Kunal Khemu

The boy who cried for a contract

Kunal Khemu was ten years old when he realized that crying in front of a camera could be a profession. In 1993, he took part in Hum Hain Rahi Pyar Ke, and suddenly his face was on screens all over India. He was not the typical superstar's child, since his family came from the theater in Kashmir. But the natural talent was there, and directors knew it.

That childhood phase ended with Zakhm in 1998. He played the young version of Ajay Devgn and got critics to take a preteen seriously. Many child actors fade away as they grow up. But Khemu chose to step back to study and return with a different image.

The praise was unanimous.

He returned in 2005 with Kalyug. It was a risky bet because the film dealt with the porn industry and video trafficking. The film earned enough for the industry to see him as a viable leading man and not just a memory of his childhood years. But the following years were difficult due to the lack of solid scripts.

Comedy as a refuge and a trap

In 2010, he joined the Golmaal 3 franchise. It was a purely commercial move that gave him massive visibility. And although critics did not always back these productions, audiences filled the theaters. He went from being an intense dramatic actor to a top-notch supporting player in physical comedies.

He tried to break that mold with Go Goa Gone in 2013. It's a zombie black comedy that has since become a cult favorite. He also worked on the dialogue himself because he felt Indian humor needed a fresh edge. The film cost just 2 million dollars and earned back many times its investment at the box office.

And the gamble paid off.

In 2015, he married Soha Ali Khan. For a time, the press focused more on his private life than on his roles. But in 2019, he found a new place on digital platforms with the series Abhay. He played a police investigator with dark methods for three seasons that ran through 2022.

The leap into directing in 2024

After three decades in the spotlight, he decided he had seen enough. In 2024, he premiered Madgaon Express as director and writer. It is a comedy of errors about three friends who travel to Goa and get caught up in a chaos of local mafias. Critics noted that its narrative pace was much snappier than that of veteran directors.

But he didn't abandon acting altogether. In 2023, he starred in Kanjoos Makhichoos, playing an extremely stingy man. It was a small role filmed for television that helped him stay connected with family audiences while he prepared his debut behind the camera.

Then he decided to take charge.

The production of his first film as director wrapped on a tight budget of 200 million rupees. Filming took place mainly on real locations in Maharashtra and Goa to avoid studio costs. The film was released on March 22, 2024 in more than a thousand theaters across the country.