Sanya Malhotra


Sanya Malhotra is an Indian actress who works in Hindi films. After making her film debut with the role of Babita Kumari in the biographical sports film Dangal, she starred in the comedy-drama Badhaai Ho, both of which rank among the highest-grossing Indian films. She was nominated for the Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actress for playing a student who befriends a street photographer in the drama Photograph.

Early life and background

Malhotra was born and raised in Delhi, India. She is a trained dancer in contemporary and ballet. After graduating, Malhotra participated in the dance reality show Dance India Dance and made it to the top 100. She moved to Mumbai, where she began appearing in auditions and began assisting camerapersons for television commercials. She was later contacted by the film casting director Mukesh Chhabra.

Career

Malhotra was selected for Nitesh Tiwari's biographical sports film Dangal along with Fatima Sana Shaikh, who was also relatively new. Before the film, she said that she did not know much about wrestling. She then watched several videos on wrestling and "how wrestlers move, walk, their body language" and also did the training. Both Malhotra and Sheikh went through five rounds of auditions, physical training and workshops with Tiwari and Aamir Khan. They were trained by coach and former wrestler Kripa Shankar Patel Bishnoi.Dangal received critical acclaim and a strong commercial success, becoming the highest-grossing Indian film of 2017. Anupama Chopra said in her review that Malhotra provides "strong support" to the story. She also choreographed the song "Sexy Baliye" from Secret Superstar, which featured Khan.
After a gap of two years, she was seen in Vishal Bhardwaj's drama Pataakha, alongside debutant Radhika Madan. Based on the short story Do Behnen by Charan Singh Pathik, the story revolved around two sisters in Rajasthan who are always on conflict. The story was based on the wives of Pathik's brothers. Both Madan and Malhotra met the real women for the dialect and the character's nuances. For the preparation, both Malhotra and Madan stayed in Ronsi village near Jaipur and learned the Rajasthani dialect; they also got accustomed with milking buffaloes, thatching roofs, plastering the walls with dung and walking for long distances while balancing matkas full of water on their head and one around their waist. They also had to put on 10 kg of weight. Raja Sen in his review wrote that Malhotra "plays this character with unhinged enthusiasm" and "appears to be a fearless actress." Malhotra's next release was the comedy film Badhaai Ho, co-starring Ayushmann Khurrana, which is about a middle-aged woman's pregnancy. The film proved to be a critical and commercial success.
In 2019, Malhotra appeared in Ritesh Batra's drama Photograph alongside Nawazuddin Siddiqui. The film follows a street photographer Rafi, who tries to convince a student Miloni to pose as his fiancée so that his grandmother stops pressuring him to get married. It was screened at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival and at the 69th Berlin International Film Festival. The Hollywood Reporter featured her in their listing of breakout talent from the latter festival. Rahul Desai of Film Companion gave Photograph a positive review and wrote that Malhotra "becomes the dreamy-eyed participant that enables the film to embrace its quiet glances and gentle flights of fantasy." Malhotra received a nomination for the Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actress.
Malhotra began 2020 by starring as the daughter of mathematician Shakuntala Devi, in an eponymous biopic directed by Anu Menon and starring Vidya Balan in the title role. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the film could not release theatrically and instead streamed on Prime Video. Mike McCahill of The Guardian found her to be "quietly affecting" in her part and commended her for holding her own opposite her co-star. Malhotra will next feature alongside an ensemble cast in Anurag Basu's anthology film Ludo and will star in the comedy-drama Pagglait.

Filmography

YearFilmRoleNotes
2016DangalBabita Kumari
2017Secret SuperstarChoreographer for song "Sexy Baliye"
2018PataakhaGenda "Chhutki" Kumari
2018Badhaai HoRenee Sharma
2019PhotographMiloni Shah
2020Shakuntala DeviAnupama Banerji
2020LudoAhana MathurPost-production
2020PagglaitSandhyaFilming

Accolades