Adah Sharma | |
|---|---|
 Sharma in 2025 | |
| Born | (1992-05-11)11 May 1992 (age 32) Mumbai,Maharashtra, India |
| Other names | Chamundeswari Iyer, Adah Sarma[a] |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 2008–present |
Adah Sharma[a] (born 11 May 1992)[1] is an Indian actress who appears predominantly inHindi andTelugu films. Sharma, after finishing her schooling, made her acting debut with a leading role in the 2008 Hindi horror film,1920, a box office success. Her portrayal of a possessed woman in the film was critically praised and earned her aFilmfare Award for Best Female Debut nomination.[2][3] After the release of her romantic comedy film,Hasee Toh Phasee (2014), she ventured into theSouth Indian film industry, playing the leading lady in the Telugu film,Heart Attack (2014). Her other major Telugu films include,S/O Satyamurthy (2015) andKshanam (2016). She also starred as the lead actress in the filmThe Kerala Story (2023).
Sharma[a] was born inMumbai.[6][7] Her father S. L. Sharma (d. 2014),[8] aTamil, hailed fromMadurai,Tamil Nadu and was a captain in theIndian Merchant Navy.[4] Her mother Sheila Sharma, aMalayali and native of Nattupura,Palakkad,Kerala, is anIndian classical dancer andmallakhamba yoga practitioner.[4][9][7]
Sharma studied at Auxilium Convent High School,Bandra.[10] When she was in tenth grade, she had decided that she wanted to become an actress[citation needed]. She wanted to drop out of school but her parents insisted that she should complete her schooling at least.[11] After completing her twelfth grade, she stopped studying.[12]
Sharma is a gymnast.[13] She has been dancing since the age of three, and has completed her graduation inKathak from theNatraj Gopi Krishna Kathak Dance Academy in Mumbai.[14][15] She had learntsalsa for four months in the US, besidesjazz andballet, and has claimed to be "very good" atbelly dancing.[11] She is also a practitioner ofSilambam, an Indian weapon-based martial art.[16]
Sharma has lived in herPali Hill house all her life, as she preferred to live close to nature surrounded by trees.[17] In June 2024, she moved to a sea-facing building Mont Blanc in Mumbai which had previously been occupied bySushant Singh Rajput.[18]
Apart from hermother tongueTamil, Sharma can speak in English,Marathi, andHindi, as she was born and brought up in Mumbai.[6]
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Trying to break into the film industry, Sharma auditioned for several roles, but was rejected either because of her curly hair or because the casting directors felt that she looked too young.[19] She eventually landed the lead female role in the 2008 Hindi horror film1920 oppositeRajneesh Duggal which was directed byVikram Bhatt. Her portrayal of a possessed woman was unanimously praised by critics.The Times of India'sNikhat Kazmi commented that she "delivers a consummate performance",[3] and labelled her performance as "excellent",[2] "[exceptionally] brilliant",[20][21] and "incredibly convincing".[22] The film was a commercial success, Bhatt's first box office hit after six years and 10 films,[23] and earned Sharma aBest Female Debut nomination at the54th Filmfare Awards. Three years later, she had her next release,Phhir, again a horror film, which saw her collaborating with Vikram Bhatt, who wrote the film, and her,1920 co-starRajneesh Duggal.Phhir, however, was not as well received as,1920, opening to negative reviews,[24][25][26][27] and failing at the box office,[28][29] with Sharma getting mixed response for her performance. While Sujata Chakrabarti wrote that "not even for a minute does she exude the intensity of being a psychic",[30] Sify's Sonia Chopra stated that she was "the only one in the film who can act".[26] Her third film, the romantic comedyHum Hai Raahi Car Ke, released another two years later and was a critical and financial failure.[31][32]
In 2014, Sharma had two releases:Puri Jagannadh's romanceHeart Attack oppositeNithiin, that marked herTelugu debut and a Hindi filmHasee Toh Phasee alongsideSidharth Malhotra andParineeti Chopra, which released seven days later and featured her in a supporting role.[33]Taran Adarsh ofBollywood Hungama stated, "Adah Sharma is a natural. One strongly feels she hasn't got her due, despite leaving an impression in every film she's featured in."[34] She described her character in the former as "vulnerable, yet extremely sexy" and worked for two months on her Telugu diction.[15] Sharma received positive remarks for her performance inHeart Attack, withThe Times of India writing that she "looks like a natural actress and does a decent job" while 123telugu.com felt that she had made a "stunning debut".[35] Both films were commercially successful,[36] withHasee To Phasee ending up as one of thehighest-grossing Hindi films of 2014.[37]
Her next two films, the Telugu family dramaS/O Satyamurthy, in which she was cast oppositeAllu Arjun andSamantha Ruth Prabhu, and was directed byTrivikram Srinivas, and thePavan Wadeyar's action thrillerRana Vikrama,[38] alongsidePuneeth Rajkumar andAnjali, her first Kannada project, released on consecutive days in April 2015.[39] Both films were financial successes as well,[40][41] with the former, having collected over₹ 80 crore, emerging as one of thehighest-grossing Telugu films of all time, in spite of receiving mixed reviews from critics.[42] For her next film, she was paired oppositeSai Dharam Tej inSubramanyam for Sale, a Telugu romantic comedy. Directed byHarish Shankar, the film proved to be a moderate success, and Sharma received good reviews for her performance.[36] At the 5th edition of Indian Federation for Fashion Development'sIndia Runway Week, Sharma dazzled in a beautiful lehenga as she walked the ramp for Shravan Kumar. The designer kept the collection region-specific and showcased the lesser known handlooms of the south.[43]
Sharma had three releases in February 2016, two of which were in Telugu language. Her first film, the romantic comedyGaram was directed byMadan and she was cast as the love interest of the character played byAadi. Her next film was the acclaimed thrillerKshanam where she played the central role of Swetha, who seeks help from her ex-boyfriend (Adivi Sesh). Her final release of the year was the romantic comedyIdhu Namma Aalu, her firstTamil film, in which she had a small role and also performed an item number on the song "King Kong", which topped the charts in South India and her dance moves as well as pairing withSilambarasan was praised.[36][44] Her next release was the thrillerCommando 2, a sequel to the 2013 filmCommando: A One Man Army, where she plays the female lead role of an inspector oppositeVidyut Jammwal. Commercially, the film was an average-grosser.[45][46] In 2020, she played the role of atransgender woman in aMX Player webseries titledPati Patni Aur Panga.[47]
In 2023, she starred in the lead role inThe Kerala Story, in which she played the role of Shalini Unnikrishnan/Fathima Ba, who was radicalized andconverted to Islam and eventually joining the terrorist organizationISIS.[48] Anuj Kumar ofThe Hindu noted, "Adah Sharma delivers an earnest performance and captures the pain of the vulnerable Shalini who is robbed of her innocence but retains her spine."[49] The film became theninth-highest-grossing Hindi film of 2023. Though her next projectBastar: The Naxal Story (2024), also by the makers ofThe Kerala Story, was not well received.[50]
In an interview toNDTV, Sharma shared her views on pervasivenepotism in the film industry calling it "a huge rock wall" which sometimes an outsider gets through, by finding small cracks. She calledThe Kerala Story one such crack that bagged her huge success.[51]
in February 2022 following the death of Bappi Lahiri, Sharma made a controversial post on her dressed as Lahiri.[52] in 2024, Sharma faced backlash for moving to an apartment of Sushant Singh Rapjut who died in 2020.[53][54][55]
| † | Denotes films that have not yet been released |
| Year | Title | Role | Language | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 1920 | Lisa Singh Rathod | Hindi | |
| 2011 | Phhir | Disha Malhotra | ||
| 2013 | Hum Hai Raahi Car Ke | Sanjana Mehra | ||
| 2014 | Heart Attack | Hayati | Telugu | |
| Hasee Toh Phasee | Karishma Solanki | Hindi | ||
| 2015 | S/O Satyamurthy | Pallavi Kolasani | Telugu | |
| Rana Vikrama | Paaru | Kannada | ||
| Subramanyam for Sale | Durga | Telugu | ||
| 2016 | Garam | Sameera | ||
| Kshanam | Swetha | |||
| Idhu Namma Aalu | Unnamed | Tamil | Special appearance in song "Maaman Waiting" | |
| 2017 | Commando 2 | Inspector Bhavna Reddy | Hindi | |
| 2019 | Charlie Chaplin 2 | Saara | Tamil | |
| Kalki | Dr. Padma | Telugu | ||
| Bypass Road | Radhika Nair | Hindi | ||
| Commando 3 | Inspector Bhavna Reddy | |||
| 2022 | Question Mark | Swapna | Telugu | |
| 2023 | Selfiee | Meera | Hindi | |
| The Kerala Story | Shalini Unnikrishnan / Fathima Ba | |||
| 2024 | Bastar: The Naxal Story | I.G. Neerja Mathur | ||
| C.D (Criminal or Devil) | Raksha | Telugu | [56] | |
| 2025 | Tumko Meri Kasam | Indira Murdia | Hindi |
| † | Denotes series that have not yet been released |
| Year | Title | Role | Language | Network | Notes | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014–2015 | Pukaar | Aarti | Hindi | Life OK | [57] | |
| 2019 | The Holiday | Mehek | Amazon Prime | [58] | ||
| 2020 | Pati Patni Aur Panga | Shivani Bhatnagar | MX Player | [59] | ||
| 2021 | Aisa Waisa Pyaar | Sweta Sahu | JioCinema | [60] | ||
| 2022 | Meet Cute | Shalini | Telugu | SonyLIV | under segment "Star struck" | [61] |
| 2023 | Commando | Bhavana Reddy | Hindi | Disney+ Hotstar | [62] | |
| 2024 | Sunflower | Rosie Mehta | ZEE5 | [63] | ||
| Reeta Sanyal | Reeta | Disney+ Hotstar | [64][65] |
| Year | Title | Role | Language | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | Tindey | Sridevi | Hindi | [66] |
| Moh | Shruti | [67] | ||
| 2020 | Soulsathi | Preeti / Soul | [68] | |
| 2021 | Chuha Billi | Kats | [69] | |
| 2022 | Which Side Are You? | Reeva | ||
| 2023 | Kofuku | Sadaf | [70] |
| Year | Title | Language | Singer(s) | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | Tasveeran | Punjabi | Sardool Sikandar | |
| 2010 | Gaaia Na Kar Ni | Hindi | Kamal Heer | |
| 2017 | Life | Akhil | [71] | |
| 2020 | Tu Yaad Aya | Adnan Sami | [72] | |
| 2021 | Drunk N High | Aastha Gill, Mellow D | [73] | |
| Sorry Sorry | Raashi Sood | [74] | ||
| Aashiq Mud Na Jaawe | Akhil | [75] | ||
| Ramasakkanodiviro Pilago | Telugu | Mangli,Raghu Kunche | ||
| 2022 | Piya Re Piya | Yasser Desai | Hindi | [76] |
| 2023 | Raabta | Jubin Nautiyal | [77] |
| Year | Award | Category | Work | Result | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Screen Awards | Most Promising Debut Actress | 1920 | Nominated | [78] |
| Stardust Awards | Exciting New Face – Female | Won | [79] | ||
| Filmfare Award for Best Female Debut | Filmfare Award for Best Female Debut | Nominated | [80] | ||
| 2024 | Iconic Gold Awards | Best Actress of the Year – Critics Choice | The Kerala Story | Won | [79] |
| Zee Cine Awards | Zee 5 Best Actor – Female | Won | [81] |
Even Bollywood folks from Mumbai find it amusing that she's a Palakkad Iyer, whose parents named her Adah. That is my original name! says the actress. And her last name also raises similar aspersions about her Tamil nativity among the discerning. It doesn't seem to annoy her any more. ... I'm a Tamil Brahmin. My father hailed from Madurai and my mom's a native from Nattupura, bordering Palakkad. In our community, the father's first name becomes the surname, she says. Her last name was originally spelt as Sarma, and Adah attributes the change in spelling to years of living in Mumbai.
My name was actually Chamundeswari Iyer.
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