Adarsh Gourav

In this Telugu name, the surname is Bhagavatula.

Adarsh Gourav Bhagavatula (born 8 July 1994) is an Indian actor known for his works in Hindi and English-language films and television series. Gourav began acting with the drama film My Name Is Khan (2010). He gained international recognition for playing chauffeur Balram Halwai in the satirical film The White Tiger (2021), which garnered him nominations for the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role and the Independent Spirit Award for Best Male Lead.^[1][2]

Adarsh Gourav
Gourav at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival
Born	Adarsh Gourav Bhagavatula (1994-07-08) 8 July 1994 (age 30) Jamshedpur, Bihar, India
Occupation	Actor
Years active	2007–present

Adarsh has also starred in the teen comedy series Hostel Daze (2019–2021), the comic thriller series Guns & Gulaabs, and the drama film Kho Gaye Hum Kahan (both 2023).

Early life and background

Adarsh Gourav Bhagavatula was born into a Telugu speaking family in Jamshedpur, Jharkhand. His father Satishnarayana Bhagavatula is from Srikakulam district and his mother Padmavati Bhagavatula hails from Vizianagaram in Andhra Pradesh. Gourav was brought up in Jamshedpur and studied in Loyola School, Jamshedpur. He later moved to Mumbai and studied at Narsee Monjee College.^[3]

In 2007, when Gourav's father, who was an employee of The Central Bank of India, got transferred to Mumbai, the family decided to relocate. He studied at the Lilavatibai Podar High School. While singing in the Kala Ghoda Arts Festival 2007, he was spotted and asked if he wanted to try acting. He agreed only because he was excited to be on television. After a year of auditioning, he was cast as the young Shahrukh Khan in the film My Name is Khan.^[4][5] He studied in The Drama School in Mumbai.^[6]

Gourav learnt Hindustani classical music for nine years under different Gurus.^[7] He started getting interested in Western music while in Junior college and sang for the college band "Steepsky". They recorded a single called "Good guys finish last". In college, he sang for a progressive rock band called "Oak Island" which was also featured in MTV Indies-Never Hide Sounds.^[7][8]

Career

He was scouted to sing for Raell Padamsee's theatre company. He also sang for films like Black and White and Chal Chalein.^{[citation needed]} Although his acting career began when he was 14, Adarsh seriously started pursuing acting when he was cast to play one of the primary characters in a film titled "Banana", produced by John Abraham Entertainment and directed by Sajid Ali. While in his final year of college at Narsee Monjee College of Commerce, he worked with Anurag Kashyap in his anthology short film "Clean Shaven" with Radhika Apte. The next year he was cast as the lead in Rukh alongside Manoj Bajpayee^[4] and as one of the antagonists in Sridevi's Mom.^[8] To work on his craft, he took a break and went to The Drama School Mumbai in 2016. After finishing school, he worked in the Amazon production "Die Trying" and the TVF production Hostel Daze. He also played Prince Tarquin in the NCPA production "Lucrece" directed by Paul Goodwin in 2017. In 2018, he worked with Academy nominee Deepa Mehta on her Netflix series Leila.^{[citation needed]}

After a few months of not being able to find any acting work, he was called in for an audition of The White Tiger.^[9] His portrayal of Balram Halwai in the Netflix film has been lauded by all as the "star of Ramin Bahrani's film",^[10] with the Evening Standard saying, "Gourav is nuanced and utterly engaging as Balram Halwai, a bright peasant who morphs from lickspittle chauffeur into something more ruthless.^[11]" and Variety calling it a "small marvel".^[12] The Telegraph said Gourav "gives the definition of a breakthrough performance"^[13] The Entertainment Weekly called him "a largely unknown actor whose soulful combination of sheer will and vulnerability should, in a just world, win him the kind of accolades that helped make Slumdog's Dev Patel a star.^[14] For his performance, Gourav was nominated for the Film Independent Spirit Award for Best Male Lead^[15] and was also nominated for the BAFTA for Best Actor.^[16]

In May 2023, he was a part of Audible's podcast series called Desi Down Under, along with Taaruk Raina and Prajakta Koli. The story is set in Sydney about three 20 year olds from Mangalore who go to Australia to learn surf-lifesaving skills at Coogee Beach.^[17][18] Following this, Gourav starred alongside Siddhant Chaturvedi and Ananya Panday in the coming-of-age film Kho Gaye Hum Kahan directed by debutant Arjun Varain Singh.^[19] Writing for NDTV, Saibal Chatterjee reviewed "Siddhant Chaturvedi has the meatiest role in Kho Gaye Hum Kahan but it is Adarsh Gourav who makes the biggest impact".^[20]

Filmography

Films

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2010	My Name Is Khan	Young Rizwan Khan
2016	Madly	Allwyn	Anthology segment: "Clean Shaven"
2017	Rukh	Dhruv
	Mom	Mohit "Bunty" Chadda
2021	The White Tiger	Balram Halwai	Nominated—AACTA International Award for Best Actor Nominated—BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role Nominated—Independent Spirit Award for Best Male Lead
2022	Kiss	Sam	Short film[21]
2023	Kho Gaye Hum Kahan	Neil Pereira
2024	Woh Bhi Din The	Joyjeet "Joy" Ganguly
2025	Superboys of Malegaon	Nasir

Key

†	Denotes film or TV productions that have not yet been released

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2018	Die Trying	Jason
2019	Leila	Naz Chaudhary
2019–2021	Hostel Daze	Ankit Pandey	Nominated—Filmfare OTT Award for Best Actor in a Comedy Series
2023	Extrapolations	Gaurav
	Guns & Gulaabs[22]	Jugnu/Chhotu Ganchi
2025	Alien: Earth	Slightly	[23]

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Work	Result	Ref.
2024	Filmfare OTT Awards	Best Actor in a Web Original Film (Male)	Kho Gaye Hum Kahan	Nominated	[24]