Kunal Khemu

Kunal Khemu
Kunal Khemu on the sets of Indian Idol 4
Born	(1983-05-25) May 25, 1983 Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1987–1998, 2005–present
Partner	Soha Ali Khan

Kunal Khemu (25 May 1983) is an Indian film actor who appears in Bollywood films. He made his acting debut as a child in the 90s and returned to films as an adult in 2005. He doesn't appear in many films, mostly one film a year or two, however nearly all the films he stars in, manage to do well at the box office worldwide. He has most of the critically and commercially successful films including Kalyug (2005), Traffic Signal (2007), Dhol (2007), 99 (2009), Golmaal 3 (2010), Blood Money (2012).

Early life

Khemu was born to actors Ravi and Jyoti Khemu in Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir. He attended school (Dalmia International) in Mira Road, Mumbai and pursued higher education at Amity University. He has been dating Soha Ali Khan, sister of bollywood actor Saif Ali Khan, since quite a long time. His grandfather, Moti Lal Kemmu (original spellings of lastname), is a well-known Kashmiri playwright and a recipient of several awards by the Government of Jammu and Kashmir, Rashtra Bhasa Prachar Samiti, Sahitya Akademi award in 1982 for his contribution to Kashmiri literature as a playwright, and Padamshree.

Career

Kunal Khemu was amongst the most acclaimed and popular child-artist in the late 80s and early 90s. He made his debut as a child actor appearing in the Doordarshan TV series Gul Gulshan Gulfaam (1987), directed by Ved Rahi. He made his film debut with Mahesh Bhatt's movie Sir (1993), starring Naseeruddin Shah and Pooja Bhatt. He went on to star as a child artist in many movies such as Raja Hindustani, Zakhm, Bhai and Hum Hain Rahi Pyar Ke.

As an adult, he made his comeback as the male lead in the 2005 film, Kalyug, which was directed by Mohit Suri. Kalyug was based on the Pornography industry, and was a box office success, leading Kunal Khemu to success thereon. In 2007, his first release was Madhur Bhandarkar's Traffic Signal, where he played a street-smart money lender who lends money to poor families, but always gets it back with interest. Traffic Signal was also a huge box office success, making it Khemu's second hit.

His second release of the year 2007, was Dhol in which he again played a lead role. The film was also a moderate success at the box office, giving Khemu a hattrick of three success in a row. In 2008, his only release, Superstar in which he featured in a double-role, turned out to be his first critical and commercial flop, though Khemu's performance was very well praised. In 2009, he starred in Dhoondte Reh Jaaoge and Jai Veeru, which both performed average business at the box office. He then returned to his success streak, when he starred in the comic-thriller 99 opposite Soha Ali Khan, which was a semi-hit at the box office. In 2010, he appeared in his career's biggest success, Golmaal 3 in which he played a supporting role as Laxman, and his character and performance were praised by critics. Golmaal 3 was panned by critics but elevated to Blockbuster status at the box office.

His latest venture is Mukesh Bhatt's Blood Money, in which he played the lead role as Kunal Kadam, an honest and hard worker who is unknowingly taken into the underworld by his senior boss. Blood Money was a moderate success at the box office. He once again had triple failure in a row. Khemu is currently working with Saif Ali Khan, who is his brother in law, for his production Go Goa Gone, which is currently under production.

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1993	Sir		As a child artist
1993	Hum Hain Rahi Pyar Ke	Sunny	As a child artist
1996	Raja Hindustani	Rajnikant	As a child artist
1997	Bhai	Krishna	As a child artist
1998	Zakhm	Young Ajay	As a child artist
1998	Dushman	Bheem	As a child artist
2005	Kalyug	Kunal Dharr	Debut film as Adult
2007	Traffic Signal	Silsila
	Dhol	Gautam "Goti" Sesodia
	Superstar	Kunal Mehra / Karan Saxena	Double-role
2009	Dhoondte Reh Jaaoge	Anand Pawar	Nominated, Filmfare Award for Comedian
	Jai Veeru	Veeru
	99	Sachin
2010	Golmaal 3	Laxman
2012	Blood Money	Kunal Kadam
	Go Goa Gone		Filming
2013	Golmaal 4	Laxman

External links

• Kunal Khemu at IMDb