Early work and struggles (2007–2012) During the production of
Black, Kapoor developed an interest in acting when Bhansali professed that he wanted to cast her in the lead in his next film,
Saawariya. She was advised to lose weight; at the time, she weighed about . Motivated by Bhansali's confidence in her, she lost in two years. Kapoor studied acting with
Roshan Taneja, Jayati Bhatia and
Feroz Abbas Khan, ,
Rani Mukerji &
Salman Khan at the audio launch of her debut film
Saawariya in 2007 Released in 2007,
Saawariya saw Kapoor play a Muslim woman awaiting the return of her lover opposite Mukerji,
Ranbir Kapoor and
Salman Khan. It was the first Indian feature film produced by a Hollywood studio,
Sony Pictures Entertainment.
Saawariya proved to be a major critical and commercial failure. Writing for
BBC, Jaspreet Pandohar called the film a "misfire-on-a-massive-scale".
Raja Sen of
Rediff.com described her laugh as "almost as infectious as her father's", but wished that she had been "allowed to simper softly, instead of having a clearly overdubbed plastic giggle plastered onto her." The film earned her a
Filmfare Award for Best Female Debut nomination and the
Stardust Award for Superstar of Tomorrow – Female. In 2009, Kapoor played an aspiring singer opposite Waheeda Rehman and
Abhishek Bachchan in the
Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra-directed social drama
Delhi-6. The film received mixed reviews from critics and was a box-office failure.
CNN-IBN's Rajeev Masand referred to Kapoor as a "revelation", writing that she was "a firecracker, instinctive and uninhibited in what isn't even a conventional female lead". Sonia Chopra of
Sify described Kapoor as an "earnest and effortless performer", and found her character likeable, despite the "typical Delhi-girl recipe". Kapoor's first release in 2010 was
Punit Malhotra's romantic comedy
I Hate Luv Storys, opposite
Imran Khan. She played an engaged woman who develops a one-sided attraction to her commitment-phobic co-worker. Khan said about Kapoor's craft, "We'd be shooting a scene from multiple angles—for three or four hours you're doing the same scene, the same lines—and here is this person [Kapoor] who brings consistency to her work, from the way she talks, to her accent." Although Shubhra Gupta of
The Indian Express called Kapoor's performance "stiff and rehearsed",
Daily News and Analysis Johnson Thomas found her "likeable and believable".
I Hate Luv Storys was Kapoor's first commercial success, earning worldwide. Kapoor next played the eponymous role in
Aisha, an ensemble romantic comedy-drama based on
Jane Austen's novel
Emma, which was produced by her sister Rhea. She described her character as "a meddlesome busybody with a passion for matchmaking and playing
Cupid".
Aisha also starred
Abhay Deol,
Ira Dubey,
Cyrus Sahukar,
Amrita Puri,
Anand Tiwari,
Arunoday Singh and
Lisa Haydon. An
Indo-Asian News Service reviewer thought that Kapoor had stood out in the ensemble with her performance, making "the best of a rather rare opportunity for an Indian leading lady to be part of a Bollywood film that salutes Victorian mores and Delhi's elitist affectations in one clean cool sweep". In 2011, Kapoor starred in
Thank You, a comedy about three women who teach a lesson to their philandering husbands. The film, along with Kapoor's performance, received poor reviews;
Nikhat Kazmi of
The Times of India called her "terribly out of sync". She then played the romantic interest of
Shahid Kapoor in the
Pankaj Kapur-directed romantic drama,
Mausam, which was also poorly received. Despite doubts about her acting ability, critic Saibal Chatterjee of
NDTV thought Kapoor conveyed "the essential vulnerability of a girl forever under duress, bringing out just the right mix of feminine fragility and native resolve". The following year, Kapoor played a computer hacker opposite Abhishek Bachchan,
Neil Nitin Mukesh and
Bipasha Basu in the
Abbas–Mustan-directed heist film,
Players, a remake of 2003's
The Italian Job. Her role was originally written for
Katrina Kaif, who was unavailable for the film. Although journalists had high expectations, it failed commercially, and Sukanya Verma of Rediff.com remarked derogatively that Kapoor "truly entertains with her childish attempt to pass off as a gold-medalist hacker". Kapoor's string of poorly received films began to hinder her career.
Breakthrough (2013–2015) Kapoor's role in the
Anand L. Rai-directed romantic drama
Raanjhanaa (2013) marked a turning point in her career; Geety Sahgal called it her best performance to date in
The Indian Express. Kapoor's role was that of Zoya Haider, a young
Muslim student from
Varanasi who is drawn into politics after the murder of her
Sikh lover. To prepare for her part, Kapoor interacted with students, attended workshops and practised with theatre groups associated with
Jawaharlal Nehru University. She also studied
Jaya Bachchan's work in
Guddi (1971), which she felt was "perfect" for her role. Although
Raanjhanaa received mixed-to-positive reviews, her performance was praised; Rajeev Masand wrote that she "does some of her best work here, going smoothly from innocent to manipulative to cynical, without ever losing Zoya's inherent vulnerability". With worldwide earnings of over ,
Raanjhanaa was a commercial success and Kapoor received her first nomination for the
Filmfare Award for Best Actress.
on Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa'' in 2013|alt=Sonam Kapoor attending a promotional event in 2013 Kapoor followed the success of
Raanjhanaa with a brief appearance in
Bhaag Milkha Bhaag (2013), a
biopic on athlete
Milkha Singh. She received for the film, made on a budget of , citing her admiration for director Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra and the film itself as reasons for her appearance. Critically praised,
Bhaag Milkha Bhaag was one of the top-grossing Bollywood films of the year. Critic Sarita A. Tanwar wrote in her review that despite her minor role, Kapoor proved to "be the perfect warm counterpart to Milkha". Both
Raanjhanaa and
Bhaag Milkha Bhaag received
Filmfare Award for Best Film nominations, the latter of which won. In 2014, Kapoor portrayed the banker Mayera Sehgal opposite
Ayushmann Khurrana and
Rishi Kapoor in the
Yash Raj Films comedy-drama
Bewakoofiyaan, in a role which film critic
Anupama Chopra found to be poorly written and an "uphill climb". She next starred with
Fawad Khan in the romantic comedy
Khoobsurat, an adaptation of the
1980 film of the same name, playing the role which had originally been given to
Rekha. Though she received a Filmfare Best Actress nomination for her performance, critics were divided in their response, with Shilpa Jamkhandikar of
Reuters calling her "loud and exasperating", and Andy Webster of
The New York Times comparing her to a young
Anne Hathaway and highlighting her "
Julia Roberts-like smile". Later that year, she met entrepreneur-model Sahir Berry on a social media network, and began a romantic relationship with him, although they broke up a few months later. In 2015, Kapoor starred as a runaway bride in
Dolly Ki Doli, a heist comedy co-starring
Pulkit Samrat,
Rajkummar Rao and
Varun Sharma.
Mints Udita Jhunjhunwala criticised Kapoor's performance in the film, writing that her "range is too limited to bring alive a character that may have had heaps of potential on paper". Shubhra Gupta wrote: "Kapoor is in almost every frame, and should have filled them all. But the treatment of the character shows up her limitations." Despite the negative reviews for her performance, she was nominated for the Filmfare Award for Best Actress. While filming
Sooraj R. Barjatya's Prem Ratan Dhan Payo with
Salman Khan in
Gondal,
Gujarat in February 2015, Kapoor was diagnosed with
swine influenza, from which she recovered the following month. Kapoor portrayed Rajkumari Maithili Devi, a princess looking for love. The film became one of the
highest-grossing Bollywood films of all time. She was praised by Rachit Gupta for her credibility as a royal, and
Komal Nahta thought that the role was significant enough to be a turning point in her career. However, she won a
Golden Kela Award for Worst Actress.
Female-led films (2016–2018) '' in 2016. Her performance in the film won her a
National Film Award – Special Mention and a
Filmfare Best Actress (Critics). Following an appearance in the music video of
Coldplay's "
Hymn for the Weekend" (featuring
Beyoncé), Kapoor starred in
Ram Madhvani's biographical thriller
Neerja (2016). She was cast as the eponymous air hostess
Neerja Bhanot, who died while saving the passengers of the hijacked
Pan Am Flight 73 in 1986. Kapoor felt responsible towards the project because it is about real events, and met Bhanot's family as a preparation for her role. The film garnered high critical acclaim, and several commentators considered Kapoor's performance to be her best to date. Raja Sen found her performance to be career-defining, while
Hindustan Times Rohit Vats wrote that "she carries [the film] entirely on her shoulder. She looks earnest, scared, benevolent and bold, all at the same time." Sen listed Kapoor as the best actress in Hindi cinema in 2016, while Rajeev Masand invited her to his annual best actresses roundtable. In addition to several other accolades, Kapoor won a
National Film Award – Special Mention and a
Filmfare Best Actress (Critics), in addition to a
Filmfare Best Actress nomination. With a worldwide gross over ,
Neerja emerged as one of the highest-grossing Bollywood films featuring a female protagonist. After a two-year absence from the screen, Kapoor played a social worker in
R. Balki's comedy-drama
Pad Man (2018), based on a short story in
Twinkle Khanna's book
The Legend of Lakshmi Prasad. Co-starring
Akshay Kumar and
Radhika Apte, the film is inspired by the life of
Arunachalam Muruganantham, who campaigned for menstrual hygiene in rural India. Kapoor said that the length of the role is of little importance to her as long as the film has "relevance beyond just having a good time at the movies". She liked featuring in a film that addresses important social issues and is about something more than just entertainment. Although finding her role to be "largely superfluous", Saibal Chatterjee wrote that Kapoor "makes the most of the limited opportunity";
Anna M. M. Vetticad of
Firstpost commended her screen presence but disliked a romantic subplot involving her and Kumar, criticising the chemistry and age-gap between them. In June 2018, she featured in
Shashanka Ghosh's
Veere Di Wedding, a
female buddy film co-starring
Kareena Kapoor,
Swara Bhaskar and Shikha Talsania. Namrita Joshi of
The Hindu found the film formulaic and clichéd, while Sweta Kaushal of
Hindustan Times thought the film had "style but no soul" and was partly impressed with Kapoor's performance. With earnings of over , the film proved to her second top-grossing Hindi film not featuring a well-known male star. Later that month, Kapoor featured in
Rajkumar Hirani's biopic of
Bollywood actor
Sanjay Dutt, entitled
Sanju, as one of Dutt's love interests. Kapoor said that despite her brief role, she agreed to the project to work with Hirani and to reunite with Ranbir Kapoor after her debut. Anna M. M. Vetticad criticised the film's attempt to whitewash Dutt's misdeeds, but found Kapoor's portrayal of her small role "sweet". On the other hand, Rajeev Masand called the film "consistently engaging", and wrote that Kapoor "hit the right notes as Sanjay Dutt's [partner]".
Sanju broke several box-office records, becoming one of the highest-grossing Indian films.
Career fluctuations and hiatus (2019–2023) In 2019, Kapoor starred in the coming-of-age film
Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga (as Sonam K Ahuja), co-starring her father,
Juhi Chawla, and Rajkummar Rao. She played a closeted lesbian who has trouble coming out to her conservative family. She agreed to the project to break stereotypes about same-sex relationships in India. Critics were encouraging of its positive representation of homosexuality, but it failed to do well commercially. Kapoor next starred in
Abhishek Sharma's
film adaptation of
Anuja Chauhan's romantic comedy novel
The Zoya Factor, in which she played the titular character of a clumsy woman who becomes a lucky charm for the Indian cricket team. Ankur Pathak of
HuffPost was appreciative of her comic timing but bemoaned that "she's out of depth in scenes that require her to exhibit more emotion". A thriller she had shot for in Scotland in 2020, named
Blind, a remake of the
2011 Korean film of the same name, marked her acting comeback. It released digitally on
JioCinema in July 2023. Shubhra Gupta dismissed her performance as "wholly ineffective" in a "deadly dull film". == Personal life ==