Shashank Arora

Shashank Arora (born 21 February 1989)[1] is an Indian actor, music director, vocalist, lyricist and screenwriter. He is known for his roles in Titli (2014), Brahman Naman (2016), Moothon (2019) and Made in Heaven (2019). He is the only Indian actor to have two films compete at Cannes, Sundance, Berlin, Toronto and Locarno film festival.

Shashank Arora
Arora promoting 'Made in Heaven' 2019.
Born (1989-02-21) 21 February 1989
New Delhi, India
Occupation
  • Actor
  • Musician
  • Writer
Years active2012–present

Early life and education

Born Shashank 'Sunny' Arora on 21 February 1989, in New Delhi, India, Shashank was interested in music and theatre from a young age. He grew up in suburban Delhi and showed excellence in music and theatre from a young age. After he completed high school he left for higher education in Canada, where he also briefly joined a street theatre group formed by human rights activists. In late 2008, he moved to Mumbai where he studied acting for two years and began his career as an actor.[2]

[3] His parents are graphic designers. He was part of plays in school as well. He was inspired by Francis Ford Coppola and Saeed Mirza's cinema as a child.[4] In order to pursue a career in music, Arora went to Concordia University, Montreal, Canada for his graduation in filmmaking, with music as a minor subject. After that, he came to Mumbai but was unable to find work, hence went back to studying. He credits his professor Robert Reece for everything he knows.[3] He later joined Whistling Woods and Film and Television Institute of India as a guest teacher.[5] He also worked under casting director Saher Latif.[3]

Career

Arora first appeared as a supporting character in a movie titled Myoho (2012), as Ranjit.[6][7] His first major role was the titular role in the critically acclaimed movie Titli(2014), produced by Yash Raj Films.[8] The film competed at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival. The film went on to compete at many major festival around the world and Arora was also nominated at Filmfare, Stardust and Zee Cine awards as best newcomer for his role in Titli the following year.[9][10] In 2016, he played Naman in the movie Brahman Naman. The film went on to compete at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival, making Arora the first Indian actor to have films in Cannes and Sundance. Rohan Naahar of Hindustan Times said that "..He makes the really odd choice to play his character like that posh monkey from the Madagascar movies, which just adds to the weirdness.."[11] Next, he played the role of Uday, a bass player in the movie Rock On 2 in the same year.[12][13]

In 2017, he portrayed the role of Bicky, a drug peddler in the movie Zoo.[14] He was seen next as Dhruv in the critically acclaimed movie Lipstick Under My Burkha(2017).[15] He was also seen in The Song of Scorpions as Munna,in the same year. The film went on to open at the Locarno Film Festival in 2017.[16][17] Later,he was seen portraying the titular character in the web series Gangster Newton.[18] Following that, Arora also essayed the role of Shaad Amritsari in Nandita Das' Manto in 2018. The film was Shashank's second in the Un Certain Regard category at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival, making him and Nawazuddin Siddiqui the first Indian actors to have two films in Un Certain Regard at Cannes.[19] In the same year, he appeared in the short films, the Listener, directed by Tarun Judega, Letters directed by Nitin Shingal and Others directed by Sachin Shinde.[20][21][22] In 2019, Arora was seen in the Amazon Prime series ′'Made In Heaven′' as Kabir Basrai, a photographer.[23] He was also seen portraying the role of Salman Khan's younger brother, Chote in Bharat.[24] He was also seen in the Malayalam-Hindi bilingual film Moothon which marked his debut in Malayalam cinema. The film went on to premier at the 2019 Toronto Film Festival.[25] In 2019, he appeared in Nandita Das' video India's Got Colour.[26]

Filmography

Movies
YearFilmCharacterLanguageNotes
2012MyohoRanjitHindi[7]
2014TitliTitliHindi[8]
2016Brahman NamanNamanEnglish / Kannada[11]
Rock On 2UdayHindi[12]
2017ZooBickyHindi[14]
Lipstick Under My BurkhaDhruvHindi[15]
The Song of ScorpionsMunnaHindi / Marwari[16]
2018 MantoShaadHindi / Urdu[19]
2019MoothonSalimMalayalam / Hindi[25]
BharatChoteHindi[24]

Short Films
YearNameDirectorNotes
2018The ListenerTarun Juneja[20]
LettersNitin Shingal[21]
OthersSachin Shinde[22]
2019377 Ab NormalPallav

TV Shows
YearShowPlatformCharacterNotes
2020Gangster NewtonNewton[18]
2019Made in HeavenAmazon PrimeKabir Basrai[23]

Discography
YearSongMovie/AlbumsComposer
2019BikhreMoothonHimself
2020Mere SaathiyonSingleHimself
2020Dhamki (A lullaby)SingleHimself
2020Ode to Butter Chicken, Pt .1SingleHimself

Awards and nominations
Year FilmAwardCategoryResult
2015TitliStardust AwardsBest Acting DebutNominated [10]
TitliStar Screen AwardsBest Debut ActorNominated [27]
TitliZee Cine AwardsBest Debut ActorNominated
TitliFilmfare AwardsBest Debut ActorNominated

References
  1. "Shashank Arora: Movies, Photos, Videos, News, Biography & Birthday | eTimes". timesofindia.indiatimes.com. Retrieved 11 June 2019.
  2. "Study at Whistling Woods". Retrieved 21 February 2020.
  3. Guha, Kunal. "Small Talk: Shashank's redemption". Pune Mirror. Retrieved 9 June 2019.
  4. Khan, Atif (8 May 2018). "Working with Nawaz was wonderful, says Shashank Arora on 'Manto'". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 9 June 2019.
  5. Paul, Rahul (17 July 2018). ""We are in the dark ages of cinema" - Shashank Arora". Stardust. Retrieved 9 June 2019.
  6. "Myoho (2012) Cast - Actor, Actress, Director, Producer, Music Director". Cinestaan. Retrieved 8 June 2019.
  7. "Shashank Arora feels comfortable doing multi-starrers". The Indian Express. 10 November 2016. Retrieved 8 December 2017.
  8. Vats, Rohit (30 October 2015). "Titli review: This is the best Hindi film of the year so far". Hindustan Times. Retrieved 8 June 2019.
  9. IBTimes (5 December 2015). "Stardust awards: Badlapur, Bajrangi Bhaijaan, Tanu Weds Manu Returns, others nominated; complete list of nominations". International Business Times, India Edition. Retrieved 8 June 2019.
  10. Hungama, Bollywood (15 December 2015). "Nominations for Stardust Awards 2015 - Bollywood Hungama". Retrieved 8 June 2019.
  11. Naahar, Rohan (8 July 2016). "Brahman Naman review: Netflix's 1st Indian film is a perverted American Pie". Hindustan Times. Retrieved 8 June 2019.
  12. "'Rock On!! 2' Poster Released, Shraddha Kapoor, Shashank Arora Join The Band". HuffPost India. 3 September 2016. Retrieved 9 June 2019.
  13. Guha, Kunal. "'Rock On 2' review: The Farhan Akhtar film is a largely tiresome affair". Mumbai Mirror. Retrieved 9 June 2019.
  14. Basu, Dyuti (20 October 2017). "This film shot completely on iPhone was screened at the Busan Film Festival". Deccan Chronicle. Retrieved 9 June 2019.
  15. Bhatia, Uday (21 July 2017). "Film Review: Lipstick Under My Burkha". livemint. Retrieved 9 June 2019.
  16. "'The Song of Scorpions': Film Review | Locarno 2017". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 9 June 2019.
  17. Weissberg, Jay; Weissberg, Jay (11 August 2017). "Film Review: 'The Song of Scorpions'". Variety. Retrieved 9 June 2019.
  18. "Shashank Arora will soon be seen in scientific gangster comedy- Gangster Newton". Deccan Chronicle. 7 March 2017. Retrieved 9 June 2019.
  19. "Shashank Arora: There's no better time than now for Nandita Das to have made Manto". The Indian Express. 14 May 2018. Retrieved 9 June 2019.
  20. Vijayakar, R. M. "Bollywood Actor Kumud Mishra Stars in Tarun Dudeja's Short Film 'Listener': Watch". India West. Retrieved 10 June 2019.
  21. "Scheda Film". RIFF. Retrieved 10 June 2019.
  22. ANI (26 October 2018). "Socially relevant film 'Others' released on Sony Liv App". Business Standard India. Retrieved 10 June 2019.
  23. "Made in Heaven review: This sumptuous take on the big fat Indian wedding has a strong emotional core- Entertainment News, Firstpost". Firstpost. 8 March 2019. Retrieved 9 June 2019.
  24. "Exclusive: Shashank Arora to play Salman Khan's brother in Bharat". The Indian Express. 8 June 2018. Retrieved 9 June 2019.
  25. "Moothon: Bollywood actors Shashank Arora, Sobhita Dhulipala roped in for Nivin Pauly film". The Indian Express. 2 June 2017. Retrieved 8 December 2017.
  26. "Nandita Das's video 'India's Got Colour' Shows How We've Still Not Accepted 'Unfair and Lovely'". News18. Retrieved 1 October 2019.
  27. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 24 January 2016. Retrieved 28 January 2016.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
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