Wamiqa Gabbi (born 29 September 1993) is an Indian actress who predominantly works in Punjabi and Hindi films and series. She made her screen debut as a child with a brief role in the Hindi film Jab We Met (2007). She subsequently had success as the leading lady in the Punjabi films Tu Mera 22 Main Tera 22 (2013), Nikka Zaildar 2 (2017) and its sequel Nikka Zaildar 3 (2019), and Kali Jotta (2023).
Gabbi also starred in the Tamil film Maalai Naerathu Mayakkam (2016) and the Malayalam film Godha (2017), and gained recognition for her performances in the Hindi streaming series Grahan (2021), Mai: A Mother's Rage (2022) and Modern Love Mumbai (2022). The latter two were directed by Vishal Bhardwaj. A turning point in her career came in 2023 with her portrayal of an aspiring actress in the acclaimed period drama series Jubilee and as the wife of a spy in Bharadwaj's thriller film Khufiya, for which she earned a Filmfare OTT Award.
Early life
Gabbi was born in a Punjabi family in Chandigarh on 29 September 1993.[1][2][3] Her father Govardhan Gabbi is an author and writes in Hindi and Punjabi languages.[4][5] She did her schooling at St. Xavier's School, Chandigarh, and completed her degree in Arts from DAV College, Chandigarh.[6]
Career
Early work and expansion (2007–2019)
Gabbi made her film debut at the age of thirteen with a brief role in Imtiaz Ali's Hindi romantic comedy Jab We Met (2007), playing the cousin of Kareena Kapoor's character.[7] She admitted to feeling uncertain about her future in the film industry while working on the picture, as she did not come from an acting family like Kapoor.[7] After minor roles in Love Aaj Kal (2009), Mausam (2011), and Bittoo Boss (2012), Gabbi secured her first lead role as Tanisha in the coming-of-age drama Sixteen (2013), portraying a teenager who enters a relationship with a significantly older man.[8] In a review for Mumbai Mirror, Karan Anshuman commended Gabbi as "the standout" in a mediocre film.[9] It emerged as a commercial failure, after which she admitted to almost giving up acting due to consistent rejections.[10][11]
In 2017, she debuted into Malayalam cinema with the sports comedy Godha opposite Tovino Thomas.[18] To prepare for her role as a Punjabi wrestler, she trained for the sport in Amritsar, Punjab, and lived with her coach for a month.[19] In the film's climactic combat scene, Gabbi sustained physical injuries throughout her entire body.[19] Her performance was positively received by critics, with Firstpost's Anna MM Vetticad describing her as "luminous" and appreciating her accurate emulation of a professional wrestler's mannerisms.[20] Additionally, Deepa Soman of The Times of India noted that she overshadowed Thomas' performance.[21]Godha emerged as a sleeper hit at the box-office.[22] Gabbi ended the year with the commercially successful Punjabi spiritual sequel Nikka Zaildar 2, for which she earned her first nomination for Best Actress (Critics) at the Punjabi Filmfare Awards.[23][24][25]Parahuna was Gabbi's sole 2018 release, a film that Film Companion's Sangeet Toor described as a "purely entertaining".[26]
In 2019, Gabbi had five releases—four of which were Punjabi. She began the year as part of an ensemble that included Prithviraj Sukumaran and Mamta Mohandas in the Malayalam science fiction film 9. In a mixed review for Film Companion, Neelima Menon wrote that Gabbi was "scintillating as the mysterious stranger".[27] She followed this with the unremarkable Punjabi features Nadhoo Khan and Dil Diyan Gallan.[28][29] Gabbi returned to the Nikka Zaildar franchise for its third instalment, as a struggling poetess caught in a love triangle opposite Ammy Virk and Sonia Kaur. Gurnaaz Kaur of The Tribune was appreciative of her addition to the film.[30] It emerged as a commercial success.[31]Doorbeen—a drama centred on the illegal drug trade in Punjab—cast Gabbi as the love interest of Ninja's character.[32] She was drawn to the film's "unique story", that explored a theme previously untouched in Punjabi cinema.[32]
Streaming projects and breakthrough (2020–present)
In Galwakdi (2020), Gabbi played a free-spirited woman who falls in love with a librarian (played by Tarsem Jassar) that suffers from obsessive–compulsive disorder.[33] In 2021, she returned to Hindi cinema after eight years with Kabir Khan's sports drama 83, starring Ranveer Singh and Deepika Padukone. She had a supporting role as cricket player Madan Lal's wife;[34] Gabbi acknowledged that her role was brief but chose to sign the film regardless out of admiration for Khan.[35] She next made her foray into streaming with the crime drama series Grahan, in which she played Manu, a Sikh girl who becomes romantically involved with a Hindu boy (played by Anshuman Pushkar) during the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.[36] Shweta Keshri of India Today wrote that Gabbi and Pushkar "do proper justice while bringing alive the 80s romance to screen", but The Quint's Shefali Deshpande bemoaned that Gabbi's "fake freckles and Instagram filter like make up" detracted from the character's authenticity and also criticised the pair's poorly written roles.[37][38]
In 2022, Gabbi featured in two series—Mai: A Mother's Rage and Modern Love Mumbai— which were released on to Netflix and Amazon Prime Video, respectively. In the former, she played a mute girl whose mother (played by Sakshi Tanwar) investigates the circumstances surrounding her death.[39] Gabbi admitted that the intense role took a significant emotional toll on her, and she often broke down crying after filming several scenes; however, she deemed it essential for the audience to experience such scenes to reflect reality.[40] Writing for The Times of India, Archika Khurana described her as "particularly effective" and The Indian Express'sShubhra Gupta took note of her "eloquently using sign language" to communicate.[41][42] In Vishal Bhardwaj's segment of the latter anthology series, she essayed a young Gujarati woman navigating her relationship with an Indo-Chinese man (played by Meiyang Chang).[43] She was drawn to exploring a different culture through the character, as most of her previous roles did not offer this opportunity.[44] Reception to the series was generally favourable; Anuj Kumar of The Hindu wrote that, "Wamiqa and Chang fit effortlessly into their parts".[45]
The year 2023 proved to be a breakthrough for Gabbi, during which she appeared in six projects.[46][47][48] She started the year in Bhardwaj's Fursat, a short film about a scientist (played by Ishaan Khatter) who discovers an artefact that transports him to the future. Filming for Fursat took place on the iPhone 14 Pro in collaboration with Apple Inc. as Bhardwaj felt it was a "liberative" experience, compared to filming on traditional cameras.[49][50] He was initially sceptical of Gabbi's dancing abilities and considered simplifying the choreography for her but was impressed by her skills during the first rehearsal.[51][52] In preparation, she had to learn contemporary dance steps for her role in just nine days due to commitments to other projects.[53][53]India Today's Roktim Rajpal took note of Gabbi's ability to "convey a lot through silence and expressions" and appreciated her chemistry with Khattar given the duration of the film.[54] However, other reviewers of the film generally felt that the film prioritised showcasing the capabilities of the iPhone at the expense of the script's quality.[55][56][57] Gabbi's next release, the Punjabi crime drama Kali Jotta, premiered within a week of Fursat. She played a lawyer who investigates the disappearance of her former school teacher (played by Neeru Bajwa). The film was met with critical acclaim upon release;[58] Sukhpreet Kahlon of The Indian Express, wrote that Gabbi brought "a carefree exuberance to her performance".[59]Kali Jotta emerged as a major commercial success, ranking as the third-highest-grossing Punjabi film of the year.[60]
A turning point in Gabbi's career came in Vikramaditya Motwane's period series Jubilee, in which she appeared among an ensemble cast that included Aparshakti Khurana, Sidhant Gupta and Aditi Rao Hydari.[61][47] Set against the emergence of the Hindi film industry in post-Partition India, she portrayed Niloufer, a headstrong courtesan with aspirations of becoming an actress.[62] Motwane cast Gabbi in the role for her understanding of the nuance and emotion required by directors, along with her "gorgeous screen presence".[62] To prepare for the song "Babuji Bhole Bhale", she took inspiration from actresses Rekha, Priyanka Chopra and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan.[63] Upon release on to Amazon Prime Video, Jubilee received critical acclaim, with Gabbi's performance being positively received.[61] Shilajit Mitra of The Hindu wrote that "Gabbi cements her reputation as one of the most promising, and frankly stunning actresses of our time", and Saibal Chatterjee of NDTV described her as "splendid" and took note of the subtleties she showcased as her character developed.[64][65] Critic Udita Jhunjhunwala observed that while her performances in Grahan, Mai: A Mother’s Rage, and Modern Love Mumbai demonstrated her versatility to a certain extent, it was Jubilee that truly showcased her capabilities as an actor.[46] She earned a nomination for Best Actress in a Drama Series at the Filmfare OTT Awards.[66] In May, Gabbi featured once again in the Modern Love franchise for its Tamil iteration, Modern Love Chennai; she cited her aspiration to collaborate with director Thiagarajan Kumararaja as the primary reason for accepting the project.[67] She portrayed a woman tasked with helping her ex-boyfriend (played by PB) recover his memory following a car accident, the segment that Firstpost's Bhuvanesh Chandar considered the series' highlight.[68]
Gabbi in 2024
The following month, Gabbi reunited with Bhardwaj for their third collaboration in Charlie Chopra & the Mystery of Solang Valley, a thriller series adapted from Agatha Christie's The Sittaford Mystery.[69] Based on the character of Trefusis, Gabbi played a detective who attempts to prove the innocence of her fiancé (played by Vivaan Shah) in the murder of his uncle, a role she described as "my most ambitious yet" and spent two months preparing for.[70][10] The series also required her to break the fourth wall, a technique for which she took inspiration from Phoebe Waller-Bridge's character in Fleabag.[71] Citing the series as one of Bhardwaj's weaker projects, Mashable India's Sanyukta Thakare thought that the weak writing had constrained Gabbi's performance, but felt that she "showed great promise in deep emotional moments".[72] She gained further attention for her role in Bhardwaj's spy thriller Khufiya co-starring Tabu and Ali Fazal.[46] When casting Gabbi for the film, Bhardwaj recalled her audition for his shelved adaptation of Midnight's Children.[73] In a mixed review of the film, WION's Shomini Sen praised Gabbi for holding her own in the presence of Tabu and Fazal, despite being a relatively new actor.[74] She earned her first award for Best Supporting Actress in a Web Original Film at the Filmfare OTT Awards and earned an additional nomination for Best Actress at the ceremony.[75] Describing her frequent collaborations with Bhardwaj, she called it a "privilege" to work with him and revealed that he instilled confidence in her as an actor at a time when she considered quitting.[76]
Gabbi next featured in the Hindi action film Baby John (2024) starring Varun Dhawan and Keerthy Suresh in the lead roles. She was initially hesitant in accepting the role as it was her first time doing action sequences.[77]Sukanya Verma of Rediff.com bemoaned that "the charismatic Wamiqa Gabbi is wasted" in a poorly written role.[78] It failed to recoup its estimated ₹1.8 billion (US$21million) investment.[79]
Upcoming projects
Gabbi has several upcoming projects across multiple languages. In Tamil cinema, she will star in the fantasy film Genie alongside Jayam Ravi and the romance Iravaakaalam opposite S.J. Suryah, which has been completed since 2018 but is yet to be picked up for distribution.[80][81] In Punjabi, she will appear in the romantic drama Kikli with Mandy Takhar and Jobanpreet Singh. In Malayalam, she will appear in the action film Tiki Taka alongside Asif Ali.[82] In Telugu, she will feature in the spy thriller G2 with Adivi Sesh and Emraan Hashmi.[83] She also has multiple Hindi projects in Vikas Bahl's comedy Dil Ka Darwaaza Khol Na Darling with Jaya Bachchan and Siddhant Chaturvedi, the fantasy film Bhool Chuk Maaf opposite Rajkummar Rao, and the horror-comedy Bhooth Bangla alongside Akshay Kumar and Tabu.[84][85][86] Additionally, she will appear in Raj & DK's Netflix fantasy miniseries Rakt Brahmand: The Bloody Kingdom alongside Samantha Ruth Prabhu, Aditya Roy Kapur, and Ali Fazal.[87]
1 2 Subhakeerthana, S. (17 January 2018). "It's a wrap for Iravaakaalam". The New Indian Express. Archived from the original on 28 December 2024. Retrieved 27 December 2024.
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