Sunil Grover is a very popular Indian stand up comedian and actor who became a star after he started performing in one of the most popular Indian comedy shows called “The Kapil Sharma Show”.
He also came to limelight with his work at “Comedy Nights with Kapil”.
Due to his success in the area of comedy, he was soon engaged in making more serious movies.
Today he earns his income mostly through acting in films.
Early years
Sunil was born as Sunil Grover on August 3rd, 1977 in a city called Sirsa, located in the Sirsa district which is one of the most important cities of Indian state called Haryana because it holds a municipal council. This state of Haryana is settled between Rajasthan and Punjab states.
His father’s name is J.N. Grover and he is a bank manager. He was very close to his son Sunil although he has a very demanding job and would often stay working late.
Sunil grew up alongside his two siblings, a younger brother, and an older sister. He always had a good relationship with them and they are his biggest fans. He often invites them to his new shows or his movie premieres so they would be even more proud of his brother.
Sunil was interested in performing, acting, and comedy from an early age. He always liked to amuse his family by doing sketches and imitating so they always guessed that he will have a career in entertainment.
After finishing elementary education he turned his focus to the theatre although it wasn’t his first choice. He enrolled the Punjab University of Chandigarh, one of the oldest universities in India.
He went to Arya Vidya Mandur School in Sirsa after which he enrolled the Haryana Panjab University where he gained his Masters in Theatre.
During his student days, he showed a great deal of enthusiasm for comedy and was always one of the top performers in his class.
Through the time spent in college, he gained many fans. One of them was Jaspal Singh Bhatti, known for his great satirical performances, like in a known TV show called “Flop Show”. He discovered Sunil’s comedy talent and worked as his mentor and coached him to his best knowledge.
We may even say that Jaspal is the one who brought a huge interest in acting in Sunil. He persuaded him to continue in that direction and to never give up on his dream.
His career started as a radio DJ in “Hansi Ke Phuware”, a show on Radio Mirchi. He soon became interested in all media work.
Career development
His career started going upwards after he gained a role in “Gutur Gu” produced by B.P. Singh. It was a silent comedy TV show which aired for 3 seasons and was distributed by Sony Pictures Networks. The show lasted from 2010 until 2014 but Sunil starred in the first 26 episodes of the show.
His talent was discovered later on, with his work in a popular comedy show which hosted celebrities. It was called “Comedy Nights with Kapil” and it aired from 1013 until 2016. Its host Sharma even gained the award for Entertainer of the Year in 2013.
Sunil Grover was one of the casts of the show, alongside Kiku Sharda, Chandan Prabhaker, Roshni Chopra and many more. Sunil performed a scale of characters, from Dr. Mashoor Gulati who was his most popular character to Rinku Bhabi and Gutthi.
His most notable comedy character was the one of “Gutthi” which he based on his experience from college.
Before these two movies, he had a lot of engagement in movies in the form of supporting roles.
In 1998 he appeared in a romantic comedy filmed in Hindi called “Pyaar To Hina Hi Tha” where he had a role of a barber called Totaram. The role was small but interesting.
One year later, in 1999, he had a role in a Punjabi comedy movie called “Mahal Theek Hai”. This as a great role for him because he was great in comedy roles.
In 2002, he performed as Jaiden Kapur in a historical biographical film called “The Legend of Bhagat Singh” which wasn’t a big success since the movie gained poor reviews. This movie was advertised as a big hit but eventually, it became a bust and didn’t even return the money spent on budget.
In 2005, he acted in an action drama movie called “Irisan” where he had a role of Makesh, a friend of Avinash, played by a very known Indian actor called Tusshar Kapoor. He stated that he had learned a lot from him.
In 2006, he was involved in the making of an Indian gangster movie called “Family-Ties of Blood” where he again played the role of a friend to the main character. This movie was very well received by the public and it made Sunil more serious about choosing his roles.
In 2008 he appeared in an action movie called “Ghajini” with the role of Sampat. Working on this movie was extremely pleasing for him, not only because he worked alongside the biggest stats of Indian movies Aamir Khan but also because this movie earned a lot of money and publicity and it was the highest-grossing movie that year in India.
In 2011 he appeared in “Mumbai Cutting”, a movie made out of 11 short movies in one of which he starred. This was an interesting experience for him since it was short and more artistic than the movies he used to play in.
In 2013 he appeared in a Bollywood political thriller with Sanjay Dutt and Vivek Oberoi in lead roles. He played the role of Faqeera. He was very honored to work together with the action star Sanjay Dutt.
2014 brought him the role of a driver in a romantic comedy movie called “Heropanti”.
His next role was the one of Constable Sadhuram in a 2015 movie called “Gabbar is Back”. His role in this movie was pretty big so he gained a lot of publicity by starring in it. This role demanded his complete focus and discipline and he showed that he can act difficult roles.
In 2016, he gained his first leading acting role which brought him huge satisfaction since he eas always dreaming of getting a role in a real movie. His chance came with the “Vaisakhi List”, where he played the role of Tarsem Lal.
This movie directed by Smeep Kang went very well in the cinema and managed to earn 3 times the budget. Sunil gained good reviews for his performance and was very pleased by his work in this film.
In 2016, he gained a new role in a Sabbir Khan’s movie called Baaghi. It was a martial arts film where he had a supporting role. He was very pleased with this role because he was always a huge fan of action movies.
After Vaisakhi List from 2016 mentioned earlier he showed on “Coffee with D”, a satirical movie in which he had a lead role. It wasn’t a successful movie and it gained a lot of negative reviews. Financially it was also a bust and he was not happy with the bad critics the film received.
2018 brought him a role in “Pataakha”, a comedy-drama movie directed and produced by Vishal Bhardwaj. It was a good movie judging by the number of the sold tickets.
2019 brought him a role in a drama movie called “Bharat” which became a huge commercial success, earning over $46 million all over the world. This movie was very lucrative for him and gained him the security he needed.
In March 2017, he was involved in a controversy after he got into conflict with Kapil Sharma during their flight from Australia to India. It seems that Kapil Sharma, in whose shoe Sunil often starred got drunk and started abusing Sunil and even assaulted him.
Sunil posted a post about it on Facebook where he explained the situation in a way that he made a satirical story about Kapil where he reaches out to Kapil and expressing his regrets for Kapil’s bad behavior, lack of empathy and bad manners. He made it in a satirical way so everybody could understand his frustration and bad opinion about Kapil.
He wasn’t the only one who decided to leave The Kapil Sharma show, the other two actors also left the show after this incident: Ali Asgar and Chandan Prabhakar.
He also stated that he didn’t watch any episode of the show after he left it. He also knows that the show started losing ratings after he left the show but is not interested in returning to it.
His favorite actor is Shah Rukh Khan. He is a known Indian actor born in 1965 who starred in various hit movies and gained legendary status in India.
Sunil is a brand ambassador of Filmy channel and often goes to events organized by them.
Personal life
Sunil Grover’s nickname is Sud. He is in a happy marriage to Aarti with whom he has a son named Mohan, who was born in 2008. He loves him dearly and is very protective of him.
Aarti, his wife, is working as an interior designer and is awesome at her job. She is very beautiful and she often stands by his side on gatherings and special events.
When he is asked in interviews about his wife he often says that she is his greatest critic and that he always first tries out his jokes in front of his better half. It is because she is very candid about it and he knows that she will always tell him the truth.
Sunil has earned a lot of money through his career. He bought his family a house in the suburbs of Mumbai in 2013 and it was quite expensive.
He also invested in various properties all around the country.
Just like most men Sunil likes to drive beautiful expensive cars so he is a proud owner of a Range Rover and BMW. He has bought his wife a beautiful car also because she also needs to travel for work a lot.
Quick summary
Full name: Sunil Grover
Date of birth: August 3, 1977
Birthplace: Sirsa, Haryana, India
Age: 42
Profession: comedian, actor, businessman
Height: 175 cm
Weight: 64 kg
Net Worth: $2 million