The son of action director Sham Kaushal, Vicky Kaushal earned an engineering degree before choosing the harder road: assisting Anurag Kashyap on Gangs of Wasseypur and grinding through minor roles. His lead debut in Masaan (2015), as a grieving lower-caste boy in Varanasi, announced a major talent, and 2018's double of Raazi and Sanju — the latter winning him a Filmfare trophy — made the industry take full notice.

Then came 'How's the josh?': Uri: The Surgical Strike (2019) turned Kaushal into a box-office force and won him the National Film Award for Best Actor. He followed with a haunting Sardar Udham, crowd-pleasers like Zara Hatke Zara Bachke and Sam Bahadur, and the historical epic Chhaava (2025), his biggest hit yet as the Maratha king Sambhaji. He is married to actress Katrina Kaif.

Filmography Highlights

• Masaan (2015) — Cannes-feted debut as a grieving Varanasi youth
• Raman Raghav 2.0 (2016) — Dark turn in Kashyap's serial-killer thriller
• Raazi (2018) — Sensitive Pakistani officer opposite Alia Bhatt
• Sanju (2018) — Filmfare Best Supporting Actor as Sanjay Dutt's friend
• Uri: The Surgical Strike (2019) — National Award-winning star-making war film
• Sardar Udham (2021) — Acclaimed biopic of the revolutionary Udham Singh
• Sam Bahadur (2023) — Played Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw
• Chhaava (2025) — As Sambhaji; his highest-grossing film

Image: Wikimedia Commons. Part of the Top 50 Bollywood Celebrities series. Ranking inspired by popular industry listings; profiles are original editorial content.