Sharman Joshi

Sharman Joshi (born 28 April 1979 ) is an Indian actor who primarily works in Hindi films. Joshi is a recipient of several awards including an IIFA Award and nominations for two Filmfare Awards.

Joshi began his career with supporting parts in Godmother (1999) and Lajja (2001). The 2001 film Style proved to be his breakthrough. Following this, he received commercial and critical success with Rang De Basanti (2006), Golmaal (2006), Dhol (2007), Life in a... Metro (2007), 3 Idiots (2009) and Ferrari Ki Sawaari (2012). 3 Idiots earned him the IIFA Award for Best Supporting Actor. This success was followed by several box office failures with the exception of Hate Story 3 (2015) and Mission Mangal (2019).

Joshi expanded to streaming projects with Baarish (2019–2020) and Kafas (2023). He is married to Prerana Chopra with whom he has three children.

Early life and family Joshi was born on 28 April 1979 in Nagpur to Arvind Joshi and Usha Joshi. His father was a veteran of Gujarati theatre. His sister is actress Manasi Joshi Roy, who is married to actor Rohit Roy.

Joshi belongs to a Gujarati Brahmin family of actors and performing artists. His father's elder brother was theatre actor and director Pravin Joshi and actress Sarita Joshi is his aunt. Actresses Ketki Dave, Purbi Joshi and Poonam Joshi are his cousins.

Career Early work (1999–2005) Joshi made his film debut in the 1999 art film, Godmother. In 2001, he first played Rekha's son in Lajja opposite Aarti Chhabria, which was a success overseas. That year, he had his first lead role in Style, where he played a college student. It was a moderate success and Taran Adarsh was appreciative of his "convincing performance".

In 2003, Joshi first appeared in Kahan Ho Tum. He then reprised his character in Xcuse Me, a sequel to Style. Both films were commercial failures. Following this, in 2005, he appeared in the comedy Shaadi No. 1. Joshi played an unhappy husband who has an affair opposite Soha Ali Khan and Riya Sen. The film emerged a box office average.

Breakthrough and acclaim (2006–2012) The year 2006 marked a turning point in Joshi's career. He first played a rebellious college student in Rang De Basanti. This film was a critical and commercial success, emerging as the seventh highest-grossing film of the year. Sudhish Kamath of The Hindu stated, "Sharman is instantly likeable and emotes like a veteran." In the same year, he played a misled student in Golmaal alongside Rimi Sen. The film emerged a box office success and has since gained a cult status. Sukanya Verma called him the real star of the film for his "uninhibited and winsome" act.

Joshi had three releases in 2007. He first played a call centre employee in Life in a... Metro opposite Kangana Ranaut, which was a surprise box office success. Rajeev Masand noted, "Sharman springs a pleasant surprise as he effortlessly slips into the role of the conflicted lover." Following his role in Raqeeb, he played an ambitious young man in Dhol opposite Tanushree Dutta. The following year saw him play the lead in Hello and Sorry Bhai!, both of which were box office failures.

2009 saw Joshi play his career's most notable character of an engineering student in 3 Idiots, which later gained a cult status. The film emerged as the highest grossing Indian film at that time and created several records worldwide. Shubhra Gupta called his performance "first rate". Rajeev Masand also noted: "Joshi has a meatier role, hence succeeds in fleshing out more competently." The film earned him the IIFA Award for Best Supporting Actor.

In 2010, Joshi played a prospective groom in Toh Baat Pakki! opposite Yuvika Chaudhary, which was a box office failure. His next release, Allah Ke Banday also failed commercially. Joshi then played a middle class Parsi who wants to fulfil his son's cricket dream in the 2012 film Ferrari Ki Sawaari. The film emerged a critical and commercial success. Sonia Chopra of Sify was appreciative of Joshi's "natural likeability and earnestness".

Later work (2013–present) He also played the role of a cop in the erotic-thriller Wajah Tum Ho. He has played a lead role in the Bollywood movies Kaashi in Search of Ganga (2018) and 3 Storeys. He is also known for his role as Raju Rastogi in the movie 3 Idiots. He made his digital debut with Balaji Telefilms's production Baarish in 2019 as the male lead opposite Asha Negi.

Other works Theatre Joshi has acted, produced and directed stage plays in English, Hindi, Marathi and Gujarati languages. He directed and starred in various theatre performances. He appeared as a deaf character in Gujarati version of popular play All the Best, which did over 550 shows in three years. Another one of his popular comedy play was "Ame Layi Gaya, Tame Rahi Gaya" where he played four different roles. In 2016, he made his directorial debut with the Hindi rom-com, Main Aur Tum. It features him in the lead role along with Tejashree Pradhan.

Television In 2009, he hosted a game show at Real T.V. called PokerFace: Dil Sachcha Chehra Jhootha, which was based on a British game show called PokerFace. He has been honored with the life membership of International Film and Television Club of Asian Academy of Film & Television. Sharman refers to be type-cast during his career and spoke about it at a TEDx conference in Mumbai in January, 2017.

Personal life Joshi married Prerana Chopra, daughter of actor Prem Chopra, on 15 June 2000 at the age of 21. The couple have three children, Khyana Joshi, and twins Vaaryan and Vihaan Joshi.

Filmography

Films Year Title Role Notes 1999 Godmother Karsan 2001 Lajja Prakash Style Nehal "Bantu" Shah / Rose Mary Marlow 2003 Kahan Ho Tum Rakesh Kumar Xcuse Me Nehal "Bantu" Shah 2005 Shaadi No. 1 Aryan Kapoor 2006 Rang De Basanti Sukhi Ram / Shivaram Rajguru Golmaal: Fun Unlimited Laxman Prasad Sharma 2007 Life in a... Metro Rahul Dhupia Raqeeb Siddharth Verma Dhol Pankaj "Pakya" Tiwari 2008 Hello Shyam "Sam" Mehra Sorry Bhai! Siddharth Mathur 2009 3 Idiots Raju Rastogi 2010 Toh Baat Pakki! Rahul Saxena Allah Ke Banday Vijay Kamble 2012 Ferrari Ki Sawaari Rustam "Rusy" Behram Deboo 3 Bachelors Amit 2013 War Chod Na Yaar Captain Rajveer "Raj" Singh Rana 2014 Gang of Ghosts Raju Writer Super Nani Manorath "Mann" Mehra 2015 Hate Story 3 Aditya Diwan 2016 1920 London Jai Singh Gujjar Wajah Tum Ho ACP Kabir Deshmukh 2018 3 Storeys Shankar Varma Kaashi in Search of Ganga Kaashi Chaudhary 2019 The Least of These Manav Banerjee 2021 Mera Fauji Calling Abhishek Babloo Bachelor Ranvijay "Babloo"2023 Congratulations Aditya Mehta Gujarati film; also producer Ouch 2 Sudeep Short film Music School Manoj Kumar Telugu-Hindi bilingual film Aankh Micholi Yuvraj Singh Sab Moh Maya Hai Piyush Mishra 2025 Sikandar Amar AbirBengali film; filming Laxman Prasad Sharma Filming

Television Year Title Role Notes 2009 PokerFace: Dil Sachcha Chehra Jhootha Host Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah Himself Special appearance 2019–2020 Baarish Anuj Mehta 2 seasons 2020 Pawan & Pooja Pawan Mehra 2023 Kafas Raghav Vashisht 2025Medical DreamsSubrat Sinha

Discography Year Film Song Composer 2009 3 Idiots "Give Me Some Sunshine" Shantanu Moitra

Awards and nominations Year Award Category Film Result Ref. 2000 3rd Zee Cine Awards Best Male Debut Godmother 2004 11th Screen Awards Best Comedian Xcuse Me 2006 2nd Global Indian Film AwardsGolmaal 2007 52nd Filmfare Awards Best Performance in a Comic Role 8th IIFA AwardsRang De Basanti 13th Screen AwardsBest Supporting Actor 2008 14th Screen Awards Life in a... Metro 2010 55th Filmfare Awards3 Idiots 11th IIFA Awards 16th Screen Awards 8th Stardust Awards