Yami Gautam

Early life

Gautam was born in a Hindu Brahmin family in Bilaspur, Himachal Pradesh and was brought up in Chandigarh. Her father Mukesh Gautam is a Punjabi film director. He is the chief advisor of PTC Network. Her mother is Anjali Gautam. She has a younger sister Surilie Gautam, who made her big screen debut with the Punjabi film Power Cut. She also has a younger brother, Ojas Gautam.

Describing her childhood, Gautam has said that she had a disciplined and academically inclined upbringing. She has described her childhood as relatively simple and grounded, away from the glamour associated with cinema, despite her father’s involvement in the film industry. Before entering the entertainment industry, she briefly participated in modelling assignments during her late teenage years, which gradually helped her overcome stage hesitation and build confidence.

Gautam did her regular schooling, and later entered college to pursue a graduate degree in law honours. She had aspired to join Indian Administrative Service (IAS) as a young girl, but at the age of 20, she decided to venture into an acting career. Though she was pursuing studies in Law Honors (first-year PU Student of law), she left full-time studies for acting. Recently, she has been doing her part-time graduation from Mumbai. She is fond of reading, interior decoration and listening to music.

Career

Early television and film career (2008–2018)

Gautam moved to Mumbai at the age of 20 to pursue a career in acting. She began her television career with Chand Ke Paar Chalo. She subsequently played the lead in Raajkumar Aaryyan. She later gained wider recognition on television with Yeh Pyar Na Hoga Kam, which aired on Colors. She also participated in the reality shows Meethi Choori No 1 and Kitchen Champion Season 1.

Gautam made her film debut in the lead role of the 2010 Kannada-language film Ullasa Utsaha before making her Hindi film debut in a leading role in Shoojit Sircar's romantic comedy Vicky Donor (2012). The film co-starred debutant Ayushmann Khurrana, Annu Kapoor, and Dolly Ahluwalia. Gautam portrayed Ashima Roy, a Bengali woman who marries the titular character, a Punjabi man from the Arora family, and later learns about his past. The film, which marked Bollywood actor John Abraham's production debut, received positive reviews and became a major commercial success, grossing ₹645 million (US$3.9 million). Her performance earned critical acclaim and several awards and nominations, including Best Female Debut (tied with Ileana D'Cruz for Barfi!) at the Zee Cine Awards, and a nomination in the same category at the 58th Filmfare Awards. After a two-year absence from Hindi cinema, Gautam returned in 2014 with two releases. The first was Eeshwar Nivas' romantic comedy film Total Siyappa; it co-starred Ali Zafar, Anupam Kher, and Kirron Kher. She played the love interest of Zafar's character. Her second release that year was Prabhu Deva's action thriller Action Jackson, in which she portrayed the protagonist's love interest. Both films underperformed at the box office. In 2015, Gautam appeared alongside Varun Dhawan and Nawazuddin Siddiqui in Sriram Raghavan's action thriller Badlapur. The film was a critical and commercial success, earning over ₹770 million (US$11 million) worldwide, and Gautam's performance received praise.

In 2016, Gautam starred opposite Pulkit Samrat in two romantic films—Divya Khosla Kumar's Sanam Re and Vivek Agnihotri's Junooniyat. In the former, she played a high-school student who falls in love with Samrat's character; in the latter, she portrayed a Punjabi woman who falls in love with an army officer. Both films were critical and commercial failures. In 2017, Gautam starred opposite Hrithik Roshan in Sanjay Gupta's romantic revenge thriller Kaabil (2017), about a blind man seeking revenge after his blind wife is raped. The film and Gautam's performance received mixed-to-positive reviews, while the film became a commercial success, earning ₹ 1.96 billion (US$28 million) worldwide. Later that year, Gautam appeared briefly in Ram Gopal Varma's political thriller Sarkar 3, the third instalment in Varma's Sarkar franchise, alongside Amitabh Bachchan, Jackie Shroff, Manoj Bajpayee, and Amit Sadh. Sarkar 3 underperformed at the box office. In 2018, Gautam appeared in Shree Narayan Singh's social drama Batti Gul Meter Chalu (2018), playing a lawyer alongside Shahid Kapoor, Shraddha Kapoor, and Divyendu Sharma.

Established actress (2019–present)

Gautam achieved her breakthrough role in 2019 with Aditya Dhar's military action thriller Uri: The Surgical Strike opposite Vicky Kaushal. Based on the 2016 Uri attack, the film featured Gautam as intelligence officer Pallavi Sharma. It was both a critical and commercial success. The Indian Express's Shubhra Gupta felt that Gautam's character stood out among the film's female roles, many of which existed only to "to support the hero". She then reunited with Khurrana in Amar Kaushik's comedy drama Bala, a satire on physical appearance. The film received positive reviews, and Gautam drew particular acclaim for her portrayal of Pari Mishra, a ditsy influencer and part-time model. Rediff.com's Sukanya Verma found Gautam "part delirious, part deluded" and felt "there's a gentle unhinged air to her compulsive, sincere artificiality that makes her both fascinating and heartbreaking", and included her in the publication's list of the best Bollywood actresses of 2019. Both Uri: The Surgical Strike and Bala were commercial successes; the former earned over ₹3.42 billion (US$36 million) worldwide and ranked as the fourth-highest grossing Hindi film of the year.

In 2020, Gautam starred in the romantic comedy Ginny Weds Sunny opposite Vikrant Massey directed by debutant Puneet Khanna. The film was released directly on Netflix rather than theatrically due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Critics generally considered Gautam and Massey's chemistry the highlight of an otherwise monotonous film. In 2021, Gautam starred in the horror comedy Bhoot Police; it co-starred Saif Ali Khan, Arjun Kapoor, and Jacqueline Fernandez. She ended the year with a brief role, billed as a special appearance, in the Punjabi comedy Shava Ni Girdhari Lal.

In her first release of 2022, credited as Yami Gautam Dhar, she played a troubled playschool teacher who holds her students hostage in the thriller A Thursday. Released on Disney+ Hotstar, the film received a positive critical response, with Gautam Dhar earning widespread acclaim for her performance. Sneha Benganl of CNBC TV18 described it as a career-best performance, writing that she was "equal parts dangerous and vulnerable, daring and conflicted". Her second release of the year was the social comedy Dasvi, alongside Abhishek Bachchan and Nimrat Kaur. She played Jyoti Deswal, an IPS officer at the jail where Chief Minister Ganga Ram Chaudhary is imprisoned. The film premiered directly on Netflix and JioCinema to mixed reviews. Gautam Dhar next played Vidhi Sahani, a crime journalist investigating a missing man in Aniruddha Roy Chowdhary’s social drama Lost. The film premiered at the Chicago South Asian Film Festival and was released on ZEE5 the following year. Zinia Bandyopadhyay of India Today felt that Gautam Dhar "anchors" her character "with earnestness" and "proves her mettle again".

Media image

Gautam has frequently featured on Times' 50 Most Desirable Women list. She ranked 12th in 2012, 16th in 2018, 8th in 2019 and 15th in 2020. In addition to her acting career, Gautam is a prominent celebrity endorser for brands and products including Glow & Lovely, Cornetto, Chevrolet and Dollar Missy.

Personal life

Gautam married Indian filmmaker Aditya Dhar on 4 June 2021 and changed her name to Yami Gautam Dhar. On 10 May 2024, the couple had their first child, a boy named Vedavid.

Advocacy

Gautam has spoken about issues relating to colourism and beauty standards in the Indian entertainment industry. Having begun her career with endorsements for skin-lightening products, she later addressed the evolving discourse around such advertisements and expressed support for broader and more inclusive representations of beauty. In interviews, she has emphasised self-acceptance and individuality, encouraging audiences to move beyond conventional appearance-based norms.

She has been associated with initiatives promoting women’s education and empowerment, including her involvement with the Glow & Lovely Foundation, which provides scholarships and career support to women across India. Gautam has also participated in campaigns focused on public health and social awareness. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she used social media platforms to promote public health guidelines and encourage adherence to safety measures. Gautam has generally maintained a non-political public profile, addressing social issues through interviews and public appearances without direct alignment to political movements or parties. Her earlier association with fairness cream endorsements has been noted in discussions on colourism in advertising, although her later statements reflect a shift in perspective consistent with broader industry trends.

Filmography

Films

All films are in Hindi unless otherwise noted.