Shiney Ahuja (born 15 May 1973) is an Indian actor in

Bollywood Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry based in Mumbai, engaged in production of motion pictures in Hindi language. The popular term Bollywood, is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (fo ...

films. He won the Filmfare Best Male Debut Award for ''

Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi ''Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi'' (A Thousand Wishes Like This) is an Indian political drama film made by director Sudhir Mishra in 2003 but released in 2005. Set against the backdrop of the Indian Emergency, the movie tells the story of three young ...

'' in 2006 and then followed with several hit films like ''

Gangster A gangster is a criminal who is a member of a gang. Most gangs are considered to be part of organized crime. Gangsters are also called mobsters, a term derived from ''mob'' and the suffix '' -ster''. Gangs provide a level of organization and ...

'', ''

Woh Lamhe ''Woh Lamhe...'' ( en, Those Moments, italic=yes) is a 2006 Indian romantic drama film directed by Mohit Suri, starring Kangana Ranaut and Shiney Ahuja in the lead roles. The film is supposedly based on Parveen Babi's life, her battle with s ...

'', ''

Life in a Metro ''Life in a... Metro'' is a 2007 Indian Hindi-language drama film co-produced, co-written and directed by Anurag Basu. Partly inspired from Billy Wilder's romantic comedy film ''The Apartment'' (1960), it features an ensemble cast of Dharmendra, ...

'', ''

Bhool Bhulaiyaa ''Bhool Bhulaiyaa'' () is a 2007 Indian Hindi-language psychological thriller film directed by Priyadarshan and produced by Bhushan Kumar and Krishan Kumar under the T-Series Films banner. A remake of the 1993 Malayalam film '' Manichitrathaz ...

'', and ''Welcome Back''.

Early life

Ahuja was born on 15 May 1973 into a Punjabi family in

New Delhi New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament House ...

. Ahuja's father was in the Indian Army. He studied at St. Xavier's School, Ranchi, and

Army Public School, Dhaula Kuan The Army Public School, Dhaula Kuan is a public school located at Delhi, India. It is operated under Indian Army supervision under the aegis of Indian Army welfare Education society (AWES). It is part of the chain of Indian Army Public Scho ...

, and attended

Hansraj College Hansraj College is a constituent college of the University of Delhi, in Delhi, India. The departments of Hansraj college includes science, liberal arts and commerce. History The was founded on 26 July 1948 in memory of the prominent Indian ...

Delhi University Delhi University (DU), formally the University of Delhi, is a collegiate university, collegiate Central university (India), central university located in New Delhi, India. It was founded in 1922 by an Act of the Central Legislative Assembly and ...

. Later, he joined the theatre group "TAG" where he met

Barry John Barry John (born 6 January 1945) is a former Welsh rugby union fly-half who played, during the amateur era of the sport, in the 1960s, and early 1970s. John began his rugby career as a schoolboy playing for his local team Cefneithin RFC befor ...

. Shortly thereafter, he joined John's acting school in Delhi.

Career

After completing college, Shiney secured his first commercial ad for

Pepsi Pepsi is a carbonated soft drink manufactured by PepsiCo. Originally created and developed in 1893 by Caleb Bradham and introduced as Brad's Drink, it was renamed as Pepsi-Cola in 1898, and then shortened to Pepsi in 1961. History Pepsi was ...

. This instantly brought him into consideration by the top ad agencies. Flooded with offers, Ahuja worked in over 40 ad films in that year, including

Cadburys Cadbury, formerly Cadbury's and Cadbury Schweppes, is a British multinational confectionery company fully owned by Mondelez International (originally Kraft Foods) since 2010. It is the second largest confectionery brand in the world after M ...

and

Citibank Citibank, N. A. (N. A. stands for " National Association") is the primary U.S. banking subsidiary of financial services multinational Citigroup. Citibank was founded in 1812 as the City Bank of New York, and later became First National City ...

. He also featured in the music video 'Pyar ho Gaya' for the British-Asian band "Stereo Nation."

Sudhir Mishra Sudhir Mishra (born 22 January 1959) is an Indian film director and screenwriter known for directing the films '' Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi'', '' Dharavi'' and '' Chameli''. Mishra has had a 30-year career, with his work recognised by the Gover ...

, who was auditioning for a film by Pritish Nandy Communications, ''

'', saw Shiney in the Pepsi commercial and called him to audition for

Kay Kay Krishna Kumar Menon (born 2 October 1966), better known by the stage name Kay Kay Menon, is an Indian actor who works predominantly in Hindi cinema, and also in Gujarati, Tamil, Marathi and Telugu cinema. Early life Menon was born in a Nair ...

's character – Sidharth Tyabji. Upon Shiney's request, Mishra also auditioned him for the role of Vikram Malhotra. Shiney was selected from over 200 aspirants for the role of Vikram Malhotra and made his acting debut in the film. The film went on to win critical acclaim, and was screened at as many as 12 film festivals over 6 months. These included film festivals at

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

, Estonia, River to River (Florence),

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

(Goa), Bite The Mango festival (Bradford, UK), the Commonwealth festival (Manchester), and the Pacific Rim festival (California). The film was released commercially in 2005 with minimal publicity but a national footprint across India. Ahuja rececived several best actor (debut) awards given for the year including

Filmfare ''Filmfare'' is an Indian English language, English-language fortnightly magazine published by Worldwide Media. Acknowledged as one of Indian most popular entertainment magazines, it publishes pieces involving news, interviews, photos, videos, r ...

, Zee Cine, and Stardust. Thereafter, he played the lead role in

Mahesh Bhatt Mahesh Bhatt (born 20 September 1948) is an Indian film director, producer and screenwriter known for his works in Hindi cinema. A stand-out film from his earlier period is ''Saaransh'' (1984), screened at the 14th Moscow International Film F ...

's ''

'', a popular commercial movie genre and ''

'' opposite

Kangana Ranaut Kangna Amardeep Ranaut (; born 23 March 1987) is an Indian actress and filmmaker who works in Hindi films. Known for her work in female-led films, she is the recipient of several awards, including four National Film Awards and five Filmfar ...

. Other films followed including ''

'', ''

''. Two of his films, ''Ek Accident'' with co-star

Soha Ali Khan Soha Ali Khan Pataudi Khemu (born 4 October 1978) is an Indian actress who has worked in Hindi, Bengali and English films. She is the daughter of veteran actress Sharmila Tagore and former Indian cricket captain Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi, and t ...

and ''

Har Pal ''Har Pal'' ( en, Every Moment) is an unreleased Indian film directed by art cinema director Jahnu Barua, who previously directed the critically acclaimed ''Maine Gandhi Ko Nahin Mara'' (2005). The film stars Preity Zinta, Shiney Ahuja and Isha ...

'' with

Preity Zinta Preity G Zinta (pronounced ; born 31 January 1975) is an Indian actress and entrepreneur primarily known for her work in Hindi cinema, Hindi films. After graduating with degrees in English literature, English honours and criminal psychology, Z ...

are yet to be released. In 2015, Shiney was cast in

Anees Bazmee Anees Bazmee is an Indian film director, screenwriter and producer known for his works in Indian cinema. Career Bazmee did his directorial debut with '' Hulchul'' in 1995, however his first commercial success in came in 1998 with the film '' ...

's '' Welcome Back'' co-starring

John Abraham John Abraham (born 17 December 1972) is an Indian actor, film producer, writer and former model working in Hindi films. He has won a National Film Award and received five Filmfare nominations. After modelling for advertisements and companies, ...

Shruti Hassan Shruti Haasan (born 28 January 1986) is an Indian actress and playback singer who works predominantly in Telugu, Tamil and Hindi films. Born in the Haasan family, she is the daughter of actor-filmmaker Kamal Haasan and actress Sarika Thaku ...

Anil Kapoor Anil Kapoor (born 24 December 1956) is an Indian actor and producer who works primarily in Hindi films, besides television and international films and television. In a career spanning over 40 years as an actor and since 2005 as a producer, Kapo ...

Nana Patekar Vishwanath Patekar (born 1 January 1951), better known as Nana Patekar, is an Indian actor, screenwriter, film maker, and a former Indian Territorial Army officer, mainly working in Hindi and Marathi cinema. He is regarded as one of the finest a ...

Naseeruddin Shah Naseeruddin Shah (born 20 July 1950) is an Indian actor. He is notable in Indian parallel cinema. He has also starred in international productions. He has won numerous awards in his career, including three National Film Awards, three Filmfare A ...

Dimple Kapadia Dimple Kapadia (born 8 June 1957) is an Indian actress predominantly appearing in Hindi films. Born and raised in Mumbai by wealthy parents, she aspired to become an actress from a young age and received her first opportunity through her father ...

and Paresh Rawal.Shiney Ahuja returns as Naseer's son

Times of India ''The Times of India'', also known by its abbreviation ''TOI'', is an Indian English language, English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by The Times Group. It is the List of newspapers in India by circulation, t ...

. 5 September 2014

Family

Ahuja is married to Anupam, and they have a daughter Arshiya.

Legal history

In June 2009, Ahuja was arrested on charges of raping, detaining, and threatening his 19-year-old domestic servant. He was booked under Section 376 (rape), and Section 506 (threat to kill) of the

Indian Penal Code The Indian Penal Code (IPC) is the official criminal code of India. It is a comprehensive code intended to cover all substantive aspects of criminal law. The code was drafted on the recommendations of first law commission of India established ...

. During the trial, his maid (the victim) recanted on her testimony and told the Court that she was never raped. However, the judge believed that the maid falsely testified under pressure and, in 2011, Ahuja was sentenced to seven years of prison. This case was the inspiration for the writing of the legal drama film '' Section 375''. The film was written by Manish Gupta, Ahuja's friend who had interacted with the parties of the case during the time of the arrest.

Filmography

Awards

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ahuja, Shiney Living people Indian people Indian male film actors Male actors in Hindi cinema People from Delhi Delhi University alumni Indian prisoners and detainees Sindhi people Indian people of Sindhi descent 1973 births Screen Awards winners Filmfare Awards winners Zee Cine Awards winners International Indian Film Academy Awards winners