and 2012, and three International Indian Film Academy Awards between 2012 and 2014, with either Khan or Farhan Akhtar.
As a vegetarian, Kapoor attributes his lifestyle decision to the book Life is Fair by author Brian Hines. Shahid Kapoor also donates to philanthropic organisations in support of different causes. He participated in Superstars Ka Jalwa, a 2010 charity event that raised funds for the Cine and Television Artists Association (CINTAA) staff. He also gave his support to the non-governmental organisation Swayamsiddh that year, which assists kids with unique needs. He adopted three villages the next year in support of NDTV’s Greenathon, an effort to raise environmental awareness and enhance rural communities’ access to power.
In 2012, Kapoor assisted in reviving the non-governmental organisation Victory Arts Foundation, which was established by Shiamak Davar and provides dance rehabilitation programmes to impoverished children. In an effort to raise awareness of breast cancer, he costarred with other Bollywood stars in Zoya Akhtar’s short film, Because My World Is Not The Same, which was released that year. Through marketing campaigns, he promotes the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals charity.
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