Rajeev Khandelwal

Rajeev Khandelwal (pronounced [raːdʒiːʋ kʰnɽeːlʋaːl]; born 16 October 1975) is an Indian television and film actor, singer and host. One of the most popular Indian television and film actors he has established a career in Hindi television shows and films. He is a recipient of many awards for his different performances.
He started his acting career with the TV series, " Kya Hadsaa Kya Haqeeqat" (2002) where he played the negative lead in one of the stories. His first daily serial where he played the male lead is Kahiin To Hoga (2003-2005). After this he acted in many television shows which include Time Bomb 9/11 (2005), Sun Leyna (2006), Left Right Left (2007) to name a few. In 2008, he made his Bollywood debut with the film Aamir which proved to be a turning point in his career. Forth which he became part of many films like Shaitan (2011), Soundtrack (2011), Table No.21 (2013), Samrat & Co (2015) and others.
Apart from acting he has hosted many reality shows which are Deal Ya No Deal, Sacch Ka Saamna Super Cars and My Endeavour. In 2015, he returned to television with Sony TV's show Reporters

Khandelwal was born on 16 October 1975 in a Marwari family in Jaipur, Rajasthan, India. He is the second son of Lt. Col. C.L. Khandelwal (retired) and Mrs Vijay Laxmi Khandelwal. His elder brother is Sanjeev Khandelwal and Rahul Khandelwal is his younger brother. He did his schooling from Kendriya Vidyalaya, Jaipur. He later earned a Bachelor's degree in Chemistry from St. Xavier's College, Ahmedabad.

In 2007, he adopted a five-year-old girl named Swati from an institute called Muskaan. Khandelwal got married to his longtime girlfriend Manjiri Kamtikar on 7 February 2011. He has also accepted of being an atheist but he is not against people who follow any religion. He currently stays at Goregaon, Mumbai, India.

2000-2007: Television debut and success

He started working with a Delhi based production house and also modeled for brands like LML, Green Label Whiskey, Videocon and many more. He began his television career with a negative role in the show Kya Hadsaa Kya Haqeeqat (2002) through auditionIn 2002 he was offered Balaji Telefilms' Kahiin To Hoga, a romantic drama. He portrayed the character of Sujal Garewal who is tall, dark handsome and rich, a Mills & Boonish hero and a scorned lover. For portraying Sujal Garewal, he became a recipient of many awards and accolades for Best Debut and Best Actor. In 2005, he was seen as the RAW Field Officer Varun Awasthi in Ketan Mehta's action television series, Time Bomb 9/11. In 2006, he entered in C.I.D as ACP Prithviraj and also acted as Sharim in the Pakistani show, Sun Leyna. In 2006-2007 he featured in the youth based drama series, Left Right Left as Captain Rajveer Singh Shikhawat, the character was later killed in the show. His portrayal of this character received appreciation from audiences as well as critics.

2008-2015: Bollywood debut and break from television

Khandelwal made his Bollywood debut with Ronnie Screwvala's tight thriller Aamir (2008) alongside Aishwarya and many others. He was cast as Dr. Aamir Ali, who returns to India from England and becomes a follower of a terrorist group out of fear. Film critic Taran Adarsh from Bollywood Hungama reviewed: "Rajeev Khandelwal is remarkable in the title role. The film would've fallen flat had it been entrusted to an inferior actor, but Rajeev lends the right shades and emerges trumps. Watch him emote with his eyes in the latter reels mainly, and you realize that he knows the craft so well. An excellent debut!".CNN-IBN's Rajeev Masand added: "Uninhibited, spontaneous and blessed with unmistakable presence, Khandelwal holds the screen like a seasoned artist. Using his face as a canvas to display emotions, he emerges the biggest strength of this little film." The film grossed ₹18 million (US$270,000) domestically. For his work in the film, he received the nomination of Filmfare Award for Best Male Debut. In 2011, Khandelwal had two film releases. His first appearance was in the Bejoy Nambiar's thriller film Shaitan (2012) co-starred Kalki Koechlin. He played the role of Inspector Arvind Mathur, who is assigned by the Police Commissioner to solve a case unofficially, as he is on suspension after throwing a corporator from the first floor of his own house for allegedly beating up a woman. Taran Adarsh of entertainment portal of Bollywood Hungama wrote of his performance:"Rajeev Khandelwal, playing a cop who's fighting his inner demons, nails the role, giving a tight, focused performance".

Khandelwal was next seen in Sanjiv Goenka's Soundtrack opposite Soha Ali Khan. He played the role of DJ, Raunak [Rajeev Khandelwal], who gets addicted to drugs and alcohol and loses his hearing ability.His career nosedives, but his love for music helps him resurrect himself. Subhash K. Jha of NDTV reviewed:"his performance is so accomplished that he proves, not for the first time, that he's among the most engaging actors today. For the money, time and attention, he is the true rock star." Taran Adarsh added:"Playing an emotionally unstable character is always taxing and an edgy journey for any actor, but Rajeev emerges triumphant with a bravura performance." The film grossed ₹5.3 million (US$79,000) domestically. Khandelwal next played alongside Shreyas Talpade and Mugdha Godse in the romantic comedy, Will You Marry Me? (2012). However the film did not receive very good reviews. Taran Adarsh praised Khandelwal as:"Rajeev Khandelwal handles his part with gusto." The film grossed ₹0.32 crore (US$48,000) domestically. His next release was the psychologic mystery thriller, Table No. 21 (2013) co-starred Paresh Rawal and Tena Desae where he played the role of Vivaan Agasthi. Zee News reviewed his performance as:" In this film, Rajeev has proven, yet again, the limit to which his acting skills reach, which – no doubts about that – is the sky." The film grossed ₹10.9 crore (US$1.6 million) domestically.

He next featured in the romantic comedy film Ishk Actually (2013) opposite Neha Ahuja. He portrayed the character of Neil, who falls passionately for a girl named Gia. Majority reviewers questioned Khandelwal of the reason of signing the film and called it "Boredom". The Times Of India cited of his performance:"Rajeev Khandelwal makes his presence felt, while the rest are mediocre. The film grossed ₹0.34 crore (US$51,000) domestically. Khandelwal next acted in the adventurous film, Peter Gaya Kaam Se alongside Lekha Washington and Prashant Narayanan. The film is on hold to release in theatres, Khandelwal plays the character of Peter Rodrigues in the film. Rajshri Productions' drama thriller Samrat & Co. was Khandelwal's next release opposite Madalasa Sharma. He played the role of Samrat Tilakdhari, a detective who is approached by a lady with a strange case. CNN-IBN criticised the film as:"Why so many good actors like Rajeev Khandelwal, Girish Karnad, Smita Jaykar and Indranil Sengupta agreed to do this film is the one mystery we were unable to solve." Faheem Ruhani of India Today reviewed:"After watching this film you miss the Rajeev Khandelwal who debuted in the brilliantly made Aamir (2008). Better to watch the more thrilling CID on TV then suffer Samrat and his company. The film grossed ₹1.29 crore (US$190,000) domestically.

2015-present: Comeback on television and recent work

In 2015, Khandelwal appeared in the Indo-Australian film Salt Bridge where he played the role of Basant, an Indian migrant who arrives in Australia and meets a western woman. Currently, the film is in a competition for Oscar and has also received appreciation from critics. In February 2015, Khandelwal made a comeback to television after seven years with Shrishti Arya and Goldie Behl's media drama based finite television show, Reporters opposite Kritika Kamra. He played the role of Kabir Sharma, the Editor-in-Chief of KKN with a horrified past who falls passionately for a junior reporter, Ananya Kashyap. The show received good reviews and ended on 19 October 2015. Khandelwal will soon be seen in Rajeev Jhaveri's Fever and Remo D'Souza's DOA Death of Amar co-starring Zarine Khan. He has also signed for Virendra Arora's romantic film, Abhi Nahi Toh Kabhi Nahi.

Khandelwal's media career started with making documentaries, writing scripts and directing those. One of his documentaries, a fictional series called Samarpan was featured on Doordarshan. Its story revolved around para military forces in India and it also won an award. Khandelwal has also hosted some reality shows. In 2006, he hosted the show Deal Ya No Deal, Indian version of Deal Or No Deal alongside Mandira Bedi. He also hosted two seasons of the reality talk show Sacch Ka Saamna in 2007 and 2008. He had also become the brand ambassador of National Geographic Channel's show Super Cars and hosted it. In 2016, Khandelwal hosted a documentary film

The Legend Of Jagannath, which takes a behind-the-scenes look at the Indian religious festival of Rath Yatra. In 2016, he sang for the promotional version of the song "Teri Yaad" from his film Fever.

Films

Key

Denotes films that have not yet been released

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Ref(s)
2008	Aamir	Dr. Aamir Ali	Debut film
2011	Shaitan	Inspector Arvind Mathur
2011	Soundtrack	Raunak Kaul
2012	Will You Marry Me?	Rajveer
2013	Table No.21	Vivaan Agasthi
2013	Ishk Actually	Neil
2014	Peter Gaya Kaam Se	Peter Rodrigues	Released only at a film festival
2014	Samrat & Co.	Samrat Tilakdhari
2015	Salt Bridge	Basant	Released only at a film festival
2016	The Legend Of Jaggannath	Host	Documentary film
2016	Fever	Armin Salem
2016	DOA: Death of Amar	Amar Anand	Post production
2016	Abhi Nahi Toh Kabhi Nahi	TBA	Under production

Television