Sharma's acting debut was in Aditya Chopra's Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi (2008), opposite Shah Rukh Khan. She took a day to prepare for her screen test at the Yash Raj Films studio and refused to do an impromptu one.[10] She landed the leading role of Tani Sahni, a young bride to a middle-aged man, portrayed by Khan. Giving the film a three-and-half star rating, Khalid Mohamed called her "assured and upright",[12] while Nikhat Kazmi wrote about Sharma's performance that she "lacks all chutzpah and can barely hold your attention".[13] The film received positive reviews and was a major commercial success, emerging as the second-highest grossing Hindi film of that year.[14] It earned her the Filmfare Awards nomination for Best Actress and Best Female Debut.[15]
Anushka Sharma and Ranveer Singh holding up DVDs. While Sharma, wearing a pale yellow top is smiling directly at the camera, Singh, dressed in a white shirt, is looking away.
Sharma with co-star Ranveer Singh at the DVD launch of Band Baaja Baaraat
Two years later, Sharma played the leading lady in the crime-comedy Badmaash Company, directed by Parmeet Sethi and co-starring Shahid Kapoor, Vir Das and Meiyang Chang. The film, dealing with four underachieving friends who begin a scam business enterprise, met with mixed reviews.[16] Later in 2010, Sharma completed her three-film contract with Yash Raj Films by starring in Band Baaja Baaraat, a romantic comedy directed by Maneesh Sharma and co-starring debutant Ranveer Singh.[17] Her role was that of Shruti Kakkar, an ambitious middle-class Punjabi girl who starts her own wedding planning business. In preparation for the part, Sharma learned to speak in the Punjabi dialect, which she cited as the toughest part of her role; she described the way the lead characters in the film interact as "crude but cute" which required her to "talk fast, sometimes mix words and even omit words completely".[18]
Trade analysts expressed doubt on Band Baaja Baaraat's financial prospect, citing the middling response to Yash Raj Films' last few productions, the lack of a male star, and saying that by then Sharma was an "almost-forgotten" actress.[19] However, Band Baaja Baaraat earned positive reviews and emerged a sleeper hit. The film grossed approximately ₹ 214.4 million after five weeks, making it a moderate box office success.[20] Sharma's performance was praised by critics, many of whom cited it as her best work up to date.[21] Film critic Anupama Chopra praised Sharma and said that she "comes into her own as the ambitious Delhi girl, who dreams of upgrading to multi-crore Sainik Farms weddings".[22] For her work in the film, Sharma received her second nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Actress.[23]
Rise to prominence (2011–14)
Anushka Sharma holding a mike and smiling away from the camera. She is dressed in a halter-neck yellow outfit.
Sharma at the 58th Filmfare Awards, where she won the Best Supporting Actress award for Jab Tak Hai Jaan
Sharma's first venture outside of the Yash Raj banner was the drama Patiala House (2011) directed by Nikhil Advani and co-starring Akshay Kumar.[24] The film tells the story of a budding cricketer (played by Kumar) who encounters trouble in convincing his father of his profession; Sharma was cast as the love interest of Kumar's character. Sukanya Verma of Rediff.com praised Sharma's work and labelled her a "metaphor for energy".[25] The same year, she re-united with her Band Baaja Baarat co-star Ranveer Singh and director Maneesh Sharma for the comedy-drama Ladies vs Ricky Bahl, produced by Yash Raj Films. She featured as Ishika Desai, a salesgirl hired to outwit a conman (essayed by Singh), who ends up falling in love with him instead. The film and Sharma's performance received mixed reviews, with Piyali Dasgupta of NDTV calling her "believable but not endearing".[26] Despite mixed reviews, the film was a moderate success at the box office.[27][28]
In 2012, Sharma played a supporting role alongside Shah Rukh Khan and Katrina Kaif in Yash Chopra's "swan song", the romance Jab Tak Hai Jaan, which marked her fifth collaboration with Yash Raj Films and her second with Khan. She was cast as Akira Rai, a Discovery Channel reporter who harbours an ambition of making documentary films. CNN-IBN's Rajeev Masand wrote that Sharma "brings a spark to the film",[29] however, Raja Sen disagreed and said that "while Anushka can indeed play spunky, she needed here to tone it down several notches".[30] For her role, she won the Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress.[31] Jab Tak Hai Jaan went on to become the third highest-grossing Bollywood film of 2012.[32]
Sharma then appeared in Vishal Bhardwaj's Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola (2013), a political satire set in a village in Haryana. Co-starring alongside Pankaj Kapur, Imran Khan and Shabana Azmi, Sharma played the titular role of Bijlee Mandola, a strong-headed girl who engages in a romantic affair with Khan's character despite being engaged to another man. The film received positive to mixed reviews from critics,[33] and underperformed at the box office.[34][35] Several critics noted that Sharma was being stereotyped as a loud and loquacious girl; Raja Sen noted that she "is great in a couple of scenes near the climax,"[36] though Kanika Sikka of Daily News and Analysis was more critical and found her "unconvincing".[37]
After an absence of nearly two years from the screen, Sharma portrayed Jagat "Jaggu" Janini, a television journalist who befriends an alien (played by Aamir Khan), in Rajkumar Hirani's religious satire PK (2014) . Critic Saibal Chatterjee wrote that Sharma plays "a feisty poetry-loving girl who knows her mind far more than most Hindi film heroines are allowed to" and praised her for "hold[ing] her own" against Khan.[38] The film garnered critical acclaim and emerged as the highest-grossing Bollywood film with a worldwide revenue of over ₹7 billion (US$100 million).[39][40][41]
Professional expansion (2015–present)
Anushka Sharma is wearing a printed top and smiling away from the camera
Sharma at an event for Bombay Velvet in 2015
In 2014, Sharma established her own production company named Clean Slate Films, who's first release was Navdeep Singh's thriller NH10 (2015), in which she also played the lead role.[42] Screened at the 5th Beijing International Film Festival, the film tells the story of a married couple whose lives are endangered after an encounter with a group of criminals.[43] In preparation for the role, Sharma underwent interval training for three months in order to build stamina and remain fit.[44] Writing for NDTV, critic Saibal Chatterjee found the film to be a "taut and riveting thriller" and praised Sharma for "conveying a range of moods as she moves from the vulnerable to the fearless in a battle in which the odds are stacked heavily against her",[45] and Prarthana Sarkar of International Business Times credited her for "breaking the 'Miss Bubbly' stereotype".[46] The film also emerged as a box office success.[47][48]
In Anurag Kashyap's period crime drama Bombay Velvet (2015), (based on the historian Gyan Prakash's book Mumbai Fables) co-starring Ranbir Kapoor and Karan Johar, Sharma was cast in the role of a jazz singer, Rosie Noronha. Her character was referenced from yesteryear stars like Brigitte Bardot, Helen and Waheeda Rehman.[49] As part of her preparation, Sharma watched a lot of films of the 1950s and 1960s, as well as a documentary showing the development of hair and make-up over the years.[49] She also revealed to have used temporary lip enhancers as a part of her make up in the film, citing it as the reason behind her changed appearance on a chat show in 2014, and refuting media speculations about her having undergone plastic surgery.[50]
Bombay Velvet was screened at the Locarno[51] and Bucheon film festivals,[52] but critical reviews on it were mixed.[53] Writing for Business Standard, Ritika Bhatia praised Sharma's performance in the song "Dhadaam Dhadaam": "she fills the stage with such raw emotion that her mascara-laden tears and fake eyelashes flutter with arresting passion".[54] However, the film proved to be a box office failure, failing to recover its ₹1.2 billion (US$18 million) investment.[53][55] The same year, she featured in a supporting role of a troupe dancer aboard a cruise ship in Zoya Akhtar's Dil Dhadakne Do, an ensemble comedy-drama starring Anil Kapoor, Shefali Shah, Priyanka Chopra, Ranveer Singh and Farhan Akhtar.[56] The song "Pehli Baar" in the film was choreographed by her and Singh;[57] their chemistry was described as "top-notch" by Rachit Gupta of Filmfare.[58] Her performances in NH10 and Dil Dhadakne Do earned her Filmfare Award nominations for Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress, respectively.[59]
Upcoming projects
As of May 2016, Sharma has completed work on Ali Abbas Zafar's sports drama Sultan opposite Salman Khan.[60] She is simultaneously filming Karan Johar's romantic drama Ae Dil Hai Mushkil, co-starring Ranbir Kapoor and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, and her next production venture entitled Phillauri, a romantic comedy featuring Sharma alongside Diljit Dosanjh and Suraj Sharma.[61][62] She has also confirmed that she will be a part of Imtiaz Ali's next film, which will mark her third collaboration with Shah Rukh Khan.[63]
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