Esha Gupta (; born 28 November 1985)
is an Indian actress, model, and beauty pageant titleholder. She works in
Hindi
Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...
films. She was crowned
Femina Miss India International 2007 and represented India at
Miss International 2007. She made her acting debut with the crime thriller ''
Jannat 2'' (2012) receiving a
Filmfare Award for Best Female Debut nomination.
Gupta entered the
Femina Miss India contest in 2007, where she placed third and won the Miss India International title and later represented India at the
Miss International pageant. Post her debut, Gupta has received praises for her portrayal in the political drama ''
Chakravyuh'' (2012), but her performance in the comedy film ''
Humshakals
''Humshakals'' () is a 2014 Indian Hindi-language comedy film directed by Sajid Khan (director), Sajid Khan and produced by Vashu Bhagnani. The film stars Saif Ali Khan, Riteish Deshmukh, Ram Kapoor, Tamannaah Bhatia, Esha Gupta and Bipasha Bas ...
'' (2014) met with negative reviews. Her highest-grossing releases came with the horror thriller ''
Raaz 3D'' (2013), the crime drama ''
Rustom'' (2016), and the action-adventure ''
Baadshaho'' (2017).
Early life and work
Esha Gupta was born on 28 November 1985 in
New Delhi
New Delhi (; ) is the Capital city, capital of India and a part of the Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the Government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Parliament ...
.
Her father is a retired
Air Force
An air force in the broadest sense is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an army aviati ...
officer and her mother is a homemaker. She has a sister named Neha. She spent most of her childhood in
Dehradun
Dehradun (), also known as Dehra Doon, is the winter capital and the List of cities in Uttarakhand by population, most populous city of the Indian state of Uttarakhand. It is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous Dehradun district, d ...
,
Hyderabad
Hyderabad is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India. With an average altitude of , much ...
and Delhi. Gupta completed her graduation in mass communication from the School of Communication,
Manipal University,
Manipal
300px, The house of T. M. A. Pai located in Manipal; it has since been converted to a museum.
Manipal is a suburb and university town within Udupi, in coastal Karnataka, India. Manipal is located five kilometres away from the centre of Udupi C ...
.
Gupta participated in
Femina Miss India in 2007, where she won Miss Photogenic
and came in 3rd to go on to compete in Miss India International.
She featured in the
Kingfisher Calendar in 2010. Later she pursued a career in
Bollywood
Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, is primarily produced in Mumbai. The popular term Bollywood is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (former name of Mumbai) and "Cinema of the United States, Hollywood". The in ...
.
Career
Debut and early work (2012–2017)

Gupta made her
Bollywood
Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, is primarily produced in Mumbai. The popular term Bollywood is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (former name of Mumbai) and "Cinema of the United States, Hollywood". The in ...
debut with
Mahesh Bhatt
Mahesh Bhatt (born 20 September 1948) is an Indian film director, producer and screenwriter known for his works in Hindi cinema. He has received List of awards and nominations received by Mahesh Bhatt, a number of accolades, including four Nati ...
's ''
Jannat 2'' in 2012 opposite
Emraan Hashmi in the lead role.
For her debut performance, Taran Adarsh of ''
Bollywood Hungama
Bollywood Hungama (lit. "Bollywood Madness" in Hindi), previously known as IndiaFM (or IndiaFM.com), is an Indian entertainment website, owned by Hungama Digital Media Entertainment, which acquired the website in 2000.
The website provides n ...
'' said, "Debutante Esha Gupta enchants you with her captivating charm. She appears a tad unrefined at places, nonetheless she handles her part assertively."
Martin D'Souza of ''Glam Sham'' wrote, "As for the debutante, Esha Gupta, I guess she may have to enroll herself into an acting school." Gaurav Malani stated, "Esha Gupta, who looks a mix between
Lara Dutta
Lara Dutta Bhupathi ( Dutta; born 16 April 1978) is an Indian actress. She won the Miss Universe 2000, and has since predominantly worked in Hindi films and series. Dutta is a recipient of a Filmfare Awards, Filmfare Award and established hers ...
and
Isha Koppikar
Isha Koppikar (born 19 September 1976) is an Indian actress, politician and Model (person), model who has acted mainly in Hindi cinema, Hindi films, but also in Tamil cinema, Tamil, Kannada, Telugu language, Telugu, and Marathi language, Marathi ...
, is merely there for the glam quotient." The film was a success at the box office, earning domestically and thus brought in more recognition for Gupta. Later, Gupta signed
Vikram Bhatt
Vikram Bhatt is an Indian director, producer, screenwriter and actor. He is best known for directing the ''Raaz'' film series, an Indian horror series produced by Mahesh Bhatt and Mukesh Bhatt and for directing '' Ghulam'' (1998) starring Aam ...
's ''
Raaz 3D'' alongside her Jannat 2 co-star, Emraan Hashmi and
Bipasha Basu
Bipasha Basu (born 7 January 1979) is an Indian actress. Primarily known for her work in Hindi films, she List of awards and nominations received by Bipasha Basu, has received a Filmfare Awards, Filmfare Award. In the 2000s and 2010s, she was ...
, Gupta received mixed reviews from critics for her acting prowess, film critic
Komal Nahta noted, "Esha Gupta is stiff as Sanjana but does much better towards the end (when she almost goes berserk)". ''
India Today
''India Today'' is a weekly Indian English-language news magazine published by Living Media, Living Media India Limited. It is the most widely circulated magazine in India, with a readership of close to 8 million. In 2014, ''India Today'' laun ...
'' wrote, "Both Bipasha and Esha get liberal scope to show off booty. A Bhatt film where the heroines don't get to flaunt it is unimaginable, after all, Bipasha looks hot in her starring role but Esha reveals a few raw edges". ''
Raaz 3D'' performed well at box office within first three days of its release with collections in the vicinity of 360 million. Her third film of the year, ''
Chakravyuh'', was invited to premiere at
London Film Festival
The BFI London Film Festival is an annual film festival held in London, England, in collaboration with the British Film Institute. Founded in 1957, the festival runs for two weeks every October.
In 2016, the British Film Institute, BFI estim ...
.
Sukanya Verma
Sukanya Verma is an Indian journalist and film critic. She has been the principal movie reviewer with web portal '' Rediff.com''. She has written a number of columns as a freelance writer for ''The Hindu
''The Hindu'' is an Indian English ...
noted, "Esha's character makes zero contribution to whatever scenes she has."
Gupta appeared in a cameo in ''
Gori Tere Pyaar Mein
''Gori Tere Pyaar Mein'' () is a 2013 Indian Hindi-language romantic comedy film written and directed by Punit Malhotra and produced by Karan Johar under the Dharma Productions banner. The film stars Imran Khan and Kareena Kapoor Khan in lea ...
''. In 2014, she was seen in
Sajid Khan's ''
Humshakals
''Humshakals'' () is a 2014 Indian Hindi-language comedy film directed by Sajid Khan (director), Sajid Khan and produced by Vashu Bhagnani. The film stars Saif Ali Khan, Riteish Deshmukh, Ram Kapoor, Tamannaah Bhatia, Esha Gupta and Bipasha Bas ...
'' alongside
Saif Ali Khan
Saif Ali Khan (; born Sajid Ali Khan Pataudi; 16 August 1970) is an Indian actor and film producer who primarily works in Hindi cinema, Hindi films. The titular head of the Pataudi family since 2011, he is the son of actress Sharmila Tagore a ...
,
Riteish Deshmukh
Riteish Deshmukh (born 17 December 1978) is an Indian actor, filmmaker and television presenter who predominantly works in Hindi cinema, Hindi and Marathi cinema, Marathi films. Known for his comic portrayals, Deshmukh is a recipient of several ...
, Bipasha Basu and
Tamannaah.
Box Office India
Box Office India is an Indian film website dedicated to tracking, reporting, and analyzing the financial performance of films released in the Hindi entertainment industry.
Established in 2003, Box Office India has become a prominent source of ...
declared it a "disaster". Gupta played a high society woman in the 2016 film ''
Rustom''. It became a box office success grossing over ₹210 crore (US$26 million) worldwide. ''
Mumbai Mirror
The ''Mumbai Mirror'' is an Indian English-language newspaper published in Mumbai, Maharashtra. Launched in 2005 as a compact daily newspaper, its coverage focused on city specific local news and civic issues concerning education, healthcare an ...
'' stated, "Gupta steals the show (unintentionally) with her OTT makeup and her misplaced expressions." Gupta had three releases in 2017. She played the main antagonist in action film
''Commando 2'', which was a moderate box-office success. She then appeared in ''
Baadshaho'' opposite Hashmi, in their third film together. She then made her Telugu and Tamil debut with the bilingual film ''
Veedevadu''.
Further career and expansion (2018–present)
Gupta played an officer' wife in
J.P. Dutta's ''
Paltan'' in 2018 opposite Arjun Rampal. ''
Hindustan Times
''Hindustan Times'' is an Indian English language, English-language daily newspaper based in Delhi. It is the flagship publication of HT Media Limited, an entity controlled by the Birla family, and is owned by Shobhana Bhartia, the daughter o ...
'' termed her "blissfully blank". She also made her television debut as a judge with
& TV's ''High Fever — Dance Ka Naya Tevar'' in 2018. In 2019, she had a cameo in comedy film ''
Total Dhamaal
''Total Dhamaal'' is a 2019 Indian Hindi-language adventure comedy film directed and written by Indra Kumar. The film is the third installment of Dhamaal (film series), ''Dhamaal'' series and a standalone sequel to ''Dhamaal'' (2007) and ''Dou ...
''. The film grossed ₹200 crore (US$28 million) worldwide in twelve days of release, and was one of the
highest grossing Bollywood films of 2019. The same year, she played
DCP in ''
One Day: Justice Delivered'' alongside
Anupam Kher.
Shubhra Gupta of ''
Indian Express
''The Indian Express'' is an English-language India, Indian daily newspaper founded in 1932 by P. Varadarajulu Naidu. It is headquartered in Noida, owned by the Indian Express Limited, ''Indian Express Group''. It was later taken over by Ramnat ...
'' noted, "Esha Gupta's portrayal as a tough crime branch officer took away the 'credibility of the film' whatever it had."
Gupta expanded to web shows in 2020. She made her web debut with ''
RejctXs second season. She then appeared in ''Nakaab'' in 2021. In 2022, she played
Bobby Deol
Vijay Singh Deol (born 27 January 1969), better known by his screen name Bobby Deol, is an Indian actor who primarily works in Hindi cinema. A member of the List of Hindi film families#Deol family, Deol family, he is the younger son of actor Dha ...
's image-maker in the third season of Indian
Hindi
Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...
-language
crime drama
Crime film is a film belonging to the crime fiction genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and fiction. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine with many other genres, such as Drama (film and television), dr ...
web series ''
Aashram''. ''
Hindustan Times
''Hindustan Times'' is an Indian English language, English-language daily newspaper based in Delhi. It is the flagship publication of HT Media Limited, an entity controlled by the Birla family, and is owned by Shobhana Bhartia, the daughter o ...
'' wrote, "Esha Gupta looks good as Sonia but the show under-utilises her." Gupta will next appear in
Ameesha Patel's much delayed ''
Desi Magic''. She also has ''
Hera Pheri 3'' and ''File No. 323'' in the pipeline.
Activism
Esha is seen participating in environmental initiatives including “Beach Cleanup Drives”, “Walk for saving the Mangroves”, protecting the forests. She is also associated with Surman Sansthan towards girl child upliftment and education. She also supports Sealegacy to raise awareness towards saving Shark species from extinction.
Personal life and public image
Gupta is dating
Spain
Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...
-based Manuel Campos Guallar. She is a
vegan
Veganism is the practice of abstaining from the use of animal products and the consumption of animal source foods, and an associated philosophy that rejects the commodity status of animals. A person who practices veganism is known as a ve ...
. Gupta said at the time that "being vegetarian saved the lives of animals and she thought it was a healthy way for both humans and the planet to embrace vegetarianism."
Gupta ranked 5th in 2017, 21st in 2018 and 32nd in 2019 in
Times' 50 Most Desirable Women list. Gupta is an endorser of brands such as Hazoorilal Legacy and gaming brand Khelraja.
Filmography
Films
*''All films are in Hindi unless otherwise noted.''
Television
Web series
Music videos
Awards and nominations
References
External links
*
EshaGuptaOfficial.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gupta, Esha
Living people
1985 births
21st-century Indian actresses
Actresses from New Delhi
Female models from Delhi
Indian film actresses
Indian television actresses
Indian web series actresses
Actresses in Hindi cinema
Actresses in Telugu cinema
Actresses in Tamil cinema
Actresses in Hindi television
Indian beauty pageant winners
Miss International 2007 delegates
Manipal Academy of Higher Education alumni
Actresses from Delhi