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Shashank Arora

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Shashank Arora
Arora in Mumbai, 2020
Born (1989-02-21) 21 February 1989 (age 35)
New Delhi, India
Occupations
  • Actor
  • Musician
  • Writer
Years active2012–present
Known forTitli, Brahman Naman, Moothon, Made in Heaven

Shashank Arora (born 21 February 1989)[1] is an Indian actor, musician and writer. He is known for his roles in Titli (2014), Brahman Naman (2016), Moothon (2019) and Made in Heaven (2019). He is the only Indian actor to have films officially compete at Cannes and Sundance Film Festival.[2]

Early life and education

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Arora was born on 21 February 1989, in New Delhi, India. He showed interest and excellence in music and theatre from a young age. After he completed high school in Delhi he left for higher education in Canada, where he also briefly joined a street theatre group formed by human rights activists. In late 2008, he moved to Mumbai where he studied acting for two years and began his career as an actor.[citation needed][3]

[4] His parents are graphic designers and writers. He was inspired by the work of Francis Ford Coppola and Saeed Akhtar Mirza as a child.[5] In order to pursue a career in film, Arora went to Concordia University, Montreal, Canada for his graduation in filmmaking, with music as a minor subject. After that, he came to Mumbai but was unable to find work, hence went back to studying. He credits his professor Robert Reece from the Actors Studio in Los Angeles for everything he knows.[4] He later joined Whistling Woods International and Film and Television Institute of India as a guest teacher.[6] He also worked under casting director Saher Latif.[4]

Career

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Arora first appeared as a supporting character in a movie titled Myoho (2012), as Ranjit.[7][8] His first major role was the titular role in the critically acclaimed movie Titli (2014), produced by Yash Raj Films.[9] The film competed at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival. The film went on to compete at many major festivals around the world and Arora was also nominated at Filmfare, Stardust and Zee Cine awards as best newcomer for his role in Titli the following year.[10][11] In 2016, he played Naman in the movie Brahman Naman. The film went on to compete at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival, making Arora the first Indian actor to have films in Cannes and Sundance.[2] Next, he played the role of Uday, a bass player in the movie Rock On 2 in the same year.[12][13]

In 2017, he portrayed the role of Bicky, a drug peddler in the movie Zoo. The movie was India's first ever feature length film shot completely on an IPhone 6s and went to compete at the Busan International film festival later that year. Zoo was later purchased by Netflix India.[14] Shashank was seen next as Dhruv in the box office hit and critically acclaimed movie Lipstick Under My Burkha (2017).[15] He was also seen in The Song of Scorpions with Irrfan Khan as Munna, in the same year. The film went on to open at the Locarno Film Festival in 2017.[16][17] Later that year, it was announced that he would be seen portraying the titular character in a project titled Gangster Newton. The project is yet to hit the floors.[18] Following that, Arora also essayed the role of Shaad Amritsari in Nandita Das' Manto in 2018. The film was Shashank's second in the Un Certain Regard category at the Cannes Film Festival, making him and Nawazuddin Siddiqui the first Indian actors to have two films in Un Certain Regard at Cannes.[19] In the same year, he appeared in the short films, the Listener, directed by Tarun Judega, Letters, directed by Nitin Shingal and Others, directed by Sachin Shinde.[20][21][22] In 2019, Arora was seen in the Amazon Prime series Made In Heaven as Kabir Basrai, a photographer.[23] He was also seen portraying the role of Salman Khan's younger brother, Chote in Bharat.[24] He was also seen in the Malayalam-Hindi bilingual film Moothon, which marked his debut in Malayalam cinema. The film went on to premier at the 2019 Toronto Film Festival.[25] In 2019, he appeared in Nandita Das' video India's Got Colour.[26]

Filmography

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Arora on the sets of Titli

Movies

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Key
† Denotes films that have not yet been released
Year Film Character Language Notes
2012 Myoho Ranjit Hindi [8]
2014 Titli Titli Hindi [9]
2016 Brahman Naman Naman English
Kannada		 [27]
Rock On 2 Uday Hindi [12]
2017 Zoo Bicky Hindi [14]
Lipstick Under My Burkha Dhruv Hindi [15]
The Song of Scorpions Munna Rajasthani [16]
2018 Manto Shaad Hindi
Urdu		 [19]
Penalty Parth Hindi
2019 Moothon Salim Malayalam
Hindi		 [25]
Bharat Chote Hindi [24]
2023 Neeyat Ryan Kapoor Hindi
2024 Superboys of Malegaon † TBA Hindi [28]

Short films

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Year Name Director Notes
2018 The Listener Tarun Juneja [20]
Letters Nitin Shingal [21]
Others Sachin Shinde [22]
2019 377 Ab Normal Faruk Kabir

TV shows

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Year Show Platform Character Notes
2019–present Made in Heaven Amazon Prime Kabir Basrai [23]
2020 Gangster Newton Newton [18]
2022 The Great Indian Murder Disney+ Hotstar Munna
Tanaav SonyLIV Junaid

Discography

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Year Song Movie/Albums Composer
2019 Bikhre Moothon Himself
2020 Mere Saathiyon Single Himself
2020 Dhamki (A lullaby) Single Himself
2020 Ode to Butter Chicken, Pt .1 Single Himself

Awards and nominations

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Year Film Award Category Result
2015 Titli Stardust Awards Best Acting Debut Nominated [11]
Titli Star Screen Awards Best Debut Actor Nominated [29]
Titli Zee Cine Awards Best Debut Actor Nominated
Titli Filmfare Awards Best Debut Actor Nominated
2020 Moothon Indian Film Festival Cincinnati Best Supporting Actor Won

References

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  1. ^ "Shashank Arora: Movies, Photos, Videos, News, Biography & Birthday | eTimes". timesofindia.indiatimes.com. Retrieved 11 June 2019.
  2. ^ a b Cornelious, Deborah (1 July 2016). "Shashank Arora: Journeying from grit to lust". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 30 October 2021.
  3. ^ "Study at Whistling Woods". Retrieved 21 February 2020.
  4. ^ a b c Guha, Kunal. "Small Talk: Shashank's redemption". Pune Mirror. Retrieved 9 June 2019.
  5. ^ Khan, Atif (8 May 2018). "Working with Nawaz was wonderful, says Shashank Arora on 'Manto'". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 9 June 2019.
  6. ^ Paul, Rahul (17 July 2018). ""We are in the dark ages of cinema" - Shashank Arora". Stardust. Retrieved 9 June 2019.
  7. ^ "Myoho (2012) Cast - Actor, Actress, Director, Producer, Music Director". Cinestaan. Archived from the original on 8 June 2019. Retrieved 8 June 2019.
  8. ^ a b "Shashank Arora feels comfortable doing multi-starrers". The Indian Express. 10 November 2016. Retrieved 8 December 2017.
  9. ^ a b Vats, Rohit (30 October 2015). "Titli review: This is the best Hindi film of the year so far". Hindustan Times. Retrieved 8 June 2019.
  10. ^ IBTimes (5 December 2015). "Stardust awards: Badlapur, Bajrangi Bhaijaan, Tanu Weds Manu Returns, others nominated; complete list of nominations". International Business Times, India Edition. Retrieved 8 June 2019.
  11. ^ a b Hungama, Bollywood (15 December 2015). "Nominations for Stardust Awards 2015 - Bollywood Hungama". Bollywood Hungama. Retrieved 8 June 2019.
  12. ^ a b "'Rock On!! 2' Poster Released, Shraddha Kapoor, Shashank Arora Join The Band". HuffPost India. 3 September 2016. Retrieved 9 June 2019.
  13. ^ Guha, Kunal. "'Rock On 2' review: The Farhan Akhtar film is a largely tiresome affair". Mumbai Mirror. Retrieved 9 June 2019.
  14. ^ a b Basu, Dyuti (20 October 2017). "This film shot completely on iPhone was screened at the Busan Film Festival". Deccan Chronicle. Retrieved 9 June 2019.
  15. ^ a b Bhatia, Uday (21 July 2017). "Film Review: Lipstick Under My Burkha". livemint. Retrieved 9 June 2019.
  16. ^ a b "'The Song of Scorpions': Film Review | Locarno 2017". The Hollywood Reporter. 11 August 2017. Retrieved 9 June 2019.
  17. ^ Weissberg, Jay (11 August 2017). "Film Review: 'The Song of Scorpions'". Variety. Retrieved 9 June 2019.
  18. ^ a b "Shashank Arora will soon be seen in scientific gangster comedy- Gangster Newton". Deccan Chronicle. 7 March 2017. Retrieved 9 June 2019.
  19. ^ a b "Shashank Arora: There's no better time than now for Nandita Das to have made Manto". The Indian Express. 14 May 2018. Retrieved 9 June 2019.
  20. ^ a b Vijayakar, R. M. "Bollywood Actor Kumud Mishra Stars in Tarun Dudeja's Short Film 'Listener': Watch". India West. Retrieved 10 June 2019.
  21. ^ a b "Scheda Film". RIFF. Archived from the original on 1 October 2020. Retrieved 10 June 2019.
  22. ^ a b ANI (26 October 2018). "Socially relevant film 'Others' released on Sony Liv App". Business Standard India. Retrieved 10 June 2019.
  23. ^ a b "Made in Heaven review: This sumptuous take on the big fat Indian wedding has a strong emotional core". Firstpost. 8 March 2019. Retrieved 9 June 2019.
  24. ^ a b "Exclusive: Shashank Arora to play Salman Khan's brother in Bharat". The Indian Express. 8 June 2018. Retrieved 9 June 2019.
  25. ^ a b "Moothon: Bollywood actors Shashank Arora, Sobhita Dhulipala roped in for Nivin Pauly film". The Indian Express. 2 June 2017. Retrieved 8 December 2017.
  26. ^ "Nandita Das's video 'India's Got Colour' Shows How We've Still Not Accepted 'Unfair and Lovely'". News18. 28 September 2019. Retrieved 1 October 2019.
  27. ^ Naahar, Rohan (8 July 2016). "Brahman Naman review: Netflix's 1st Indian film is a perverted American Pie". Hindustan Times. Retrieved 8 June 2019.
  28. ^ "Reema Kagti's 'Superboys of Malegaon' to have world premiere at TIFF 2024". The Hindu. 10 July 2024. Retrieved 16 July 2024.
  29. ^ "22nd Star Screen Awards". Archived from the original on 24 January 2016. Retrieved 28 January 2016.
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