Kriti Sanon ( KRIT-ee SAN-on; born 27 July 1990) is an Indian actress who primarily works in Hindi films. She is a recipient of several accolades including a National Film Award and two Filmfare Awards. Sanon was featured in Forbes India's Celebrity 100 list of 2019.
After pursuing a degree in engineering from the Jaypee Institute of Information Technology, Sanon briefly worked as a fashion model. She began her acting career by playing the female lead in the 2014 action films 1: Nenokkadine and Heropanti. The latter earned her the Filmfare Award for Best Female Debut. Her career progressed with starring roles in the commercially successful romantic comedies Bareilly Ki Barfi (2017) and Luka Chuppi (2019), and her highest-grossing releases came with the ensemble comedies Dilwale (2015) and Housefull 4 (2019).
Sanon won the National Film Award and the Filmfare Award for Best Actress for her performance in the title role of a surrogate mother in the comedy-drama Mimi (2021). This was followed by a series of commercially unsuccessful films, including the controversial mythological film Adipurush (2023), with the exception of the horror-comedy Bhediya (2022), in which she had a brief role. She has since achieved commercial successes with the comedies Teri Baaton Mein Aisa Uljha Jiya and Crew (both 2024), and the romantic drama Tere Ishk Mein (2025).
In addition to acting, she is a celebrity endorser for several brands and products. Sanon has launched her clothing line Ms. Taken, fitness company The Tribe, skin-care brand Hyphen, as well as her production company Blue Butterfly Films.
Kriti Sanon was born on 27 July 1990 in New Delhi. Her mother Geeta Sanon is a physics professor at the University of Delhi while her father Rahul Sanon is a chartered accountant. She belongs to a Punjabi Hindu family. Her younger sister, Nupur Sanon, is also an actress.
Sanon attended Delhi Public School, R. K. Puram and later secured a Bachelor of Technology degree in Electronics and Telecommunication Engineering from Jaypee Institute of Information Technology, Noida. She briefly worked as a model before becoming an actress.
Early work and recognition (2014–2020)
Sanon made her acting debut in 2014 with the Telugu psychological action thriller 1: Nenokkadine, playing the love interest of Mahesh Babu's character. The part required her to participate in action sequences filmed at sea; she has said that the experience made her nervous as she did not know how to swim. Reviewers for The Times of India and Sify took note of her beauty and were encouraging of her acting prowess. After completing the first schedule of 1: Nenokkadine, Sanon was signed on for Heropanti, a Hindi action film opposite newcomer Tiger Shroff; she divided her time between both films. Trade journalist Taran Adarsh opined that Sanon "has the trappings of a star", but critic Srijana Das of The Times of India criticised her emoting, calling it "more cheesy than sharp". Heropanti emerged as a commercial success. Sanon won the Filmfare Award for Best Female Debut and the IIFA Award for Star Debut of the Year – Female for Heropanti.
The following year, Sanon had her second Telugu film release in the crime drama Dohchay, co-starring Naga Chaitanya. She was next cast in Rohit Shetty's action comedy Dilwale with Varun Dhawan, Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol, which emerged as one of the highest-grossing Indian films at that time, grossing more than ₹3.72 billion (US$39 million) worldwide. Anupama Chopra disliked the film and wrote that Sanon and Dhawan "work as bait, meant to bring in the critical youth segment".
After a yearlong absence from the screen, Sanon teamed with Maddock Films producer Dinesh Vijan, in their first of many collaborations, in his directorial debut Raabta (2017), which featured her and Sushant Singh Rajput as star-crossed lovers. In a scathing review, Sukanya Verma of Rediff.com labelled the film "embarrassingly daft" but took note of Sanon's "statuesque, spirited presence". The film failed commercially. Sanon's starring role as a headstrong small-town woman aspiring to a better life in Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari's romantic comedy-drama Bareilly Ki Barfi was better received. Co-starring Ayushmann Khurrana and Rajkummar Rao as her love interests, the film was an adaptation of French writer Nicholas Barreau's novel The Ingredients of Love. Saibal Chatterjee of NDTV noted that "the burden of making Bareilly Ki Barfi work rests upon Kriti Sanon and she doesn't put a foot wrong", but Shubhra Gupta of The Indian Express thought that despite Sanon's effort, her performance lacked naturalism.
Sanon worked in two of Vijan's productions in 2019. She starred in cinematographer Laxman Utekar's Hindi directorial debut, Luka Chuppi, a satire on live-in relationships, which paired her opposite Kartik Aaryan. Devesh Sharma of Filmfare was appreciative of her comic timing. A commercial success, Luka Chuppi grossed ₹1.29 billion (US$13 million) worldwide. Following an appearance in the unremarkable comedy Arjun Patiala, Sanon played one of the female leads in the reincarnation comedy Housefull 4, the fourth instalment of the Housefull franchise, which paired her opposite Akshay Kumar. Despite poor reviews, Housefull 4 was one of the biggest grossers of the year, earning over ₹2.8 billion (US$29 million). In her final appearance of 2019, Sanon portrayed Parvatibai opposite Arjun Kapoor's Sadashivrao Bhau in Ashutosh Gowariker's period drama Panipat, based on the Third Battle of Panipat, which emerged as a box-office bomb.
Mimi and career fluctuations (2021–2023)
Sanon collaborated once again with Vijan and Utekar in the comedy-drama Mimi (2021), which proved to be a turning point in her career. A remake of the 2011 Marathi drama Mala Aai Vhhaychy!, it starred her in the title role of an aspiring actress who becomes a surrogate mother. Sanon gained 15 kg of weight for scenes involving her character's pregnancy. The film was released digitally on Netflix and JioCinema. Critics were generally unimpressed with the film, but Sanon's performance received praise, with Mashable India deeming it a career-best. Pallabi Dey Purkayastha of WION wrote that Sanon had succeeded in her "attempt to establish herself as a standalone actor, not just a pretty heroine" and took particular note of the subtlety in her performance. Sanon received several awards for her performance, including the Filmfare Award for Best Actress and the National Film Award for Best Actress (shared with Alia Bhatt for Gangubai Kathiawadi).
Her next release, the comedy Hum Do Hamare Do (2021) opposite Rajkummar Rao, premiered on Disney+ Hotstar. Saibal Chatterjee found hers to be "the most noteworthy performance in [the] unfunny caper".
Sanon’s first release in 2022 came with the action comedy Bachchhan Paandey, which marked her second collaboration with Akshay Kumar. Adapted from the 2014 Tamil film Jigarthanda, Sanon played a part originally portrayed by a male actor. The film was unable to recoup its ₹180 crore (US$19 million) investment. Sanon starred with Varun Dhawan in Bhediya, the third instalment in Dinesh Vijan's horror-comedy universe. It was shot over a span of two months in various locations of Arunachal Pradesh. Sonal Dedhia of News18 noted how much she stood out in the film despite her limited screen time.
In 2023, Sanon played the female lead opposite Kartik Aaryan in Shehzada, a remake of the Telugu film Ala Vaikunthapurramuloo. The film was a critical and commercial failure, with Zinia Bandyopadhyay of India Today dismissing her as "completely wasted". She played Janaki in Om Raut's mythological film Adipurush, based on the Hindu epic Ramayana, co-starring Prabhas as Raghava. She agreed to the project as she deemed such films "educational for kids". Filmed simultaneously in Hindi and Telugu, it had a production budget of around ₹6 billion (US$62 million), making it one of the most-expensive Indian films. Critical reception to the film was negative; Devesh Sharma opined, "Sanon is divinely beautiful as Janki but doesn't have much to do here, except look the part of a damsel in distress." Amidst several controversies, it emerged as another box-office bomb for Sanon. She then reunited with Tiger Shroff in Vikas Bahl's science fiction action film Ganapath. Once again, it was a critical and commercial failure.