Kriti Kharbanda

Kriti Kharbanda (born 29 October 1990) is an Indian actress who predominantly works in Kannada, Hindi and Telugu language films.

Kriti Kharbanda was born on 29 October 1990 in a Punjabi Hindu family in New Delhi.

She has a younger sister Ishita Kharbanda and a younger brother Jaiwardhan Kharbanda, who is the co-founder of Paper Plane Productions.

She moved to Bangalore in the early 1990s with her family.

Kharbanda was educated at Baldwin Girls' High School, Bangalore, and at the Bishop Cotton Girls' School, Bangalore.

She was graduated from Sri Bhagawan Mahaveer Jain College, Bangalore.

She also holds a diploma in jewellery designing.

According to her, she was very active in cultural activities during school and college.

As a child, she was also featured in a number of advertisements and she continued modelling while in school/college, stating that she "always loved doing TV commercials".

Her prominent modelling campaigns during her college days were for Bhima Jewellers, Spar, and Fair & Lovely.

Her photo on the Spar billboard caught the attention of NRI director Raj Pippala who was looking for a heroine for his film, and that paved the way for her acting career.

She said that she had initially no plans of becoming an actress and that it was only because of her mother's encouragement that she considered it seriously.

After being seen on the Spar billboard, Kharbanda was cast in a lead role for the Telugu film Boni opposite Sumanth.

Boni received negative reviews but fetched Kharbanda a positive response.

While Sify wrote, "Kriti was a good choice and she had no tense moments despite her debut. Her looks are gorgeous and she has a lot of future if she plays her cards correctly", Radhika Rajamani of Rediff.com wrote, "Kriti Kharbanda looks fresh and pretty and manages to play the part of Pragati in a fairly convincing way. She may have to work on her expressions a bit in future, though".

Although the film was unsuccessful at the box office, she landed a prominent role in the Pawan Kalyan film Teen Maar.

Her next release, however, was her debut Kannada film, Chirru.

Her performance was mostly well received, with The Times of India writing that she "excels in her performance" and Indiaglitz.com stating that she "is very pretty and her expressions are good".

IANS wrote that she "looks ravishing in song sequences" and "is good at dancing".

After beginning her career as a model, she made her acting debut with the Telugu film Boni (2009) and her Kannada debut with Chirru (2010).

Kharbanda is a recipient of a SIIMA Award along with two Filmfare Awards South nominations.

The film was a hit at the box office in 2010, and Kharbanda stated that it got her recognition and "a fair amount of admiration in the industry", resulting in her being offered numerous projects in Kannada.

However, she took a long time to sign her second Kannada film, until October 2011, when she signed up for four films in a single month.

In 2011, she was also seen in a guest role in the successful Telugu romantic comedy Ala Modalaindi, before Teen Maar was released.

She appeared in "retro scenes" in Teen Maar in which she had to "replicate heroines from the 70s" and revealed that she also chose the costumes and jewellery she wore in the film.

The film turned out to be an average grosser.

The following year, she acted in Mr. Nookayya alongside Manoj Manchu in Telugu, and in Prem Adda, a remake of the Tamil film Subramaniapuram, in Kannada.

The latter film featured her in a "completely de-glam" role, with the actress stating that her fair complexion posed a problem to her as she played a small town girl from the 80s.

She called Girija the most challenging character she had played till then, since it required a no-makeup look, get a tan and walk barefoot to attain "a raw look" like the role demanded.

For the film, she also designed her costumes along with her mother.

Following few unsuccessful films, Kharbanda received SIIMA Award for Best Actress - Kannada nomination for portraying a medical student in Googly (2013) and the leading lady in Super Ranga (2014), winning SIIMA Critics Award for Best Actress – Kannada for the latter.

Kharbanda had four releases in 2013, two each in Telugu and Kannada.

Her first release was Galaate.

Kharbanda's other successful films include the Kannada films, Tirupathi Express, Belli both (2014) and Minchagi Nee Baralu (2015).

She portrayed an IAS aspirant in Bruce Lee: The Fighter (2015), for which she received Filmfare and SIIMA Award for Best Supporting Actress – Telugu nominations.

Kharbanda made her Hindi film debut with Raaz: Reboot (2016) and played a PCS Officer in Shaadi Mein Zaroor Aana (2017).

Her notable Hindi films include Yamla Pagla Deewana: Phir Se (2018), Housefull 4 (2019), which is her highest-grossing release, Taish (2020) and 14 Phere (2021).

For Taish, she received ITA Award for Most Popular Actress – OTT nomination.

In addition to her acting career, Kharbanda is a prominent celebrity endorser for brands and products.

She also support a number of causes.