Early work and breakthrough (2012–2016) '' in 2014 Keenly interested in pursuing a film career, Malhotra successfully auditioned for a film to be directed by
Anubhav Sinha. However, the film was shelved, and he instead worked as an assistant director to
Karan Johar on the 2010 film
My Name Is Khan. In 2012, he made his film debut with Johar's teen drama
Student of the Year alongside newcomers
Varun Dhawan and
Alia Bhatt. He was cast as Abhimanyu Singh, a scholarship student, who competes with his wealthy best friends to win an annual school championship. Film critic
Rajeev Masand of
CNN-IBN considered his performance to be "earnest", adding that he had "a pleasing presence".
Student of the Year was a financial success, grossing Worldwide. The film earned him several nominations including
Filmfare Award for Best Male Debut and won him the
Stardust Award for Breakthrough Performance – Male. Following a year-long absence from the screen, Malhotra starred opposite
Parineeti Chopra in the 2014 romantic comedy
Hasee Toh Phasee, which tells the love story of a scientist and an under-confident aspiring businessman.
Saibal Chatterjee of
NDTV praised his screen presence and compared it to the early work of
Amitabh Bachchan. While,
Sukanya Verma found him to be "immensely likeable" as Nikhil. The film performed moderately well at the box office, with global revenues of . In the
Mohit Suri-directed romantic thriller
Ek Villain, he played Guru Divekar, a hardened criminal whose terminally-ill wife (played by
Shraddha Kapoor) is murdered by a serial killer (played by
Riteish Deshmukh).
Shubhra Gupta of
The Indian Express reviewed his performance as "watchable even if he has a hard time doing menace — he just seems so nice and wholesome all the time, even when he is crunching bones." The film became a commercial success with worldwide revenues of over . The box office performance of the film established him as one of the most promising new actors of
Hindi cinema. Malhotra next appeared in a 2015 remake of the 2011
American film
Warrior, titled
Brothers, directed by
Karan Malhotra and co-starring
Akshay Kumar. The film received negative reviews and under-performed at the box office. Malhotra's next release, the
Shakun Batra-directed family drama
Kapoor & Sons (2016), proved to be a critical and commercial success, grossing 1.53 billion worldwide. Featuring an ensemble cast including
Fawad Khan, and Alia Bhatt, the film tells the story of two brothers of contrasting personalities (Malhotra and Khan) who return home to their
dysfunctional family after their grandfather suffers from a cardiac arrest. A reviewer for
India Today thought that Malhotra was overshadowed by Khan in the film, though
Namrata Joshi of
The Hindu wrote that "he holds his own with his solid presence and vulnerable glances".
Career fluctuations (2016–2020) Malhotra followed the success of
Kapoor & Sons with a starring role in the romantic comedy
Baar Baar Dekho alongside
Katrina Kaif, playing a time-travelling mathematician. Directed by
Nitya Mehra, the film was poorly received and Shubhra Gupta was critical of his "one-note performance". Later in 2017, he starred in dual roles for the first time in the action comedy
A Gentleman with
Jacqueline Fernandez from the writer-director duo
Raj Nidimoru and Krishna D.K., which was produced by
Fox Star Studios; although highly anticipated, it opened to a poor reception. Rachit Gupta of
Filmfare stated Malhotra does everything expected from a "commercial film hero". Both films were box-office bombs. at a promotional event for their film
A Gentleman in 2017 In a
2017 remake of the 1969 mystery film
Ittefaq, Malhotra starred alongside
Sonakshi Sinha and
Akshaye Khanna. Released in 2017, the film was positively received by critics, where a critic from
India Today praised his performance but cited Khanna as the "star of the film". but failed at the box office with a lifetime collection of 500 million.
Neeraj Pandey's
Aiyaary (2018) featured Malhotra along with
Manoj Bajpayee and
Rakul Preet Singh. The film opened on a note of 30 Million and collected 183.1 million. In a mixed review, Rohit Vats of
Hindustan Times stated, "As an earnest apprentice, Malhotra begins well but can’t hold on to it for long. Like most of the other actors, he too falls prey to a confused screenplay." Malhotra had two releases in 2019. He first starred in the romantic-comedy
Jabariya Jodi, his second collaboration with Parineeti Chopra. The film had negative reviews and was considered a flop. Nandini Ramnath felt his character was too wispy to leave any traces. His second appearance was in
Milap Milan Zaveri's action film
Marjaavaan, co-starring Ritesh Deshmukh and
Tara Sutaria. Ronak Kotecha criticised his "one-note" character but was appreciative of his "honest performance".
Marjaavaan was a box office success.
Shershaah and subsequent film projects (2021–present) In 2021, Malhotra had a lead role in the biographical war film
Shershaah, based on the life of the Indian army officer
Vikram Batra. Malhotra portrayed dual roles of Vikram Batra opposite
Kiara Advani and his brother
Vishal Batra. After several delays due to the
COVID-19 pandemic, the film premiered on
Amazon Prime Video. It received mixed reviews from critics. Praise was directed at Malhotra's performance in particular, with Saibal Chatterjee writing that he "has what it takes to flesh out a real-life martyr who has left behind a larger-than-life aura".
Shershaah was the most-watched film on Prime Video in India at the time of its release. The film also earned him his first nomination for the
Filmfare Award for Best Actor. Malhotra's sole film release of 2022 was the fantasy comedy
Thank God, co-starring
Ajay Devgn, which failed commercially. The following year, he played an Indian spy stationed in
Pakistan before the
Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 in the thriller
Mission Majnu. Following several delays from its planned theatrical release, the film was ultimately released on
Netflix. Monika Rawal Kukreja of
Hindustan Times compared it unfavourably to
Shershaah and stated that Malhotra was let down by the script despite being in "top form, with a charming onscreen presence". In 2024, Malhotra led the police procedural series
Indian Police Force, created by
Rohit Shetty for Amazon Prime Video.
The Hindu Shilajit Mitra found a "decency in Malhotra that’s refreshing for a Rohit Shetty protagonist", but bemoaned that he "strains at playing broad". He once again played a heroic army officer in the action film
Yodha, terming such parts his focus as an actor. In a mixed review for the film,
The Wire Puja Awasthi termed him "the most dependable action hero among his contemporaries".
Yodha failed commercially. In
Param Sundari (2025), Malhotra starred opposite
Janhvi Kapoor as a man who creates a fradulent matchmaking app, leading him to be paired with a South Indian woman already engaged to someone else. The film faced substantial online backlash for perpetuating regressive stereotypes about South Indian culture, especially in its depiction of Kapoor's character, Sundari.
WION's Shomini Sen described Malhotra as "limited in the acting department" and found his portrayal of the archetypal Punjabi man to be weaker than that of his contemporaries. Additionally, critics lamented the lack of chemistry between the lead pair.
Param Sundari was a moderate commercial success. Malhotra will next feature in the folk thriller
VVAN: Force Of The Forrest. == Personal life ==