Adah Sharma[a] (born 11 May 1992)[1] is an Indian actress who appears predominantly in Hindi and Telugu films. Sharma, after finishing her schooling, made her acting debut with a leading role in the 2008 Hindi horror film, 1920, a box office success. Her portrayal of a possessed woman in the film was critically praised and earned her a Filmfare Award for Best Female Debut nomination.[2][3] After the release of her romantic comedy film, Hasee Toh Phasee (2014), she ventured into the South Indian film industry, playing the leading lady in the Telugu film, Heart Attack (2014). Her other major Telugu films include, S/O Satyamurthy (2015) and Kshanam (2016). She also starred as the lead actress in the film The Kerala Story (2023).
Sharma studied at Auxilium Convent High School, Bandra.[10] When she was in tenth grade, she had decided that she wanted to become an actress[citation needed]. She wanted to drop out of school but her parents insisted that she should complete her schooling at least.[11] After completing her twelfth grade, she stopped studying.[12]
Sharma has lived in her Pali Hill house all her life, as she preferred to live close to nature surrounded by trees.[17] In June 2024, she moved to a sea-facing building Mont Blanc in Mumbai whch had previously been occupied by Sushant Singh Rajput.[18]
Trying to break into the film industry, Sharma auditioned for several roles, but was rejected either because of her curly hair or because the casting directors felt that she looked too young.[19] She eventually landed the lead female role in the 2009 Hindi horror film 1920 opposite Rajneesh Duggal which was directed by Vikram Bhatt. Her portrayal of a possessed woman was unanimously praised by critics. The Times of India's Nikhat Kazmi commented that she "delivers a consummate performance",[3] and labelled her performance as "excellent",[2] "[exceptionally] brilliant",[20][21] and "incredibly convincing".[22] The film was a commercial success, Bhatt's first box office hit after six years and 10 films,[23] and earned Sharma a Best Female Debut nomination at the 54th Filmfare Awards. Three years later, she had her next release, Phhir, again a horror film, which saw her collaborating with Vikram Bhatt, who wrote the film, and her, 1920 co-star Rajneesh Duggal. Phhir, however, was not as well received as, 1920, opening to negative reviews,[24][25][26][27] and failing at the box office,[28][29] with Sharma getting mixed response for her performance. While Sujata Chakrabarti wrote that "not even for a minute does she exude the intensity of being a psychic",[30] Sify's Sonia Chopra stated that she was "the only one in the film who can act".[26] Her third film, the romantic comedy Hum Hai Raahi Car Ke, released another two years later and was a critical and financial failure.[31][32]
In 2014, Sharma had two releases: Puri Jagannadh's romance Heart Attack opposite Nithiin, that marked her Telugu debut and a Hindi film Hasee Toh Phasee alongside Sidharth Malhotra and Parineeti Chopra, which released seven days later and featured her in a supporting role.[33]Taran Adarsh of Bollywood Hungama stated, "Adah Sharma is a natural. One strongly feels she hasn't got her due, despite leaving an impression in every film she's featured in."[34] She described her character in the former as "vulnerable, yet extremely sexy" and worked for two months on her Telugu diction.[15] Sharma received positive remarks for her performance in Heart Attack, with The Times of India writing that she "looks like a natural actress and does a decent job" while 123telugu.com felt that she had made a "stunning debut".[35] Both films were commercially successful,[36] with Hasee To Phasee ending up as one of the highest-grossing Hindi films of 2014.[37]
Her next two films, the Telugu family drama S/O Satyamurthy, in which she was cast opposite Allu Arjun and Samantha Ruth Prabhu, and was directed by Trivikram Srinivas, and the Pavan Wadeyar's action thriller Rana Vikrama,[38] alongside Puneeth Rajkumar and Anjali, her first Kannada project, released on consecutive days in April 2015.[39] Both films were financial successes as well,[40][41] with the former, having collected over ₹ 80 crore, emerging as one of the highest-grossing Telugu films of all time, in spite of receiving mixed reviews from critics.[42] For her next film, she was paired opposite Sai Dharam Tej in Subramanyam for Sale, a Telugu romantic comedy. Directed by Harish Shankar, the film proved to be a moderate success, and Sharma received good reviews for her performance.[36] At the 5th edition of Indian Federation for Fashion Development's India Runway Week, Sharma dazzled in a beautiful lehenga as she walked the ramp for Shravan Kumar. The designer kept the collection region-specific and showcased the lesser known handlooms of the south.[43]
Sharma had three releases in February 2016, two of which were in Telugu language. Her first film, the romantic comedy Garam was directed by Madan and she was cast as the love interest of the character played by Aadi. Her next film was the acclaimed thriller Kshanam where she played the central role of Swetha, who seeks help from her ex-boyfriend (Adivi Sesh). Her final release of the year was the romantic comedy Idhu Namma Aalu, her first Tamil film, in which she had a small role and also performed an item number on the song "King Kong", which topped the charts in South India and her dance moves as well as pairing with Silambarasan was praised.[36][44] Her next release was the thriller Commando 2, a sequel to the 2013 film Commando: A One Man Army, where she plays the female lead role of an inspector opposite Vidyut Jammwal. Commercially, the film was an average-grosser.[45][46] In 2020, she played the role of a transgender woman in a MX Player webseries titled Pati Patni Aur Panga.[47]
In 2023, she starred in the lead role in The Kerala Story, in which she played the role of Shalini Unnikrishnan/Fathima Ba, who was radicalized and converted to Islam and eventually joining the terrorist organization ISIS.[48] Anuj Kumar of The Hindu noted, "Adah Sharma delivers an earnest performance and captures the pain of the vulnerable Shalini who is robbed of her innocence but retains her spine."[49] The film became the ninth-highest-grossing Hindi film of 2023. Though her next project Bastar: The Naxal Story (2024), also by the makers of The Kerala Story, was not well received.[50]
In an interview to NDTV, Sharma shared her views on pervasive nepotism in the film industry calling it "a huge rock wall" which sometimes an outsider gets through, by finding small cracks. She called The Kerala Story one such crack that bagged her huge success.[51]
^ abcIn a Times of India interview she stated that her original name was Adah Sarma, the surname being changed to Sharma keeping inline with the standard spelling in Mumbai.[4] Though in a 2023 interview with Hauterrfly she stated her original name to be ChamundeswariIyer, the change to Adah Sharma being due to the perceived difficult pronunciation of the name.[5]
^ abNikhat Kazmi (12 September 2008). "1920". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 3 December 2013. Retrieved 20 March 2013.
^ abc"Adah Sharma talks about her roots". The Times of India. 26 April 2015. Archived from the original on 10 June 2019. Retrieved 30 November 2021. Even Bollywood folks from Mumbai find it amusing that she's a Palakkad Iyer, whose parents named her Adah. That is my original name! says the actress. And her last name also raises similar aspersions about her Tamil nativity among the discerning. It doesn't seem to annoy her any more. ... I'm a Tamil Brahmin. My father hailed from Madurai and my mom's a native from Nattupura, bordering Palakkad. In our community, the father's first name becomes the surname, she says. Her last name was originally spelt as Sarma, and Adah attributes the change in spelling to years of living in Mumbai.
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