Adah Sharma

Adah Sharma (born 11 May 1992) is an Indian actress who works mainly in Hindi and Telugu films. She made her debut as the lead of the Hindi horror film 1920 (2008), earning a Filmfare nomination for Best Female Debut, and later became a familiar face in Telugu cinema through Heart Attack (2014), S/O Satyamurthy (2015) and Kshanam (2016). She is best known for leading The Kerala Story (2023), which according to the source made ₹375 crore at the box office.

Early life and training

Sharma was born in Mumbai. Her father was a captain in the Indian Merchant Navy, and her mother, Sheila Sharma, is a classical dancer and mallakhamba yoga practitioner. She studied at Auxilium Convent High School in Bandra, and although she had decided to become an actress by the tenth grade, her parents insisted that she finish school first; she stopped studying after the twelfth grade.

She has danced since the age of three and holds a graduation in Kathak from the Natraj Gopi Krishna Kathak Dance Academy in Mumbai. She has also learned salsa, jazz and ballet, is a trained gymnast and practises the martial art Silambam.

Debut in Hindi films

Her early auditions often ended in rejection, sometimes because of her curly hair and sometimes because she looked too young. At 16 she won the lead in Vikram Bhatt’s horror film 1920 (2008), opposite Rajneesh Duggal. Critics praised her portrayal of a possessed woman, and the film was a commercial success. Her next two films, the horror film Phhir and the romantic comedy Hum Hai Raahi Car Ke, were not successful.

Telugu cinema

In 2014 she made her Telugu debut in Puri Jagannadh‘s romance Heart Attack, opposite Nithiin, spending two months working on her Telugu diction. Reviewers were positive about her performance, and the film was a commercial success. A week later she had a supporting role in the Hindi hit Hasee Toh Phasee.

In April 2015 she appeared opposite Allu Arjun and Samantha Ruth Prabhu in Trivikram Srinivas‘s family drama S/O Satyamurthy, a commercial success, and made her Kannada debut the next day in Rana Vikrama. She was then paired with Sai Dharam Tej in Harish Shankar‘s romantic comedy Subramanyam for Sale, a moderate success for which she received good reviews.

February 2016 brought two more Telugu releases: the romantic comedy Garam and the acclaimed thriller Kshanam, in which she played the central role of Swetha, a woman who seeks help from her former boyfriend, played by Adivi Sesh.

Tamil debut

Her first Tamil film, Idhu Namma Aalu (2016), gave her a small role and a dance number, “King Kong”, which topped the charts in South India. She next appeared in the thriller Commando 2, a sequel to the 2013 film Commando: A One Man Army.

The Kerala Story

She took the lead role in The Kerala Story (2023). According to the source, its ₹375 crore box-office total made it India’s highest-grossing female-led film of all time.

Sources: Wikipedia and Wikidata.