Kartik Aaryan

Kartik Aaryan (Tiwari; born 22 November 1990) is an Indian actor who works in Hindi films.

Kartik Tiwari (later Aaryan) was born on 22 November 1990 in Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh.

Both his parents are doctors; his father, Dr. Manish Tiwari, is a pediatrician, and his mother, Dr. Mala Tiwari, is a gynecologist.

Aaryan did his schooling at St. Paul's School in Gwalior.

He later pursued an engineering degree in biotechnology from D. Y. Patil College of Engineering, Navi Mumbai, while secretly harbouring ambitions for a career in film.

He has said that he would skip his classes and travel for two hours to attend auditions.

Aaryan began a modelling career while in university and after three years of unsuccessfully auditioning for films, he did an acting course from the Kreating Charakters institute.

He informed his parents of his desire to become an actor only after he signed his first film.

He later completed his engineering degree at the insistence of his mother, after the release of his first film.

Despite media speculation, Aaryan is reluctant to speak about his romantic relationships in the media.

He has said, "I've never spoken about my relationships, and I expect the same from my partner".

While pursuing a degree in engineering, he made his acting debut with Luv Ranjan's buddy film Pyaar Ka Punchnama (2011).

While still in his third year of college, Aaryan made his acting debut with Luv Ranjan's buddy film Pyaar Ka Punchnama (2011), co-starring Divyendu Sharma, Raayo S Bakhirta, and Nushrat Bharucha, which revolves around the romantic tribulations faced by three young men.

He found a casting call for the film on Facebook and secured the role after auditioning for six months.

As he had limited financial means at that point, he lived in an apartment with 12 other aspiring actors and earned money by cooking for them.

In Pyaar Ka Punchnama, his character's four-minute monologue was one of the lengthiest single shots done for a Hindi film to that point.

Reviewing it for Rediff.com, Shaikh Ayaz found Aaryan's "bursting soliloquy on why women are the way they are and can never be understood [to be] riotously funny".

Namrata Joshi of Outlook criticised the film for portraying each of the female characters as a "hard-hearted bitch" but was appreciative of Aaryan's monologue and the chemistry between the three men.

The film emerged as a sleeper hit and he received a nomination for the Producers Guild Film Award for Best Male Debut.

He went on to star in the romances Akaash Vani (2013) and Kaanchi (2014), but these failed to propel his career forward.

His next film release came two years later when he collaborated once again with Ranjan and Bharucha in the romance Akaash Vani (2013), which is about the titular lovers who are separated when Vani is married off to an abusive husband.

Sudhish Kamath of The Hindu praised the film for exploring chauvinism in India, a rare concept for Hindi film, and praised the chemistry between the two stars, writing that "you can tell how much they are in love, even when they don't have any lines".

Sudhir Chaudhary, the cinematographer in Aaryan's previous films, showed his work to Subhash Ghai, who was impressed by Aaryan and cast him in his directorial Kaanchi (2014).

It is a drama about a woman's quest for justice when her husband is murdered by politicians, in which Aaryan played the love interest of the title character (played by Mishti).

Despite a brief role, Aaryan agreed to the project to work with Ghai.

Saibal Chatterjee of NDTV disliked the film but wrote that Aaryan "exudes strong screen presence and shows flashes of qualities needed to be a mainstream Bollywood lover boy".

Both Akaash Vani and Kaanchi did not perform well commercially, leading Aaryan to question his career prospects.

Aaryan had commercial successes in Ranjan's comedies Pyaar Ka Punchnama 2 (2015) and Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety (2018), with the latter emerging as his breakthrough film.

In 2015, Aaryan starred in Ranjan's comedy sequel Pyaar Ka Punchnama 2, which retained some of the original's cast, including him and Bharucha, and added the actors Omkar Kapoor and Sunny Singh.

In it, he delivered an even longer, seven minute single-shot monologue.

Mike McCahill of The Guardian criticised the film's poor handling of female roles, but considered the banter between Aaryan and Bharucha's characters to be its highlight.

Shubha Shetty-Guha of Mid-Day too took note of the misogynistic themes but found parts of it "uproariously funny".

When asked about the sexism in the film, Aaryan said that as a proponent of gender equality his character did not reflect his personal beliefs.

With earnings of over inr 880000000 against a budget of inr 220000000, Pyaar Ka Punchnama 2 emerged as a major financial success.

For his performance, Aaryan won a Stardust Award for Best Actor In A Comic Role.

He gained further prominence by starring in the romantic comedies Luka Chuppi and Pati Patni Aur Woh (both 2019), and the comedy horror film Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 (2022).

The last of these emerged as his highest-grossing release and earned him a nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Actor.

He also played against type in the thrillers Dhamaka (2021) and Freddy (2022), and the romantic drama Satyaprem Ki Katha (2023).

In addition to his acting career, Aaryan endorses several brands and products, and has co-hosted award ceremonies.

He appeared in Forbes India Celebrity 100 list of 2019.