Sharman Joshi

Early work (1999-2005)

Joshi made his film debut in the 1999 art film, Godmother.^[8][9] In 2001, he first played Rekha's son in Lajja opposite Aarti Chhabria, which was a success overseas.^[10][11] That year, he had his first lead role in Style, where he played a college student.^[12] It was a moderate success and Taran Adarsh was appreciative of his "convincing performance".^[13]

In 2003, Joshi first appeared in Kahan Ho Tum.^[14] He then reprised his character in Xcuse Me, a sequel to Style. Both films were commercial failures.^[15] 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. The fm emerged a box office average.^[16][17]

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.^[18][19] This film was a critical and commercial success, emerging as the seventh highest grossing film of the year.^[20] Sudhish Kamath of The Hindu stated, "Sharman is instantly likeable and emotes like a veteran."^[21] In the same year, he played a misleaded student in Golmaal alongside Rimi Sen. The film emerged a box office success and has since gained a cult status.^[22] Sukanya Verma called him the real star of the film for his "uninhibited and winsome" act.^[23]

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.^[24] Rajeev Masand noted, "Sharman springs a pleasant surprise as he effortlessly slips into the role of the conflicted lover."^[25] Following his role in Raqeeb, he played an ambitious young man in Dhol opposite Tanushree Dutta.^[26] The following year saw him play the lead in Hello and Sorry Bhai!, both of which were box office failures.^[27]

2009 saw Joshi play his career's most notable character of an engineering student in 3 Idiots, which later gained a cult status.^[28] The film emerged as the highest grossing Indian film at that time and created several records worldwide.^[29][30] Shubhra Gupta called his performance "first rate".^[31] While, Rajeev Masand noted: "Joshi has a meatier role, hence succeeds in fleshing out more competently."^[32] The film earned him the IIFA Award for Best Supporting Actor.^[33]

In 2010, Joshi played a prospective groom in Toh Baat Pakki! opposite Yuvika Chaudhary, which was a box office failure.^[34] His next release, Allah Ke Banday also failed commercially.^[35] 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.^[36][37] Sonia Chopra of Sify was appreciative of Joshi's "natural likeability and earnestness".^[38]

Later work (2013-present)

He also played the role of a cop in the erotic-thriller Wajah Tum Ho.^[3][39] He has played a lead role in the Bollywood movies Kaashi in Search of Ganga (2018) and 3 Storeys.^[40] He is also known for his role as Raju Rastogi in the movie 3 Idiots. He made his digital debut with Balaji Telefilms's production Baarish in 2019 as the male lead opposite to Asha Negi.

Theatre

Joshi has acted, produced and directed stage plays in English, Hindi, 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.^[41][42] Another one of his popular comedy play was "Ame Layi Gaya, Tame Rahi Gaya" where he played four different roles.^[43] 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.^[44]

Television

In 2009, he hosted a game show 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.^[45][46]

Films

Television