Sharman Joshi (born 28 April 1979) is an Indian actor who primarily works in
Hindi
Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...
films. Joshi is a recipient of several awards including an
IIFA Award and nominations for two
Filmfare Awards
The Filmfare Awards are annual awards that honour artistic and technical excellence in the Indian cinema.Al The Filmfare ceremony is one of the most famous film events in India. The awards were introduced by Filmfare magazine of The Times G ...
.
Joshi began his career with supporting parts in ''
Godmother'' (1999) and ''
Lajja'' (2001). The 2001 film ''
Style
Style, or styles may refer to:
Film and television
* ''Style'' (2001 film), a Hindi film starring Sharman Joshi, Riya Sen, Sahil Khan and Shilpi Mudgal
* ''Style'' (2002 film), a Tamil drama film
* ''Style'' (2004 film), a Burmese film
* '' ...
'' proved to be his breakthrough. Following this, he received commercial and critical success with ''
Rang De Basanti'' (2006), ''
Golmaal'' (2006), ''
Dhol'' (2007), ''
Life in a... Metro'' (2007), ''
3 Idiots'' (2009) and ''
Ferrari Ki Sawaari'' (2012). ''3 Idiots'' earned him the
IIFA Award for Best Supporting Actor. This success was followed by several box office failures with the exception of ''
Hate Story 3'' (2015) and ''
Mission Mangal'' (2019).
Joshi expanded to streaming projects with ''
Baarish'' (2019-2020) and ''
Kafas'' (2023). He is married to Prerana Chopra with whom he has three children.
Early life and family
Joshi was born on 28 April 1979 in
Nagpur
Nagpur (; ISO 15919, ISO: ''Nāgapura'') is the second capital and third-largest city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is called the heart of India because of its central geographical location. It is the largest and most populated city i ...
to
Arvind Joshi and Usha Joshi. His father was a veteran of
Gujarati theatre
Gujarati theatre refers to theatre performed in the Gujarati language, including its Gujarati language#Dialects, dialects. Gujarati theatre is produced mainly in Gujarat and Maharashtra, in cities like Mumbai, Ahmedabad and Baroda, Surat and els ...
.
His sister is actress
Manasi Joshi Roy, who is married to actor
Rohit Roy.
Joshi belongs to a
Gujarati Brahmin
Brahmin (; ) is a ''Varna (Hinduism), varna'' (theoretical social classes) within Hindu society. The other three varnas are the ''Kshatriya'' (rulers and warriors), ''Vaishya'' (traders, merchants, and farmers), and ''Shudra'' (labourers). Th ...
family of actors and performing artists. His father's elder brother was theatre actor and director
Pravin Joshi and actress
Sarita Joshi is his aunt. Actresses
Ketki Dave,
Purbi Joshi and
Poonam Joshi are his cousins.
Career
Early work (1999–2005)
Joshi made his film debut in the 1999
art film
An art film, arthouse film, or specialty film is an independent film aimed at a niche market rather than a mass market audience. It is "intended to be a serious, artistic work, often experimental and not designed for mass appeal", "made prima ...
, ''
Godmother''. In 2001, he first played
Rekha's son in ''
Lajja'' opposite
Aarti Chhabria, which was a success overseas. That year, he had his first lead role in
''Style'', where he played a college student. It was a moderate success and
Taran Adarsh was appreciative of his "convincing performance".
In 2003, Joshi first appeared in ''
Kahan Ho Tum''. He then reprised his character in ''
Xcuse Me'', a sequel to ''Style''. Both films were commercial failures. Following this, in 2005, he appeared in the comedy ''
Shaadi No. 1''. Joshi played an unhappy husband who has an affair opposite
Soha Ali Khan and
Riya Sen
Riya Sen (born Riya Dev Varma; 24 January 1981) is an Indian actress and model born into the royal family of Tripura to Bharat Dev Varma and Moon Moon Sen Sen predominantly appears in Hindi, Bengali, English, Telugu, Tamil and Malayalam fi ...
. The film emerged a box office average.
Breakthrough and acclaim (2006–2012)

The year 2006 marked a turning point in Joshi's career. He first played a rebellious college student in ''
Rang De Basanti''. This film was a critical and commercial success, emerging as the
seventh highest grossing film of the year. Sudhish Kamath of ''
The Hindu
''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It was founded as a weekly publication in 1878 by the Triplicane Six, becoming a daily in 1889. It is one of the India ...
'' stated, "Sharman is instantly likeable and emotes like a veteran." In the same year, he played a misled student in ''
Golmaal'' alongside
Rimi Sen
Rimi Sen (born Subhamitra Sen on 21 September 1981), also known professionally as Rimi or Rimii, is a former Indian actress and producer who appears in Hindi, Telugu, and Bengali films. She made her debut as a lead actress in 2002, in the Te ...
. The film emerged a box office success and has since gained a
cult status.
Sukanya Verma called him the real star of the film for his "uninhibited and winsome" act.
Joshi had three releases in 2007. He first played a call centre employee in ''
Life in a... Metro'' opposite
Kangana Ranaut, which was a surprise box office success.
Rajeev Masand noted, "Sharman springs a pleasant surprise as he effortlessly slips into the role of the conflicted lover." Following his role in ''
Raqeeb'', he played an ambitious young man in ''
Dhol'' opposite
Tanushree Dutta. The following year saw him play the lead in ''
Hello
Hello is a salutation or greeting in the English language. It is first attested in writing from 1826.
Early uses
''Hello'', with that spelling, was used in publications in the U.S. as early as the 18 October 1826 edition of the '' Norwich Cou ...
'' and ''
Sorry Bhai!'', both of which were box office failures.
2009 saw Joshi play his career's most notable character of an engineering student in ''
3 Idiots'', which later gained a
cult status. The film emerged as the
highest grossing Indian film at that time and created several records worldwide.
Shubhra Gupta called his performance "first rate". Rajeev Masand also noted: "Joshi has a meatier role, hence succeeds in fleshing out more competently." The film earned him the
IIFA Award for Best Supporting Actor.
In 2010, Joshi played a prospective groom in ''
Toh Baat Pakki!'' opposite
Yuvika Chaudhary, which was a box office failure. His next release, ''
Allah Ke Banday'' also failed commercially. Joshi then played a middle class Parsi who wants to fulfil his son's cricket dream in the 2012 film ''
Ferrari Ki Sawaari''. The film emerged a critical and commercial success. Sonia Chopra of ''
Sify
Sify Technologies Limited (formerly Satyam Infoway) is an Indian information and communications technology (ICT) company providing telecom services, data center services, cloud & managed services, transformation integration services, and ...
'' was appreciative of Joshi's "natural likeability and earnestness".
Later work (2013–present)
He also played the role of a cop in the
erotic
Eroticism () is a quality that causes sexual feelings, as well as a philosophical contemplation concerning the aesthetics of sexual desire, sensuality, and romantic love. That quality may be found in any form of artwork, including painting, sculp ...
-
thriller ''
Wajah Tum Ho''.
He has played a lead role in the Bollywood movies '' Kaashi in Search of Ganga'' (2018) and '' 3 Storeys.'' He is also known for his role as Raju Rastogi in the movie '' 3 Idiots''. He made his digital debut with Balaji Telefilms
Balaji Telefilms is an Indian company that produces Indian soap operas in several Indian languages. Balaji Telefilms also owns Alt Balaji, the platform known for producing adult rated content. Balaji Telefilms also produces reality TV, comedy ...
's production '' Baarish'' in 2019 as the male lead opposite Asha Negi.
Other works
Theatre
Joshi has acted, produced and directed stage plays in English, Hindi
Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...
, Marathi and Gujarati languages. He directed and starred in various theatre performances. He appeared as a deaf character in Gujarati version of popular play ''All the Best'', which did over 550 shows in three years.
Another one of his popular comedy play was "Ame Layi Gaya, Tame Rahi Gaya" where he played four different roles. In 2016, he made his directorial debut with the Hindi rom-com, Main Aur Tum. It features him in the lead role along with Tejashree Pradhan.
Television
In 2009, he hosted a game show
A game show (or gameshow) is a genre of broadcast viewing entertainment where contestants compete in a game for rewards. The shows are typically directed by a game show host, host, who explains the rules of the program as well as commentating a ...
at Real T.V. called '' PokerFace: Dil Sachcha Chehra Jhootha'', which was based on a British game show called '' PokerFace''. He has been honored with the life membership of International Film and Television Club of Asian Academy of Film & Television. Sharman refers to be type-cast during his career and spoke about it at a TEDx conference in Mumbai in January, 2017.
Personal life
Joshi married Prerana Chopra, daughter of actor Prem Chopra
Prem Chopra (born 23 September 1935) is an Indian actor in Hindi films. He has acted in 380 films over a span of over 60 years.
Life and education
Chopra, the third of six children of Ranveerlal and Rooprani Chopra, a Punjabi Hindu family, was ...
, on 15 June 2000 at the age of 21. The couple have three children, Khyana Joshi, and twins Vaaryan and Vihaan Joshi.
Filmography
Films
Television
Discography
Awards and nominations
Notes
References
External links
*
Sharman Joshi official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Joshi, Sharman
Indian male film actors
Living people
Male actors in Hindi cinema
Indian male stage actors
Male actors from Mumbai
Indian game show hosts
Gujarati actors
International Indian Film Academy Awards winners
Year of birth missing (living people)