10 years of Kiara Advani: Tracing her cinematic journey

She is Ashok Kumar’s great grand-daughter, Saeed Jaffrey’s grand-niece and Anuradha Patel is her aunt. Despite having some connection with the film industry, Kiara Advani’s love for films and acting developed in an organic manner. Right from the time she was a child, Kiara was sure about the fact that being in front of the camera and playing different characters was all that she was interested in. Getting 92% in one’s board exams would propel one towards pursuing a career in academics. However, there was nothing that could change Kiara’s decision of becoming an actor. Nobody in her immediately family was into films and her parents, therefore, had their apprehensions about their daughter trying her hand at films. An Aamir Khan film proved to be important in Kiara’s life. Her father ‘3 Idiots’, understood the message conveyed through the film and decided to give his children complete freedom to do what they wish to in their lives.

After bagging her first film ‘Fugly’, the young actor was advised to change her name. The girl who grew up with the name Alia Advani decided to rechristen herself as Kiara. This was the name of the character Priyanka Chopra played in the film ‘Anjaana Anjaani’. Kiara had seen the film and the name had stuck in her head. When she considered opting for a new screen name, this was the name she decided to have.  

‘Fugly’, directed by actor-turned-filmmaker Kabir Sadanand who had films like ‘Popcorn Khao! Mast Ho Jao’ and ‘Tum Milo Toh Sahi’ to his credit, was a social drama with comedic elements in it. In the film, Kiara Advani played a feisty girl from Delhi who worked as an ‘adventure camp organizer’. Devi came from a different milieu which Kiara, a South Mumbai-bred girl, hailed from. Despite Devi coming across as a slightly uni-dimensional character initially, one got to see the many layers she had as the film progressed. There is a scene in ‘Fugly’ (2014) in which Devi (Kiara Advani) visits a neighbourhood grocery store to buy some essentials. The owner of the store – a lecherous man – tries to act smart with her and when she, rightfully, slaps him, he creates a ruckus. He accuses the young woman of forcing him to get inside a room with him – “keh rahi hai paise do, nahin toh jhootha molestation ka charge laga doongi tum pe” (she is telling me to pay her money, otherwise she will accuse me of molesting her), he claims in front of a customer who has come to his store. The male customer looks at Devi and remarks, “Kapdon se toh dekh kar hi pata chal raha hai kya chal raha hoga iske dimaag mein” (her clothes reflect her intentions). Devi is then humiliated by people visiting and passing by the store. Kiara got a bunch of well-etched-out scenes in the film and she left an indelible mark in all of them. The film, however, left a lot to be desired. It moved around in different directions and did not quite emerge as a socially-conscious tale it was designed to be. ‘Fugly’ was a box-office flop and because of that the solid performances delivered by two of the newcomers (Kiara and Arif Lamba) went unnoticed.

No actor wishes for their film to tank at the box-office. This is an even more dreadful situation for a newcomer. The film industry is known to be volatile and if your first film does not do well, you wonder whether you will get another one. Even if you get one, the journey from the first film to the second becomes much longer. After the dismal performance of ‘Fugly’ at the box-office, Kiara bide her time and waited for the right project to come to her.

More than two years after ‘Fugly’ released, the audience got to see Kiara on the big screen again with the arrival of M. S Dhoni: The Untold Story. The film featured Sushant Singh Rajput playing Mahendra Singh Dhoni and the film, as the title suggests, revolved around the iconic cricketer’s journey. As Sakshi Dhoni (née Rawat), Kiara had limited screen time in the film. However, she lit up every scene she appeared in and left a solid impact. In the film, Mahi and Sakshi’s journey towards togetherness was depicted very beautifully by writer-director Neeraj Pandey and that must have helped Kiara play her part so well. While the highlight of the film remained Sushant’s robust performance, Kiara made her presence felt. The scenes featuring Sushant and her were some of the best scenes in the film. The two also featured in the popular song ‘Jab Tak’, sung by Armaan Malik. The film entering the 100-crore club was an icing on the cake.

After the success of ‘M. S. Dhoni: The Untold Story’, one keenly looked forward to the kind of projects this actor, with a lot of spark and promise, would take up. Kiara’s next release was the Abbas-Mustan directed ‘Machine’. This was the time when Abbas-Mustan were delivering back-to-back successes. While ‘Race 3’ (2013) was a big commercial success, their foray in comedy with the Kapil Sharma starrer ‘Kis Kisko Pyaar Karoon’ (2015), too, was received well. Prior to the release of the film, the recreated version of ‘Tu Cheez Badi’ garnered a lot of attention. When one finally watched the film, one realized it was one of the weakest films to have been made by the director duo. ‘Machine’ came and went without making any noise. In the film, Kiara played the vulnerable Sarah who suffers a brutal betrayal from the man she has given her heart to. Sarah, then, decides to take revenge. It was quite an interesting part in a film that was anything but memorable.

Kiara’s first release of 2018 was ‘Bharat Ane Nenu’, a film which marked her foray into Telugu cinema. In the film, Kiara was paired opposite Telugu superstar Mahesh Babu. As Vasumathi, Kiara did not have a lot of screen time. However, the character stood out because she managed to lend a sense of innocence and vulnerability to it. In the film, the romantic track between Bharat and Vasumathi was handled very well. It did not act as an aberration; instead it took the story forward. Kiara also got to feature in some lavishly shot songs which became hugely popular and announced her arrival in Telugu cinema in style.

It was in ‘Lust Stories’, Kiara’s second release of 2018, that she truly go the opportunity to shine as an actor. Unlike her previous releases, it was not screened in theatres and released exclusively on the video-on-demand platform Netflix. The film was an anthology containing four stories dealing with the theme of lust. Kiara featured in Karan’s segment along with Vicky Kaushal and Neha Dhupia. Karan’s film talked about the way women are looked upon as asexual beings in the largely orthodox Indian society and how, for them, sex is equated with something that they have to do to bear children. Megha, the character played by Kiara Advani, represented a large number of women in our country who suffer from repression and do not get an opportunity to express themselves sexually or otherwise. Johar delivered a strong message while layering his story with dollops of humour. Watch out for the scene where the title track of ‘Kabhie Khushi Kabhi Gham’, another of Johar’s films, plays in the background while Megha is having a moment. Karan himself admitted in an interview that he was not sure of an actress willing to do something like this but to his surprise, Kiara said a ‘yes’ to the role in the very first narration itself. Kiara’s conviction paid off and she received widespread acclaim for depicting Megha and what she felt with so much grace and dignity. Many leading publications declared Kiara as the breakthrough actor of 2018. It must be noted here that back in 2016, Kiara had already delivered a 100-crore hit with ‘M.S. Dhoni: The Untold Story’ and warmed up to the audience with her portrayal of a young, independent woman navigating through her relationship with a sports icon. ‘Lust Stories’, of course, helped her cement her position as a dependable actor. Now, everybody was waiting to see what she would do next.

‘Vinaya Vidheya Rama’ was Kiara’s second outing in Telugu cinema. The film, headlined by Ram Charan, had a patchy screenplay and the kind of sequences that would make you roll your eyes even if you have seen countless over-the-top action sequences in Telugu films. The film, unsurprisingly, did not do well at the box-office. Kiara had a cameo in the multi-starrer period drama ‘Kalank’. The film flopped but Kiara got a super-hit song (‘First Class) to her credit.

In 2017, Sandeep Reddy Vanga sold off some of his ancestral property to make ‘Arjun Reddy’, his debut film as a director. The film, featuring Vijay Deverakonda and Shalini Pandey in principal roles, showed the kind of journey an angsty young man goes through after destiny (and his actions) snatches him from the love of his life. ‘Arjun Reddy’ was problematic in several ways but one cannot deny the fact that it was a well-crafted film. It had several memorable sequences and one could relate to some of the emotions Arjun goes through. The bond shared by the protagonist and his mother was also depicted very well. When Reddy Vanga remade the film in Hindi, he cast Shahid Kapoor and Kiara in it. Shahid and Kiara, who had earlier appeared in a music video, looked wonderful as an on-screen pair and shared great chemistry in the film. Preeti was a very innocent and vulnerable woman who came from an orthodox family and had all her focus channelized on studying medicine. Kiara brought all these traits wonderfully to the fore and also showed Preeti’s evolution in the film quite nicely. The film made its way into the 300-crore club and built a bigger audience base for Kiara. ‘Good Newwz’, which arrived the same year, featured Kiara in the role of a loud Punjabi woman dealing with the pain of not being able to conceive. Kiara brought the difference facets of Monika wonderfully to the fore. The film proved to be a money spinner and further solidified Kiara’s box-office standing as a star.

2020 is a year which mankind will never forget. This was the year when the world was made to deal with the Covid-19 situation. A few days before the lockdown happened, Kiara had a digital release in the form of ‘Guilty’ a web original film produced by Dharma Productions’ digital arm Dharmatic Entertainment. In the film, Kiara played Nanki Dutta, a partially red-haired young woman studying in a prestigious university in the capital city. Everything about Nanki screamed rebellion. Nanki is dealing with her own internal issues and though she is not the most likeable person around, she has a quaint charm about her which many find attractive. She is the lyricist in the college band and is dating Vijay Pratap Singh (Gurfateh Pirzada), who does not like his name and insists on being referred to as ‘VJ’.  VJ is the heartthrob of the college and exercises a lot of influence among his peer groups. Nanki and VJ are a part of a close-knit group in the college which Tanu wished she belonged to. Tanu hails from Dhanbad, a small city in the state of Bihar, and has got admission in the college on the basis of a scholarship. Her merits as a student, though, have been eclipsed by the fact that she comes across as a very loud person and is viewed by the college as a young woman seeking attention all the time. Thus, when she accuses VJ of raping her, there are a few who stand by her but many who believe she is lying.

‘Guilty’ worked as well as a mystery thriller as the social film it was also designed to be. The suspense keeps you on the edge of your seats and by the time, the big reveal happens, you cannot help but question yourself whether you suffer from the same prejudices and social conditioning which the film aims to question. She brought out the various shades of Nanki – her strength as well as vulnerability – to the fore effectively. Watch out for her performance in the climatic sequence.

Post the Covid-19 induced lockdown, one saw a lot of changes taking place within the entertainment industry. While many producers started putting together new strategies and wondered what kind of stories they should bring to the audience, actors, too, have struggled to recalibrate their careers and faltered while trying to make the right choices.

‘Laxmii’, Kiara’s first release post-pandemic, was a remake of the Tamil film ‘Kanchana’ (2011) helmed by the director of the original film. Though the film boasted of some novelty, the end product was quite underwhelming. ‘Indoo Ki Jawani’, one of the rare films to get a theatrical release in 2020, suffered from a very weak screenplay and did not make much of an impact. ‘Shershaah’, which released on a streaming platform in 2021, proved to be an important film in both Kiara and her co-actor (now husband) Sidharth Malhotra’s career. The film, based on the life of Captain Vikram Batra, featured Kiara as Dimple Cheema, a young woman who wears her heart on her sleeve.

In 2022, Kiara delivered a super-hit (‘Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2’) and a well-made and moderately successful film (‘Jugjugg Jeeyo’). Her performance in the latter received a lot of acclaim. The same year, Kiara also featured in the mildly entertaining ‘Govinda Naam Mera’ which premiered on a streaming platform. 2023 was an important year for Kiara as she delivered one of her best performances till date in ‘Satyaprem Ki Katha’. As Katha, Kiara imbibed the pain and trauma of her character with a lot of compassion.

At the moment, she has a biggie like ‘Game Changer’ scheduled to release this year. ‘Game Changer’, helmed by Shankar, one of the greatest filmmakers of our times, is a Telugu film which has been dubbed in multiple languages and will see a pan-India release for itself. Ram Charan, her co-actor from ‘Vinaya Vidheya Rama’, delivered a globally successful film in the form of ‘RRR’ in 2022. Needless to say, ‘Game Changer’ is one of the most awaited films of this year. After this, Kiara will be seen in two actioners mounted on a huge scale.

Since the beginning of her career, Kiara has played characters that have stood for a strong purpose. There has been diversity in the characters she has played as well. As she completes a decade as an actor, one looks forward to seeing her immortalize several more well-etched-out characters on-screen in the years to come.