Wamiqa Gabbi

Early life and education

Gabbi was born in a Punjabi family in Chandigarh on 29 September 1993. Her father Govardhan Gabbi is an author and writes in Hindi and Punjabi languages. Her mother Raj Kaushal is a teacher who owns and operates her own junior high school. Gabbi studied at St. Xavier's School, Chandigarh. She then completed her B.A. from the DAV College, Chandigarh.

Career

Early work and expansion (2007–2019)

Gabbi made her film debut at the age of thirteen with a brief role in Imtiaz Ali's Hindi romantic comedy Jab We Met (2007), playing the cousin of Kareena Kapoor's character. She admitted to feeling uncertain about her future in the film industry while working on the picture, as she did not come from an acting family like Kapoor. After minor roles in Love Aaj Kal (2009), Mausam (2011), and Bittoo Boss (2012), Gabbi had her first lead role in the coming-of-age drama Sixteen (2013), portraying a teenager who enters a relationship with a significantly older man. Karan Anshuman of Mumbai Mirror commended Gabbi as "the standout" in a mediocre film. It emerged as a commercial failure, after which she professed to almost quitting acting in Hindi films due to persistent rejections.

Later that year, Gabbi made her debut into Punjabi cinema alongside Amrinder Gill and Yo Yo Honey Singh in the comedy film Tu Mera 22 Main Tera 22. It was a box-office success. Her subsequent roles in the Punjabi romances Ishq Brandy (2014) and Ishq Haazir Hai (2015) generally went unnoticed. In Bhale Manchi Roju, Gabbi expanded to Telugu cinema opposite Sudheer Babu as a woman abducted on her wedding day. Made on a shoestring budget, the film was a box-office success. In 2016, she made her debut into Tamil cinema with the romantic drama Maalai Naerathu Mayakkam opposite Balakrishna Kola. She was drawn to the character as it was a departure from the "chirpy" roles she had portrayed previously in her Punjabi films. Despite disliking the film's regressive themes, a critic for The New Indian Express labelled Gabbi "a talent to watch out for".In 2017, she debuted into Malayalam cinema with the sports comedy Godha opposite Tovino Thomas. To prepare for her role as a Punjabi wrestler, she trained for the sport in Amritsar and lived with a coach for a month. In the film's climactic combat scene, Gabbi sustained physical injuries throughout her entire body. Her performance was positively received by critics including Firstpost's Anna MM Vetticad who described her as "luminous" and appreciated her emulation of a professional wrestler's mannerisms. Godha emerged as a sleeper hit at the box-office. Gabbi ended the year with the commercially successful Punjabi spiritual sequel Nikka Zaildar 2, for which she earned her first nomination for Best Actress (Critics) at the Punjabi Filmfare Awards. The romantic comedy Parahuna, co-starring Kulwinder Billa, was Gabbi's sole 2018 release. It performed well commercially.

In 2019, Gabbi had five releases—four of which were Punjabi. She began the year as part of an ensemble that included Prithviraj Sukumaran and Mamta Mohandas in the Malayalam science fiction film 9. In a mixed review for Film Companion, Neelima Menon wrote that Gabbi was "scintillating as the mysterious stranger". She followed this with the unremarkable Punjabi features Nadhoo Khan and Dil Diyan Gallan. Gabbi next returned to the Nikka Zaildar franchise for its third instalment as a struggling poet caught in a love triangle with Ammy Virk and Sonia Kaur's characters. In a positive review of the film for The Tribune, Gurnaaz Kaur was appreciative of the actress' presence in the film. It emerged as a commercial success. Doorbeen, a drama centred on the illegal drug trade in Punjab, featured Gabbi as the love interest of Ninja's character.

Critical recognition in streaming (2020–2023)

In Galwakdi (2020), Gabbi played a free-spirited woman who falls in love with a librarian (played by Tarsem Jassar) that struggles with obsessive–compulsive disorder. In 2021, she made her foray into streaming with the crime drama series Grahan in which she played Manu, a Sikh girl who becomes romantically involved with a Hindu boy (played by Anshuman Pushkar) during the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. Shweta Keshri of India Today wrote that Gabbi and Pushkar "do proper justice while bringing alive the 80s romance to screen", but The Quint's Shefali Deshpande bemoaned that Gabbi's "fake freckles and Instagram filter-like make up" detracted from the character's authenticity. Gabbi next returned to Hindi cinema after eight years with Kabir Khan's sports drama 83 starring Ranveer Singh. She featured in a supporting role as cricket player Madan Lal's wife; Gabbi acknowledged that her role was brief but chose to sign the film regardless out of admiration for Khan.

In 2022, Gabbi featured in two series—Mai: A Mother's Rage and Modern Love Mumbai— which were released on to Netflix and Amazon Prime Video, respectively. In the former, she played a mute girl whose mother (played by Sakshi Tanwar) investigates the circumstances surrounding her death. Gabbi admitted that the intense role took a significant emotional toll on her, and she often broke down crying after filming; however, she deemed it essential for the audience to experience such scenes that reflected reality. The Indian Express's Shubhra Gupta took note of her "eloquent use of sign language". In Vishal Bhardwaj's segment of the latter anthology series, she was cast as a young Gujarati woman navigating her relationship with an Indo-Chinese man (played by Meiyang Chang). She said that she was drawn to exploring a different culture through the character as her roles previously were mostly Punjabi. Reception to the series was generally favourable; Anuj Kumar of The Hindu wrote that the pair "fit effortlessly into their parts".The year 2023 proved to be a breakthrough for Gabbi, during which she appeared in six projects. She started the year in Bhardwaj's Fursat, a short film about a scientist (played by Ishaan Khatter) who discovers an artefact that transports him to the future. Filming for Fursat took place on the iPhone 14 Pro in collaboration with Apple Inc. Bhardwaj was initially sceptical of Gabbi's dancing abilities and considered simplifying the choreography for her but was impressed by her skills during the first rehearsal. In preparation, she learnt contemporary dance steps for her role in only nine days due to commitments to other projects. India Today's Roktim Rajpal took note of Gabbi's ability to "convey a lot through silence and expressions" and appreciated her chemistry with Khattar given the short duration of the film. However, reviewers of the film generally felt that the film prioritised showcasing the capabilities of the iPhone at the expense of the script's quality. The following week, Gabbi starred in the Punjabi crime drama Kali Jotta. It was met with critical acclaim upon release; Sukhpreet Kahlon of The Indian Express wrote that Gabbi brought "a carefree exuberance to her performance". Kali Jotta emerged as a major commercial success, ranking as the third highest-grossing Punjabi film of the year.

Transition to commercial cinema (2024–present)

Gabbi next featured in the Hindi action film Baby John (2024) starring Varun Dhawan in the title role. She was initially hesitant in accepting the role as it was her first time performing action sequences. Sukanya Verma of Rediff.com bemoaned that "the charismatic Wamiqa Gabbi is wasted" in a poorly written role. It failed to recoup its estimated ₹1.8 billion (US$19 million) investment. The following year, Gabbi starred opposite Rajkummar Rao in the fantasy film Bhool Chuk Maaf (2025), about a man who is stuck in a time loop on his wedding day. The film faced several delays in its release due to the 2025 India–Pakistan conflict and issues between distributors. In a scathing review of the film for Scroll.in, Nandini Ramnath wrote that Gabbi was "a misfire as the sometimes coquettish, sometimes feisty, and all-times grating Titli". Against expectations, Bhool Chuk Maaf was as a successful financial venture.

In 2026, Gabbi featured in a dual role in Priyadarshan's Hindi horror comedy Bhooth Bangla opposite Akshay Kumar. In the film's action sequences, she performed her own stunts. Critics were unimpressed by the 32-year age gap between the lead pair, including Shubhra Gupta who also felt that the film's worst aspect was the actress' "cringey romantic track", complete with "forced pouting". She continued her work in comedies with Pati Patni Aur Woh Do, a romantic comedy starring Ayushmann Khurrana directed by Mudassar Aziz. It tells the story of a man who becomes entangled in a comedy of errors after his wife (Gabbi) suspects him of having affairs with two other women (played by Sara Ali Khan and Rakul Preet Singh). India Today's Vineeta Kumar found Gabbi's performance to be far more restrained compared to her recent appearances. It performed modestly at the box-office. She next starred with Lokesh Kanagaraj in DC, a romantic action adaptation of Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay's novel Devdas that reimagines the pair as a Bonnie and Clyde–style duo. To prepare for the film, Gabbi worked with a dialogue coach to learn the Madurai dialect of Tamil. Her performance earned acclaim from critics, with the Indian edition of The Hollywood Reporter writing that the actress "expertly mixes up the wide-eyed innocence of a little girl with that of the cold brutality of a woman who has been defeated by the world, without it ever feeling like two different characters". Both Bhooth Bangla and DC brought Gabbi wider recognition within the commercial space, with both ranking among the highest-grossing films of the year in their respective languages.

Gabbi has several upcoming projects across multiple languages. In Tamil cinema, she will star in the fantasy film Genie alongside Jayam Ravi and the romance Iravaakaalam opposite S.J. Suryah, which has been completed since 2018 but is yet to be picked up for distribution. In Punjabi, she will appear in the romantic drama Kikli with Mandy Takhar and Jobanpreet Singh. In Malayalam, she will appear in the action film Tiki Taka alongside Asif Ali. In Telugu, she will feature in the spy thriller G2 with Adivi Sesh and Emraan Hashmi. She will also star in several upcoming Hindi projects, including Vikas Bahl’s comedy Dil Ka Darwaaza Khol Na Darling, alongside Jaya Bachchan and Siddhant Chaturvedi; Raj & DK’s Netflix fantasy miniseries Rakt Brahmand: The Bloody Kingdom, co-starring Samantha Ruth Prabhu, Aditya Roy Kapur, and Ali Fazal; the romantic drama Kuku Ki Kundali, opposite Bhuvan Bam; and the biographical courtroom drama Prahaar: The Untold Story of Ujjwal Nikam, starring Rajkummar Rao.

In the media

In 2024, the Korean skincare brand Innisfree appointed Gabbi as its first-ever Indian brand ambassador. That same year, she was also named the new face of Softline, the womenswear brand under Rupa & Co.

Filmography