Saurabh Shukla is an Indian actor, screenwriter, and film director who works in Hindi and a few Tamil and Telugu films. He is best known for his roles in Satya (1998), Nayak: The Real Hero (2001), Yuva (2004), Lage Raho Munna Bhai (2006), Barfi! (2012), Jolly LLB (2013); for the latter, he won the National Film Award for Best Supporting Actor. Other notable films are Kick (2014), PK (2014), Jolly LLB 2 (2017) and Raid (2018). He has also worked in a short documentary with Ruth Agnihotri and Rachael Agnihotri in Goa.
Early life Born to Jogamaya Shukla, who was the first female tabla player of India, and Shatrughan Shukla, a vocalist from Agra Gharana who was the head of department of music and fine arts at Delhi University, Shukla's family left Gorakhpur for Delhi when he was two years old. He completed his schooling from Ludlow Castle No 3 (behind I P College) Delhi and did graduation from S.G.T.B. Khalsa College, Delhi. His professional career began in 1984 with entry into the theatre.Fat lot of good Rediff, 1998.
Saurabh's wife is Barnali Ray, who is a filmmaker, writer, and poet.
Career Shukla began pursuing theatre in 1986 with roles in plays like A View From The Bridge (Arthur Miller), Look Back in Anger (John Osborne), Ghashiram Kotwal (Vijay Tendulkar) and Hayvadan. In 1991, he joined the NSD Repertoire Company – the professional wing of the National School of Drama – as an actor. The following year, he got his first break when Shekhar Kapur, impressed with his work, roped him in for a role in Bandit Queen.
Shukla also played the role of Vijay Anand's sidekick Gopi in the 1994 Doordarshan crime drama Tehkikaat. The series was directed by Karan Razdan, but Shekhar Kapur directed the first episode. He also wrote and acted in Zee TV's 9 Malabar Hill.
He also appeared in a recurring albeit a short role of an Aamir's Jasoos (chieftain's spy) in the 1990s Doordarshan TV serial Mulla Nasiruddin, which had Raghubir Yadav in the lead role. The series was based on the folklore of Mulla Nasiruddin.
Shukla is also a part of a comic theater play 2 to Tango, 3 to Jive.
Breakthrough (1998–present) Shukla's biggest break came when he co-wrote the script for Ram Gopal Varma's 1998 cult classic Satya and played the role of gangster Kallu Mama in the film. He won the Star Screen Award for Best Screenplay alongside Anurag Kashyap.
"Why do I make realistic films, like Satya? Because that's the kind of films I like to do. Capturing reality is very difficult and challenging," he said in a 2000 interview to Rediff.com, making it clear that he prefers realism in his scripts. In the same interview he also talked about his preferred genre of film making – comedy:
In 2003, he wrote the screenplay for Calcutta Mail. He received his first award for this film, the Zee Cine Award for Best Screenplay. In 2008, he acted in his first international film, the Golden Globe and Academy Award-winning Slumdog Millionaire, as the character Constable Srinivas. In 2013, he appeared as policeman Sudhanshu Dutta in Barfi!, a film through which director Anurag Basu and co-actor Ranbir Kapoor, he said, "revived [him] as an actor".
Filmography Hindi films +Key Denotes films that have not yet been released Year Film Role Notes 1994 Bandit Queen Kailash 1996 Is Raat Ki Subah Nahin Vilas Pandey 1998 Kareeb Birju's father Zakhm Gurdayal Singh Satya Kallu Mama 1999 Taal Banerjee Arjun Pandit Johnny Baadshah Saxena Yeh Hai Mumbai Meri Jaan Mr. Malhotra "Chhotey" 2000 Hey Ram Manohar Lalwani Bilingual film Dil Pe Mat Le Yaar!! Gaitonde Mohabbatein Sanjana's father Snip! Munna 2001 Nayak: The Real Hero Pandurang Yeh Teraa Ghar Yeh Meraa Ghar Mama Kaanden Moksha Kale 2002 Mere Yaar Ki Shaadi Hai Lachhu Mama Karz: The Burden of Truth Suraj's drunk friend Uncredited 2003 Yeh Dil Economics Teacher Calcutta Mail Ghatak Raghu Romeo Mario Xcuse Me Hotel Manager Mumbai Matinee Nitin Kapoor Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi Senior Bihari Constable Mudda - The Issue Dinanath 2004 Yuva Gopal 2005 Mumbai Xpress Kishore Mehta Yakeen Chamanlal Home Delivery Pandey Kal: Yesterday and Tomorrow Rajesh Jalan Chehraa Director 2006 Mixed Doubles Sammy Lage Raho Munna Bhai Batuk Maharaj 2007 Salaam-e-Ishq: A Tribute to Love Dotcom Paaji Khoya Khoya Chand Producer Khosa Showbiz Inder Raj Bahl 2008 My Name is Anthony Gonsalves Murthy Mithya Shetty De Taali Godbole Hari Puttar: A Comedy of Terrors Diesel Dasvidaniya Dasgupta Oh, My God God 2009 Luck By Chance Nand Kishore Love Khichdi Krishnan Chintu Ji Malkani 2010 Tera Kya Hoga Johnny Begum Lahore Madhav Suri Paathshaala Lallan Sharma Mirch Satish 2011 Utt Pataang Nandu Pandey Yeh Saali Zindagi Mehta Aarakshan Mantri Baburao Shakal Pe Mat Ja Vijay Dinanath Chauhan Pappu Can't Dance Saala Producer of dance album 2012 Staying Alive Shaukat Ali I M 24 Barfi! Sudhanshu Dutta Nominated—IIFA Award for Best Supporting Actor Nominated— Apsara Film & Television Producers Guild Awards for Best Actor in a Supporting Role Delhi Safari Bharela Voice only The Last Act Theatre troupe director 2013 David David's father Jolly LLB Justice Sunderlal Tripathi National Film Award for Best Supporting Actor Screen Award for Best Supporting Actor Nominated—IIFA Award for Best Supporting Actor Phata Poster Nikhla Hero Gundappa Das Kalpvriksh Shankar Dada 2014 Gunday Kaali Kaka Main Tera Hero Balli Gang of Ghosts Bhoothnath Bhaduri Ek Tho Chance TBA Kick Brijesh Mehra PK Tapasvi Maharaj 2015 Kaun Kitne Paani Mein Braj Singh Deo Mohalla Assi Upadhyay Pandit 2017 Jolly LLB 2 Justice Sunderlal Tripathi The Wishing Tree Dhaba Owner Jagga Jasoos Ex IB Officer Sinha 2018 Raid Rameshwar "Rajaji" Singh a.k.a. "Tauji" Shabhash Kundu Robin Roy Daas Dev Awadesh Pratap Chauhan 2019 Fraud Saiyaan Murari Chaurasia Family Of Thakurganj Baba Bhandari Albert Pinto Ko Gussa Kyun Aata Hai? Nayyar Remake of classic Albert Pinto Ko Gussa Kyoon Aata HaiThe Zoya Factor Yashwant Khoda Ujda ChamanGurujiBalaHari ShuklaPagalpantiRaja SahabAadhaar Parmanand Singh2020Chhalaang Mr. Shukla2021Madam Chief Minister Master Suraj BhanThe Big BullManu MalpaniTadapIshana's father2022 Shamshera Doodh SinghDrishyam 2Murad AliBhediyaBagga2025Raid 2 Rameshwar Singh "Tauji"Maalik Minister Shankar Singh Jolly LLB 3 Justice Sunderlal Tripathi2026 Subedaar PrabhakarEverybody Loves Sohrab Handa Inspector Afzal Qureshi Drishyam: The Conclusion Murad Ali
Other language films Year Film Role Language Notes 2000 Hey Ram Manohar Lalwani Tamil 2005 Balu ABCDEFG Khan's brief Telugu Anniyan Ethirajan Naidu Tamil Dubbed as Aparichitudu in Telugu and Aparichit (2006) in Hindi Allari Bullodu Karim Lala Telugu 2006 Care of Footpath Ranga Kannada 2008 Slumdog Millionaire Head Constable Srinivas English 2016 Dhilluku Dhuddu Kajal's father Tamil Dubbed as Raj Mahal 3 in Hindi.
Web series Year Title Role Platform Notes2019The Verdict - State vs NanavatiRussi KaranjiaALTBalaji and ZEE5 2022 Yeh Kaali Kaali Ankhein Akheraj Awasthi "Vidrohi", Purva's Father Netflix 2023Pop Kaun?KBCDisney+ Hotstar2025Bindiya Ke Bahubali Badaa DavanAmazon MX Player2026 Bindiya Ke Bahubali Season 2 Badaa DavanAmazon MX Player
As writer and director YearFilmDirectorProducerScreenwriter Notes1998SatyaStar Screen Awards for Best Screenplay with Anurag Kashyap2000Dil Pe Mat Le Yaar!! 2003Raghu Romeo Calcutta Mail Nominated—Zee Cine Award for Best ScreenplayMudda - The Issue2005ChehraaMumbai Xpress2007Salaam-e-Ishq: A Tribute to Love co-wrote with Nikhil Advani, Suresh Nair, Rahul Awate2008Mithya2009 Acid Factory Raat Gayi Baat Gayi?New York South Asian International Film Festival for Best Film with Rajat Kapoor2011Utt Pataang Pappu Can't Dance Saala 2012Fatso!I M 242023Dry Day2026Jab Khuli Kitaab
As lyricist Year Film Notes 2006 Mixed Doubles
Awards Shukla won the National Film Award and the Screen Award for the Best Actor in a Supporting Role for his performance in Jolly LLB.
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