Kapil Sharma

Who is Kapil Sharma?

Kapil Sharma is an Indian stand-up comedian, television personality, actor, and filmmaker. He was born in Amritsar, Punjab.

Sharma rose to popularity in 2007 after winning "The Great Indian Laughter Challenge", a humorous reality television show on Star One. He then proceeded to win six seasons on Sony's "Comedy Circus." He has also anchored Season 6 of 'Jhalak Dikhhla Ja' and 'Chhote Miyan' (comedy show) on Colors.

After hosting a TV reality dance show, Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa in 2013, Sharma launched his own comic talk show, Comedy Nights with Kapil, which premiered on Colors. He hosted the show till January 2016. Sharma chose to end the show after a three-year successful run due to disputes with the channel Colors. Later, he got a deal with Sony TV for The Kapil Sharma Show, a new show which began its journey on April 23, 2016, when the first episode premiered.

Early Life

Sharma was born as Kapil Punj on 2^nd April 1981 in Amritsar, Punjab, India in a lower-middle-class family. His father's name is Jeetendra Kumar Punj who was a Punjab Police head constable whereas his mother's name is Janak Rani who is a homemaker by profession. In 1997, his father was afflicted with cancer and after his seven-year struggle with the disease, he died in Delhi's AIIMS hospital in 2004. He also has a sister and a brother as his siblings. His elder brother, Ashok Kumar Sharma is a police constable while his sister Pooja Pawan Devgan is a homemaker.

Education

He completed his schooling at Shri Ram Ashram Senior Secondary School in Amritsar. and Hindu College. He graduated from Hindu College in Amritsar with a Bachelor of Arts and has a diploma in Computer Applications. According to reports, he also holds a Postgraduate Diploma in Commercial Arts from Apeejay College in Jalandhar. He used to direct plays for pocket money throughout his college days during graduation. Moreover, he had also received a scholarship and was a national winner in theatre.

Married and Family Life

On December 12, 2018, Sharma tied the knot with Ginni Chatrath in Jalandhar. They welcomed their first child, a girl into the world on December 10, 2019, and called her Anayra. On February 1, 2021, the couple got blessed with their second child, a son called Trishaan. Currently, he lives in Mumbai with his mother, wife and kids.

Work History

Kapil Sharma is well-known throughout the country today for his contributions to comedy programmes. After beginning his career with television comedy shows, the comedian quickly rose to prominence and became a well-known figure in the television industry. Sharma is not just a comedian now, he has been an actor, producer, and television host in addition to being a comedian. In a short period of time, Sharma with his talent has built a huge fan base for himself and has managed to entertain people with his wit.

Prominent Television Work

• He began his career on Punjabi channel MH1's "Hasde Hasounde Raho" in 2006 but finished third.
• In 2007, he participated in the third season of "The Great Indian Laughter Challenge" and won the show along with the prize money of 10 lakhs. It came as a turning point in his career and life.
• Then in 2008, he hosted the comedy show "Chhote Miyan" on Colors along with Juhi Parmar.
• He participated as a contestant in the reality competition show, "Laughter Knights", a spin-off of the popular Indian comedy series The Great Indian Laughter Challenge. All of the finalists of the The Great Indian Laughter Challenge's previous four seasons competed for the title in this series. The show premiered on STAR One on December 12, 2008, and ended on March 6, 2009.
• He then appeared in the comic reality show "Ustaadon Ka Ustaad" and "Hans Baliye" in 2009.
• In 2013, he hosted Season 6 of the dancing reality show "Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa" on Colors.
• In 2013 under his K9 Productions label, Kapil launched his own celebrity chat show, "Comedy Nights with Kapil," on Colors.
• After three years of success in his show, Kapil Sharma chose to end the show due to a disagreement with Colors in 2016. Later in the same year, on Sony Entertainment Television, Sharma's K9 Productions started a new show named The Kapil Sharma Show. The show premiered on April 23, 2016, to a warm reception from audiences and is successfully running its third season as of February 2022.
• Sharma co-hosted the 60th Filmfare Awards in 2015 along with Karan Johar, 61^st Filmfare Awards with Shah Rukh Khan in 2016 and 62^nd Filmfare Awards with Karan Johar and Shah Rukh Khan in 2017.
• He has also been one of the guests on Karan Johar's Koffee with Karan in 2017.

Movies

• Kapil had his first special appearance in the movie Bhavnao Ko Samjho in 2010 as Thakur's son. The movie was directed by Sunil Pal.
• He began his career as the lead actor in Bollywood by debuting in the romantic comedy of Abbas Mustan's Kis Kisko Pyaar Karoon in 2015 alongside four female actresses. That same year, he did a special appearance in Remo D'Souza-directed ABCD 2.
• In 2017, he starred as the male lead in his second film, Firangi, a historical play produced by Rajiev Dhingra.
• Sharma has also produced a Punjabi film, Son of Manjeet Singh in 2018.
• Kapil gave his voice in the Hindi dubbed version of The Angry Birds Movie 2 in 2019.
• He then played the role of Pyaare, a domestic servant in the comedy-drama movie, It's My Life in 2020 which was directed by Anees Bazmee.

Controversies

• On January 5, 2014, in an episode of Comedy Nights with Kapil, the famous comedian made a joke about pregnant women giving birth while driving on a pothole-filled road, which women activists found disrespectful and demeaning. In response, the Maharashtra State Women's Commission received a complaint from two NGOs seeking legal action.
• Deepali Sayyad, a Marathi actress, accused that Kapil had misbehaved during the International Marathi Film Festival Awards 2015 wrap-up party. At the same award ceremony, he allegedly misbehaved with singer Monali Thakur, actress Tanishaa Mukerji, and other female attendees after having a few drinks but later on, he even refuted his presence at the event when asked about it in an interview with a daily.
• After being in the news for unapproved construction in his Andheri home in 2016, the comedian took to Twitter and tweeted to the PM alleging that the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) had asked him to pay a Rs 5 lakh bribe to open an office in the city.
• In 2016, a group of nurses filed a complaint against Sharma, demanding an apology for allegedly portraying the nursing profession in a negative way. They expressed their "resentment over the demeaning portrayal of nurse" in an episode of his television show and demanded that all versions of the broadcast, which included a prominent Bollywood actor as the main guest, be removed from all media, including the internet. It also sought public apologies from the stand-up comic and actor, as well as two other people connected to the station and the show.
• Kapil Sharma was rumoured to be furious with Salman Khan after the latter chose to promote one of his projects on 'Comedy Nights Bachao' instead of 'Comedy Nights with Kapil.' When questioned in a media interview which of Shah Rukh and Salman would be an ideal substitute for his show, Kapil chose the former over the latter.
• A few years ago, event organisers reportedly accused Kapil Sharma of acting too posh when Kapil and his crew put on a comedy act at a festival in Uttar Pradesh, where he charged over Rs 65 lakh, which he split with his teammates.
• Kapil Sharma's epic feud onboard an aircraft with a long-time associate led his success story to come to a halt. Kapil is said to have smacked Sunil, causing their relationship to fall apart as well as his close-knit team. In 2017, the terrible occurrence made national headlines. Many speculated that this was a result of their long-running feud, which had erupted due to Sunil's rising popularity.
• In 2018, fans of Kapil Sharma were shocked when they spotted him throwing insults on Twitter. Many assumed the comedian's account had been hacked, and Kapil's account quickly responded with a tweet stating the same. The offensive tweets were also removed. Later, Kapil confirmed that his account had not been hacked and that he himself posted all of the threatening tweets, which his team had removed.
  • But it was his phone call with journalist Vicky Lalwani, whom he had abused on Twitter, that was the most startling of all. The journalist recorded the conversation and made it public adding to the controversy.
  • Later, Kapil filed a police complaint after the phone call became public, accusing his former managers Preeti and Neeti Simoes, as well as journalist Vicky Lalwani, of attempting to extort Rs 25 lakhs from him and spreading false and harmful propaganda to discredit him on social media.
• On The Kapil Sharma Show, comedian-host Kapil Sharma made a joke on a religious god of the Kayastha group in an episode that aired on March 28, 2020. Outraged members of the community demanded an apology and called for his show to be boycotted.nKapil afterwards issued an apology on his Twitter account in his effort to reach a truce.

Awards and achievements

• In the year 2012, Kapil got the India Television Academy Awards for Best Actor Comedy.
• Kapil was placed 96th among the top 100 celebrities in Forbes India magazine's top 100 list in February 2013 and again in December 2013, Forbes India placed him 93rd on its Celebrity 100 list.
• In the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan (2014) launched by our Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Kapil Sharma was appointed by him in order to make the public aware of sanitation, cleanliness and other health-related social issues. Later in 2015, our late and earlier President Pranab Mukherjee invited him to the Rashtrapati Bhavan to be acknowledged for his dedication to the cause through his show.
• In 2015, he was recognized as the third most admired Indian personality in The Economic Times' list of Most Admired Indian Personalities.
• Kapil was designated the most popular Indian television personality in 2016, according to Ormax Media.
• He was also ranked 11th by Forbes India in their Celebrity 100 list in 2016, while he was placed 18th by Forbes in the same category in 2017.