Sonakshi Sinha

Sonakshi Sinha
Sinha in 2014
Born	Sonakshi Sinha[1] 2 June 1987 Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
Alma mater	SNDT Women's University
Occupation	Actress Rapper
Years active	2010–present
Parent(s)	Shatrughan Sinha Poonam Sinha
Relatives	Luv Sinha (brother) Kush Sinha (brother)

Sonakshi Sinha (pronounced [soːnaːkʂiː sɪnɦaː]; born June 2, 1987) is an Indian rapper and actress.^[2] She is daughter of actors Shatrughan and Poonam. After working as a costume designer in her early career, Sonakshi made her debut in action-drama film Dabangg (2010) which led her to win the Filmfare Award for Best Female Debut.^[3]

Sinha has played the romantic interest of the male protagonists in several top-grossing action-dramas, including Rowdy Rathore (2012), Son of Sardaar (2012), Dabangg 2 (2012) and Holiday: A Soldier Is Never Off Duty (2014), though she was criticised for taking up roles that offered her limited scope. She received critical praise for her portrayal of a woman suffering from tuberculosis in the romantic drama Lootera (2013), for which she was nominated for the Filmfare Award for Best Actress in 2013.^[4][5]

Early life

Ajay Devgan, Shatrughan Sinha and Sonakshi Sinha

Sinha was born in 1987, to actors Shatrughan Sinha and Poonam Sinha in Mumbai. Her father Shatrughan Sinha is now a Member of Parliament from BJP.^[6][7] She is the youngest of three children with twin brothers, Luv Sinha and Kush Sinha. Sonakshi completed her schooling from Arya Vidya Mandir in Mumbai and graduated in Fashion Designing from Shreemati Nathibai Damodar Thackersey Women's University, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India.^[8]

Career

Debut and breakthrough (2010–13)

Sinha started her career as a costume designer, designing the costumes for films like Mera Dil Leke Dekho in 2005.^[9] She made her acting debut in the 2010 film Dabangg, in which she starred opposite Salman Khan. It went on to become the highest grossing film of 2010 and ultimately emerged as an all-time blockbuster.^[10][11] Sinha had to lose 30 kg in preparation for the role as a village girl.^[12] Her performance was well received, with noted critic Taran Adarsh noting that "Sonakshi Sinha looks fresh, acts confidently and pairs off very well with Salman. Most importantly, she delivers the right expressions and is not overpowered by the galaxy of stars in the cast."^[13] Although Sinha had no film releases in 2011, she won awards for her debut. This included the Filmfare Award as well as the IIFA Awards among many others.

Sinha had four releases in 2012, her first being Prabhu Deva's Rowdy Rathore, opposite Akshay Kumar. The film opened to mixed reviews from critics,^[14] although it had a strong opening at the box office,^[15] collecting approx. ₹150.6 million (US$2.2 million) on the first day and eventually became a blockbuster.^[16]

Sinha at DVD launch of Rowdy Rathore in 2012.

However, critic Rajeev Masand criticized her ornamental role and wrote that Sinha "seems to exist in this film only to have her midriff repeatedly pinched by Akshay Kumar."^[17] Her next film, Shirish Kunder's Joker, also opposite Akshay Kumar, proved to be a trade disaster at the box office and received overwhelmingly negative reviews.^[18][19]

Her third film, Ashwni Dhir's Son of Sardar alongside Ajay Devgan was poorly received by the critics but proved to be an economic success. Critic Saibal Chatterjee from NDTV noted that Sinha "endeavours to be pretty and dainty amid all the madness."^[20] Arbaaz Khan's Dabangg 2, the sequel to her immensely successful debut garnered little praise from critics, though proved to be a major financial success.^{[21][22][23][24]} Sinha also dubbed for the voice of Tooth in the Hindi version of Rise of the Guardians.^[25]

Sinha's first film of 2013 was Vikramaditya Motwane's period romance-drama Lootera opposite Ranveer Singh. Despite receiving a lukewarm response at the box office,^[26] it and Sinha gathered praise,^[27] with Sinha's portrayal of Pakhi, a Bengali girl who is dying of tuberculosis, receiving universal acclaim from critics. Sarita Tanwar notes that "the star of the film is undoubtedly Sonakshi Sinha [who gives] a mature and refined performance. She lives the character body and soul."^[28] Raja Sen agrees, saying that "Sonakshi Sinha plays Pakhi beautifully, creating a character who is immaculately wide-eyed and possesses casual, yet unmistakable, grace. It is a performance that starts off dreamily soft and turns harder, and she does well-etched dialogue justice like few actresses can. There's a discernible vulnerability to Pakhi throughout the film, and Sinha brings out this fragility perfectly without ever overplaying it."^[29]

Sinha appeared in Milan Luthria's crime romance film Once Upon ay Time in Mumbai Dobaara!, the sequel to Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai, in which she was paired with Akshay Kumar again, as well as Imran Khan.^[30] The movie was a commercial disappointment and critic Mohar Basu labeled her "a chatterbox replete with idioticity which the director frames as naiveness."^[31] She then appeared in Tigmanshu Dhulia's Bullett Raja alongside Saif Ali Khan, a box-office flop. Her final release of the year was Prabhu Deva's R... Rajkumar opposite Shahid Kapoor. A moderate commercial success, the film and her performance received negative reviews. Taran Adarsh labeled her "repetitive" and noted that she needed to "reinvent herself."^[32]

Recent work (2014–present)

In 2014, after providing her voice for the voice of Jewel in the Hindi-dubbed Rio 2,^[33] Sinha was seen in A.R. Murugadoss's action thriller Holiday: A Soldier Is Never Off Duty, a remake of the director's Tamil film Thuppakki.^[34] Starring opposite Akshay Kumar, Sinha appeared as a boxer. It received mixed-to-positive reviews from critics and emerged as a box office hit.^[35][36] Jyoti Sharma Bawa said of Sinha's portrayal: "Sonakshi has nothing to do much in the film and overacts in places. For an actor who has already proved her mettle in the acting department, this definitely is a downer."^[37] Sinha appeared in a music video with Yo Yo Honey Singh titled Superstar.^[38] In July, Sinha jointly bought a team in the World Kabaddi League.^[39] Her second release of 2014 was Prabhu Deva's Action Jackson with Ajay Devgn and Yami Gautam. She made her Kollywood debut opposite Rajnikanth in KS Ravikumar's Lingaa, her final release in 2014. She then appeared in Boney Kapoor's remake of Okkadu titled Tevar (2015) alongside Arjun Kapoor.^[40][41][42] For the last of these, Rajeev Masand wrote, "Sonakshi Sinha, playing another simpering damsel in another South remake, once again has nothing to do. She appears content showing up for a few dance numbers, and waiting around for a man to save her."^[43]

As of April 2015, Sinha is filming a remake of the 2011 Tamil film Mouna Guru, entitled Akira, an action-drama from director AR Murugadoss in which she plays an aggressive college student.^[44][45]

Sonakshi released her debut single 'Aaj Mood Ishqholic Hai' in collaboration with Meet Bros on 23 December 2015.^[46][47]

Philanthropy

Sonakshi Sinha is a professed animal lover, and she had posed for a PETA campaign advocating the adoption and sterilization of dogs and cats.^[48] She has starred in a one-minute video PSA, urging everyone to adopt animals and have them sterilised. She has been quoted saying ""Breeders, pet stores and people who don't sterilize their animals are responsible for all the animals who end up homeless. Every time someone buys a dog or cat from a breeder or pet store, a homeless animal roaming the streets or waiting in an animal shelter loses a chance at a home and a good life.^[49]"

Filmography

Key

Denotes films that have not yet been released

Year	Film	Role	Notes
2010	Dabangg	Rajjo Pandey
2012	Rowdy Rathore	Paro
2012	Joker	Diva
2012	OMG – Oh My God	Herself	Special appearance in song "Go Go Govinda"
2012	Son of Sardar	Sukhmeet Kaur Sandhu
2012	Dabangg 2	Rajjo Pandey
2013	Himmatwala	Herself	Special appearance in song "Thank God It's Friday"
2013	Lootera	Pakhi Roy Chaudhary	Nominated—Filmfare Award for Best Actress
2013	Once Upon A Time In Mumbai Dobaara	Jasmine Sheikh
2013	Boss	Herself	Special appearance in songs "Party All Night" and "Har Kisi Ko"
2013	Bullett Raja	Mitali
2013	R... Rajkumar	Chanda
2014	Holiday: A Soldier Is Never Off Duty	Saiba Thapar
2014	Action Jackson	Khushi
2014	Lingaa	Mani Bharathi	Tamil film
2014	Rio 2	Jewel	Voiceover in Hindi dubbed version[50]
2015	Tevar	Radhika Mishra
2015	All Is Well	Herself	Special appearance in song "Nachan Farrate"
2016	Akira	Akira	Filming
2016	Force 2	TBA	Filming
2017	Namastey England	TBA	Pre-production[51]
2017	Noor	TBA	Pre-production[52]
2017	Ittefaq	TBA	Pre-production[53][54]

Discography

Singles

No.	Single	Label	Released
1.	Aaj Mood Ishqholic Hai	T-Series	23 December 2015

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Film	Result
2011	Annual Central European Bollywood Awards	Best Newcomer - Female	Dabangg	Won[55]
	Apsara Film & Television Producers Guild Awards	Best Female Debut		Won[56]
	Filmfare Awards	Best Female Debut		Won[57]
	International Indian Film Academy Awards	Star Debut of the Year – Female		Won[58]
	Lions Gold Awards	Favourite Debutant Actress		Won
	Star Screen Awards	Most Promising Newcomer – Female		Won[59]
	Stardust Awards	Superstar of Tomorrow – Female		Won[60]
		Best Thriller/Action Actress		Nominated[61]
	Zee Cine Awards	Best Female Debut		Won[62]
		Best International Female Icon		Nominated[62]
	FICCI Frames Excellence Awards	Best Debut Actress		Won[63][64]
	Aaj Tak Awards	Best Debutante Actress		Won
	Dadasaheb Phalke Awards	Best Debutant Actor – Female		Won
2012	ETC Business Awards	Highest Grossing Actress	—	Won[65]
	People's Choice Awards India	Favorite Movie Actress	Rowdy Rathore	Nominated
		Favorite Youth Movie Icon	—	Nominated
2013	Stardust Awards	Best Thriller/Action Actress	Rowdy Rathore, Dabangg 2	Nominated[66]
		Best Comedy/Romance Actress	Son of Sardar	Nominated[66]
	Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards India	Best Movie Actress	—	Nominated[67]
	BIG Star Entertainment Awards	Most Entertaining Actor in a Romantic Role - Female	Lootera	Won[68]
		Most Entertaining Film Actor – Female		Nominated[69]
2014	Filmfare Awards	Best Actress		Nominated[70]
	Apsara Film & Television Producers Guild Awards	Best Actress in a Leading Role		Nominated[71]
	Screen Awards	Best Actress		Nominated [72]
		Popular Choice (Female)		Nominated [73]
	Zee Cine Awards	Best Actress (Critics)		Won[74]
	International Indian Film Academy Awards	Best Actress		Nominated[75]

References

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External links

• Sonakshi Sinha at the Internet Movie Database