Kiara Advani

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Kiara Advani (born Alia Advani on 31 July 1991) is an Indian actress who works mainly in Hindi films and has also appeared in Telugu cinema. She is among the highest-paid actresses in India, and her honours include an IIFA Award and two Zee Cine Awards, along with two Filmfare Award nominations. For Telugu audiences she is best known for playing the female lead opposite Mahesh Babu in Bharat Ane Nenu (2018).

Early life and a change of name

Advani was born to Jagdeep Advani, a businessman, and Genevieve Jaffrey, a teacher, and has a younger brother, Mishaal, who is a musician. Through her mother’s side she is related to several film personalities: the actor Ashok Kumar was her step-great-grandfather and Saeed Jaffrey her great-uncle. She was educated at Cathedral and John Connon School in Mumbai and graduated in mass communications from Jai Hind College.

She changed her first name from Alia to Kiara before her first film came out in 2014. By her own account, Salman Khan suggested the change because Alia Bhatt was already an established actress, and the new name came from Priyanka Chopra’s character in Anjaana Anjaani (2010). Before acting, she had briefly worked as a teacher.

A slow start in Hindi films

Her debut, the ensemble comedy Fugly (2014), underperformed at the box office, although it brought her a Screen Awards nomination for Best Female Debut. She has said she felt demotivated afterwards, as offers dried up.

Two years later she played the wife of the cricketer MS Dhoni, opposite Sushant Singh Rajput, in the biopic M.S. Dhoni: The Untold Story (2016), a major commercial success. The thriller Machine (2017) failed, but her role as a dissatisfied young wife opposite Vicky Kaushal in the Netflix anthology Lust Stories (2018) drew good notices. That film began a long working relationship with the filmmaker Karan Johar.

Telugu films

Advani moved into Telugu cinema in 2018 with Koratala Siva‘s political action film Bharat Ane Nenu, in which Mahesh Babu plays a student who unexpectedly becomes Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh. Reviewers felt her role was brief and gave her little to do, but the film was a major hit; according to the source, it grossed ₹225 crore worldwide, placing it among Telugu cinema’s highest grossers.

Her second Telugu film, Vinaya Vidheya Rama, co-starring Ram Charan, did not repeat that success and received harsh reviews.

Breakthrough in 2019

Sandeep Reddy Vanga’s romantic drama Kabir Singh (2019), a Hindi film starring Shahid Kapoor, brought her much wider attention. It was criticised for its portrayal of misogyny, and reviewers felt her character was passive, but according to the source it grossed more than ₹378 crore worldwide, becoming her highest-grossing release. Later that year she appeared with Akshay Kumar, Kareena Kapoor Khan and Diljit Dosanjh in the comedy Good Newwz. Both films were among the highest-grossing Hindi releases of 2019, and Good Newwz won her the IIFA Award for Best Supporting Actress.

Rise to prominence

In the Netflix film Guilty (2020) she played a troubled college student in a story about sexual assault, earning a Filmfare OTT Awards nomination. She then appeared opposite Akshay Kumar in the horror comedy Laxmii.

Her standing rose further with two commercial successes in 2022, the horror comedy Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 and the family drama Jugjugg Jeeyo. Critics praised her as Vikram Batra’s girlfriend in the war film Shershaah (2021) and as a troubled married woman in the romantic drama Satyaprem Ki Katha (2023); both roles brought Filmfare nominations for Best Actress. According to the source, this run was followed by three big-budget action films that were poorly received.

Personal life and endorsements

Advani is married to the actor Sidharth Malhotra, and the couple have a daughter. Alongside her film work, she endorses a range of brands and products.

Sources: Wikipedia and Wikidata.