Kajal Aggarwal (born 19 June 1985) is an Indian film actress and model. One of the most popular Indian celebrities, she has established a career in the Telugu and Tamil film industries and has been nominated for four Filmfare Awards South.[4][5][6] In addition to acting, Kajal participates in stage shows and is a prominent celebrity endorser for brands and products.
Aggarwal made her acting debut with the 2004 Bollywood film Kyun! Ho Gaya Na... and had her first Telugu film release in 2007 Lakshmi Kalyanam. In the same year, she starred in the box office hit Chandamama, which earned her recognition. The 2009 historical fiction Telugu film Magadheera marked a turning point in her career, earning her critical acclaim. It ranks among the highest-grossing Telugu films of all time and fetched her Best Actress nominations at several award ceremonies including Filmfare.
She subsequently rose to prominence by starring in several critical and commercially successful Telugu films like Darling (2010), Brindavanam (2010), Mr. Perfect (2011), Businessman (2012), Naayak (2013), Baadshah (2013), Govindudu Andarivadele (2014), Temper (2015), Khaidi No. 150 (2017) and established herself as one of the leading and highest-paid actresses in Tollywood.[7]
Kajal gained further recognition by featuring as the female lead in the high-profile Tamil projects Naan Mahaan Alla (2010), Maattrraan (2012), Thuppakki (2012), Jilla (2014), and emerged as a leading actress in Kollywood as well.[8] She made a comeback to Bollywood with Singham (2011) which was a blockbuster[9] while her Special 26 (2013) was also declared a box-office success.[10]
Kajal Aggarwal was born and brought up in Mumbai. Her father, Suman Aggarwal is an entrepreneur in textile business and her mother Vinay Aggarwal is a confectioner[2] and also Kajal’s business manager. Kajal has a younger sister Nisha Aggarwal, a popular actress in Telugu, Tamil and Malayalam cinema,[11] who is now married to Karan Valecha (Managing director Golds gyms, Asia). She studied at St. Anne's high school, fort and completed her pre-university education at Jai Hind College.[3] She pursued her graduation in mass media, with specialization in marketing and advertising, from K.C College.[3][12] Having harboured MBA dreams all through her growing up years, she intends on accomplishing a post-graduation degree soon.[13]
Aggarwal had four releases in 2009. She first starred opposite Vinay Rai in the Tamil film Modhi Vilayadu, which garnered mixed reviews and was a financial failure. Then she appeared in the high budget Telugu historical drama Magadheera, alongside Ram Charan Teja, which saw her playing double roles for the first time. The film, directed by S. S. Rajamouli, received universal critical acclaim, while Aggarwal, particularly, was praised for her portrayal of a princess. Aggarwal was nominated for the Filmfare Award for Best Actress in Telugu and nominated for the award for Best Telugu Actress in the South Scope Awards for her performance.[19][20] It was highly commercially successful and broke several records,[21] emerging as the highest-grossing Telugu film of all time.[22][23][24] Magadheera's enormous success turned Aggarwal into one of the most sought-after actresses in Telugu cinema and catapulted her into the main foray of leading Telugu actresses.[25] It was released again in Tamil as Maaveeran in 2011 and was also successful at the box office.[26] Her subsequent releases Ganesh Just Ganesh, opposite Ram and Arya 2 opposite Allu Arjun received mixed reviews from critics, while her performance garnered positive feedback.[27][28]