Vicky Kaushal

Vicky Kaushal is an Indian actor who works in Hindi films and is known for choosing varied roles and for dramatic physical transformations, from a lean freedom fighter in Sardar Udham to a bulked-up Maratha king in Chhaava.^[1] Born in Mumbai on 16 May 1988 as the son of the action director Sham Kaushal, he trained as an engineer before working as an assistant director on Gangs of Wasseypur (2012) and then made his lead debut in the independent drama Masaan (2015).^[1] He has won a National Film Award for Best Actor for Uri: The Surgical Strike (2019), shared with Ayushmann Khurrana, and three Filmfare Awards, two for Best Supporting Actor (Sanju and Dunki) and one for Best Actor (Critics) for Sardar Udham.^[1][2]

His biggest commercial hit is the historical action film Chhaava (2025), in which he played Chhatrapati Sambhaji; it grossed over Rs 7.9 billion worldwide, became the second highest-grossing Hindi film of 2025 and established him as a leading star of his generation.^[1][10] He is married to the actress Katrina Kaif, and the couple's son, Vihaan, was born in November 2025.^[1]

In 2026 he is working on Sanjay Leela Bhansali's romantic drama Love & War with Ranbir Kapoor and Alia Bhatt, scheduled for 21 January 2027, and on Mahavatar, in which he plays the sage Parashurama.^[1][11]

Kaushal was born on 16 May 1988 in a suburban chawl in Mumbai to Sham Kaushal, an action director in Hindi films, and Veena Kaushal, a homemaker.^[1] His family is Punjabi Hindu, with ancestral roots in Hoshiarpur, Punjab, and his younger brother, Sunny Kaushal, is also an actor.^[1][6] He has described himself as a regular child who liked studying, playing cricket and watching movies.^[1]

His father wanted him to have a stable career away from the film industry, so he completed a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering at the Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Technology in Mumbai in 2009.^[1] During an industrial visit to an IT company in his final year he realised he had no real interest in an office job and began to think about a career in films.^[1] He studied acting at Kishore Namit Kapoor's academy and took part in theatre with Manav Kaul's Aranya group and Naseeruddin Shah's Motley Productions, doing everything from backstage work to stand-in roles.^[1]

For about two years he went to many auditions without getting any good opportunities, and his first stage acting attempt was a production called Laal Pencil in 2011.^[1] He then began working in films as an assistant director to Anurag Kashyap on the two-part crime drama Gangs of Wasseypur (2012), and he still considers Kashyap his mentor.^[1] He played small roles in Kashyap's productions Luv Shuv Tey Chicken Khurana (2012) and Bombay Velvet (2015) and in the short film Geek Out (2013).^[1]

His first lead role was in Neeraj Ghaywan's Masaan (2015); he was cast through an audition after Rajkummar Rao reportedly backed out, and he spent time in Benaras observing local men to play a young man yearning for a better life.^[1] The film was screened at the Cannes Film Festival, where it won two awards, and his performance earned him the IIFA and Screen Awards for Best Male Debut.^[1]

After Masaan, Kaushal played a man who stammers after his father's death in Zubaan, which was screened at the Busan International Film Festival in 2015 and for which he worked with a speech therapist, and then a chain-smoking, drug-addicted police officer chasing a serial killer in Kashyap's Raman Raghav 2.0 (2016), preparing by isolating himself for five days and dehydrating himself.^[1] The role helped him avoid being typecast after his first two films.^[1]

His breakthrough year was 2018. He played the male lead in the Netflix romantic comedy Love per Square Foot, played the Pakistani army officer who marries an Indian spy (Alia Bhatt) in the spy thriller Raazi, and played Sanjay Dutt's best friend Kamli in Rajkumar Hirani's Sanju, a film that earned over Rs 5.79 billion and won him the Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actor.^[1] He also appeared in Karan Johar's segment of Lust Stories and in Kashyap's love triangle Manmarziyaan.^[1]

In 2019 he starred as an army officer in Aditya Dhar's Uri: The Surgical Strike, based on the 2016 Uri attack, and gained muscle, followed a ketogenic diet and underwent five months of military and mixed-martial-arts training.^[1] The film earned over Rs 3.5 billion worldwide, made him a leading man and won him the National Film Award for Best Actor.^[1] After the horror film Bhoot: Part One - The Haunted Ship (2020), he lost over 15 kg in two months to play the young revolutionary Udham Singh in Shoojit Sircar's Sardar Udham (2021), a performance critics called his best to date that won him the Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actor and the IIFA Award for Best Actor.^[1]

In 2022 he took on a comic role as a struggling dancer in Govinda Naam Mera, and in 2023 he had a run of varied releases: the romantic comedy Zara Hatke Zara Bachke with Sara Ali Khan, which was an unexpected commercial success; The Great Indian Family, which did poorly at the box office; the biopic Sam Bahadur, in which he played India's first field marshal Sam Manekshaw and which was a commercial success; and a special appearance in Dunki, for which he won his second Filmfare Best Supporting Actor award.^[1] In 2024 he starred in the comedy Bad Newz, a moderate success whose song "Tauba Tauba" became popular.^[1]

His biggest hit came with Chhaava (2025), directed by Laxman Utekar, in which he played the Maratha ruler Chhatrapati Sambhaji; he trained in sword, stick and spear fighting, gained 25 kg and learned Marathi.^[1] He and Akshaye Khanna, who played the antagonist Aurangzeb, reportedly avoided speaking to each other during filming to sharpen their on-screen rivalry.^[1] The film grossed over Rs 7.9 billion worldwide and became the second highest-grossing Hindi film of 2025.^[1][10] A reported fee of about Rs 10 crore for the film has since been seen as a sign of his rising market value, and one 2026 estimate puts his current fee at Rs 15 to 25 crore per film.^[7]

In 2026 he is part of Bhansali's Love & War, a romantic drama with Ranbir Kapoor and Alia Bhatt that was postponed to avoid clashing with other big releases and is now scheduled for 21 January 2027.^[1][11] He is also attached to Amar Kaushik's Mahavatar as the sage Parashurama, which was first announced for Christmas 2026 and for which he has reportedly been undergoing rigorous training in 2026.^[1][4] Media reports have also said he may reunite with Utekar for a historical biopic, though this has not been officially confirmed.^[4]

Kaushal is known for being media-friendly but guarded about his relationships.^[1] He was linked to the actress Harleen Sethi in 2018, and their break-up was reported in early 2019.^[1] He met Katrina Kaif in early 2019, and the couple married on 9 December 2021 in a traditional Hindu ceremony at Six Senses Fort Barwara in Sawai Madhopur, Rajasthan.^[1]

Their first child, a son named Vihaan Kaushal, was born on 7 November 2025, and the couple announced his name and shared a first glimpse in early January 2026.^[1][4] Since then they have made their first public appearance together as new parents and celebrated Holi 2026 with their son, and Kaif shared photos from Kaushal's 38th birthday in May 2026, when his father, Sham Kaushal, also posted a public note for him.^[3][5] In July 2026 the family celebrated Kaif's birthday together.^[5]

Away from films, Kaushal has co-hosted and performed at award shows such as the Filmfare, Zee Cine and Screen Awards, and he is an endorser for brands including Havells, Reliance Trends and Oppo, as well as the brand ambassador for Pearson in India.^[1] He has featured in Forbes India's 30 Under 30 list (2018) and Celebrity 100 list (2019, ranked 72nd), and was named The Times of India's Most Desirable Man of 2018, and the fourth in 2019 and 2020.^[1]

He supports causes such as environmental protection and women's rights. He appeared in a UN music video on air pollution, spent a day filling potholes in Mumbai in 2018, spoke in support of the MeToo movement in India at the We The Women festival in 2018, ran in the Nashik Marathon for gender equality in 2019 and donated Rs 1 crore to the PM CARES Fund and the Maharashtra Chief Minister's Relief Fund during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.^[1]

Estimates of his net worth vary: several websites put it at around Rs 41 crore, others at Rs 57 to 60 crore, and one gives Rs 70 to 85 crore; because these are unaudited estimates, they should be treated as approximate.^[7][8][9]