Nushrat Bharucha

Nushrratt Bharuccha (born Nushrat Bharucha; 17 May 1985) is an Indian actress who mainly works in Hindi films. After working in television, she made her film debut with Jai Santoshi Maa (2006). She gained recognition for her roles in Love Sex Aur Dhokha (2010) and Pyaar Ka Punchnama (2011). Bharuccha's career progressed with starring roles in the comedies Pyaar Ka Punchnama 2 (2015), Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety (2018), and Dream Girl (2019). She has since starred in Chhorii (2021), Janhit Mein Jaari (2022) and Ram Setu (2022).

Bharuccha was born on 17 May 1985 in a Dawoodi Bohra family of Mumbai. She is the only child of Tanvir Bharucha, a businessman and Tasneem Bharucha, a housewife. She has graduated with a degree in Fine Arts from Jai Hind College in Mumbai.

Bharuccha made her acting debut with a minor role in the 2002 television series Kittie Party. She got her first Hindi film with Jai Santoshi Maa (2006) and did the music video "Zindagi Kahin Gum Hai" by Zubeen Garg in 2007. She had a cameo in Kal Kissne Dekha (2009) and did the Telugu film Taj Mahal (2010). Her final television role occurred in Seven as Drishika Kashyap.[10]

Bharuccha had her first leading role in Hindi films with Dibakar Banerjee and Ekta Kapoor's anthology Love Sex Aur Dhokha (2010), that did moderately well.[11] She next starred opposite Kartik Aaryan in Luv Ranjan's directorials Pyaar Ka Punchnama (2011) and Akaash Vani (2013), both of which underperformed, as like her next disaster Darr @ the Mall (2014) with Jimmy Sheirgill.

Bharuccha rose to success by appearing with Aaryan for the third time in Ranjan's Pyaar Ka Punchnama 2 (2015). The film turned out to be her first commercial hit, earning over ₹ 88 crore worldwide.[12] However, her other release Meeruthiya Gangsters (2015) and the Tamil film Valeba Raja (2016) underperformed.

In 2018, she received wider attention after portraying a grey shaded character opposite Aaryan and Sunny Singh in Luv Ranjan and Bhushan Kumar's rom-com Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety.[13][14] It proved to be a surprise blockbuster at the box-office, earning ₹ 150 crores worldwide. She retained this widespread success with Kapoor, Bhushan Kumar and Raaj Shaandilyaa's ₹ 200 crores-grossing comedy Dream Girl (2019), where she played Ayushmann Khurrana's love interest.[15] Both Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety and Dream Girl entered the 100 Crore Club in India and rank among her highest grossing releases.[16]

Bharuccha performed an item number in 2019, "Peeyo Datt Ke" alongside Sidharth Malhotra in the Milap Zaveri and Bhushan Kumar's romantic thriller Marjaavaan which was sung by Yo Yo Honey Singh.[17] She starred in two music videos, Atif Aslam's "Baarishein" and Guru Randhawa's "Ishq Tera".[18][19]

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in India that led long closure of theatres, Bharuccha's next sports film Chhalaang (2020) directed by Hansal Mehta and produced by Bhushan Kumar and Ajay Devgn, was directly released on OTT platform Amazon Prime Video.[20][21] She played Rajkummar Rao's ladylove in the film that met with mixed reviews.

In 2021, she headlined Yo Yo Honey Singh's music video "Saiyaan Ji" and featured in two OTT films.[22] Firstly she was seen in Karan Johar and Raj Mehta's Netflix anthology film Ajeeb Daastaans and then in Vishal Furia and Bhushan Kumar's Amazon Prime horror film Chhorii, both of which earned her critical praise for her acting.[23][24] Chhorii marked her first film as a solo female-centric character.

The following year, Bharuccha appeared firstly in the love triangle Hurdang (2022) alongside Sunny Kaushal and Vijay Varma.[25] A huge box office failure, it was directed by Nikhil Nagesh Tiwari and produced by Bhushan Kumar.[26] That year, she also earned critical praise for appearing in the female-centric social comedy Janhit Mein Jaari.[27][28]

She featured in the historical drama Ram Setu with Akshay Kumar and Jacqueline Fernandez, which released on Diwali 2022.[29] This will be followed by Chhorii 2, a sequel to Chhorii. She also teamed up with Akshay Kumar, Diana Penty and Emraan Hashmi in Johar and Mehta's 2023 comedy Selfiee.[30]

Im 2023, Bharuccha had a cameo in the Ranbir Kapoor, Shraddha Kapoor starrer Tu Jhoothi Main Makkar.

In June 2020, Bharuccha changed the spelling of her name to Nushrratt Bharuccha, due to numerological reasons.[31] Bharuccha has a keen interest in writing, mainly poems.[32]

Bharuccha has appeared on Times' 50 Most Desirable Woman list various times. She ranked 29th in 2018, 34th in 2019 and 34th in 2020.[33][34] She is a celebrity endorser for brands and products including Cadbury and BoroPlus.[35]

Bharuccha and her mother speak vociferously against the custom of female genital mutilation, the latter had undergone it as a child.[36]

In 2023, during her visit to Tel Aviv, Israel to promote her film at a film festival, Nushrat got stuck in the Hamas-led attack on Israel. She was rescued and brought home to India by the help of Indian embassy.[37][38]