Wamiqa Gabbi (born 29 September 1993) is an Indian actress who predominantly works in Punjabi and Hindi films and series. She made her screen debut as a child with a brief role in the Hindi film Jab We Met (2007). She subsequently had success as the leading lady in the Punjabi films Tu Mera 22 Main Tera 22 (2013), Nikka Zaildar 2 (2017) and its sequel Nikka Zaildar 3 (2019), and Kali Jotta (2023).
Gabbi was born in a Punjabi family in Chandigarh on 29 September 1993.[1][2][3] Her father Govardhan Gabbi is an author and writes in Hindi and Punjabi languages.[4][5] She did her schooling at St. Xavier's School, Chandigarh, and completed her degree in Arts from DAV College, Chandigarh.[6]
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.[7] 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.[7] Following a series of supporting roles in Love Aaj Kal (2009), Mausam (2011) and Bittoo Boss (2012), Gabbi had her first lead role as Tanisha, a teenager who engages in a relationship with a man twice her age in the coming-of-age drama Sixteen (2013).[8] In a review for Mumbai Mirror, Karan Anshuman commended Gabbi as "the standout" in a mediocre film.[9] It emerged as a commercial failure.[10] After the film's failure, she admitted to nearly giving up acting due to consistent rejections.[11]
In 2017, she debuted into Malayalam cinema with the sports comedy Godha, opposite Tovino Thomas.[19] To prepare for her role as a Punjabi wrestler, she trained for the sport in Amritsar, Punjab, and lived with her coach for a month.[20] In the film's climactic combat scene, Gabbi sustained physical injuries throughout her entire body.[20] Her performance was positively received, with Firstpost's Anna MM Vetticad describing her as "luminous" and praising her accurate portrayal of a professional wrestler’s body language.[21] Additionally, Deepa Soman of The Times of India noted that she overshadowed Thomas' performance.[22]Godha emerged as a sleeper hit at the box-office.[23] Gabbi ended the year with her return to Punjabi films in the commercially successful spiritual sequel Nikka Zaildar 2.[24][25]Parahuna was Gabbi's sole 2018 release, a film that Film Companion's Sangeet Toor described as a "purely entertaining".[26]
In 2019, Gabbi had five releases—four of which were Punjabi. She began the year as part of an ensemble cast alongside Prithviraj Sukumaran, Alok Krishna, 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".[27] She followed this with the unremarkable Punjabi features Nadhoo Khan and Dil Diyan Gallan.[28][29] In the romantic comedy Nikka Zaildar 3, Gabbi starred opposite Ammy Virk and Sonia Kaur as a struggling poetess caught in a love triangle. Gurnaaz Kaur of The Tribune was appreciative of her addition to the film.[30] It emerged as a commercial success.[31]Doorbeen—a drama centred on the illegal drug trade in Punjab—cast Gabbi as the love interest of Ninja's character.[32] She was drawn to the film's "unique story", which explored a theme previously untouched in Punjabi cinema.[32]
Streaming projects and breakthrough (2020–present)
In Galwakdi (2020), Gabbi played a free-spirited woman who falls in love with a librarian (played by Tarsem Jassar) that suffers from obsessive–compulsive disorder.[33] In 2021, she returned to Hindi cinema after eight years with Kabir Khan's sports drama 83, starring Ranveer Singh. She had a supporting role as cricket player Madan Lal's wife.[34] Gabbi acknowledged that her role was brief but chose to sign the film regardless out of admiration for Khan.[35] She next 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.[36] Released directly on to Disney+ Hotstar, she said that the role helped her in feeling "calm and peaceful", as her character belonged to an era "where people didn’t even know what their lovers were up to".[37] 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 and criticised the pair's poorly written roles.[38][39]
In 2022, Gabbi featured in two series—Mai: A Mother's Rage and Modern Love Mumbai— which were released on 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.[40] Gabbi admitted that the "intense" role took an emotional toll on her, and she often broke down crying after filming several scenes; however, she deemed it essential for the audience to experience such scenes to reflect reality.[41]The Times of India's Archika Khurana described her as "particularly effective" and The Indian Express'sShubhra Gupta took note of her "eloquently using sign language" to communicate.[42][43] In Vishal Bhardwaj's segment of the latter anthology series, she essayed a young Gujarati woman navigating her relationship with an Indo-Chinese man (played by Meiyang Chang).[44] She was drawn to exploring a different culture through the character, as most of her previous roles did not offer this opportunity.[45] Reception to the series was generally favourable; Anuj Kumar of The Hindu wrote that, "Wamiqa and Chang fit effortlessly into their parts".[46]
2023 proved to be a breakthrough year for Gabbi, during which she appeared in six projects.[47][48][49] She started the year in Bhardwaj's short film Fursat, 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. as Bhardwaj felt it was a "liberative" experience, compared to filming on traditional cameras.[50][51] He was also initially sceptical of Gabbi's dancing abilities and considered simplifying the choreography for her; however, he was immediately impressed by her skills during the first rehearsal.[52][53] In preparation, she learned contemporary dance steps for her role in just nine days due to commitments to other projects.[54][55]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 duration of the film.[56] However, other reviewers of the film generally felt that the film prioritised showcasing the capabilities of the iPhone at the expense of the script's quality.[57][58] Gabbi's next release, the Punjabi crime drama Kali Jotta, premiered within a week of Fursat. She played a lawyer who investigates the disappearance of her former school teacher (played by Neeru Bajwa). The film was met with critical acclaim upon release;[59]Sukhpreet Kahlon of The Indian Express, wrote that Gabbi brought "a carefree exuberance to her performance".[60]Kali Jotta emerged as a major commercial success, ranking as the third-highest-grossing Punjabi film of the year.[61]
A turning point in Gabbi's career came in Vikramaditya Motwane's period series Jubilee, in which she appeared among an ensemble cast.[62][48] Set against the backdrop of the emergence of the Hindi film industry in post-Partition India, she portrayed Niloufer, a headstrong courtesan with aspirations of becoming an actress.[63] Motwane cast Gabbi in the role for her understanding of the nuance and emotion required by the director, along with her "gorgeous screen presence".[63] To prepare for the song "Babuji Bhole Bhale", she took inspiration from actresses Rekha, Priyanka Chopra and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan.[64] Upon release on to Amazon Prime Video, Jubilee received critical acclaim, with Gabbi's performance also being positively received.[62] Shilajit Mitra of The Hindu wrote that "Gabbi cements her reputation as one of the most promising, and frankly stunning actresses of our time", and Saibal Chatterjee of NDTV described her as "splendid" and took note of the subtleties she showcased as her character developed.[65][66] Critic Udita Jhunjhunwala observed that while her performances in Grahan, Mai: A Mother’s Rage, and Modern Love Mumbai demonstrated her versatility, it was Jubilee that truly showcased her capabilities as an actor.[47] She earned a nomination for Best Actress in a Drama Series at the Filmfare OTT Awards.[67] In May, Gabbi featured once again in the Modern Love franchise for its Tamil iteration, Modern Love Chennai; she cited her aspiration to collaborate with director Thiagarajan Kumararaja as the primary reason for accepting the project.[68] She portrayed a woman tasked with helping her ex-boyfriend (played by PB) recover his memory following a car accident, a storyline that Firstpost's Bhuvanesh Chandar considered the series' highlight.[69]
Gabbi in 2024
The following month, Gabbi reunited with Bhardwaj for their third collaboration in his adaptation of Agatha Christie's novel The Sittaford Mystery—the thriller series Charlie Chopra & the Mystery of Solang Valley.[70] Based on the character of Trefusis, Gabbi played a detective who attempts to prove the innocence of her fiancé (played by Vivaan Shah) in the murder of his uncle, a role she described as "my most ambitious yet" and spent two months preparing for.[71][11] The series also required her to break the fourth wall, a technique for which she took inspiration from Phoebe Waller-Bridge's character in Fleabag.[72] Citing the series as one of Bhardwaj's weaker projects, Mashable India's Sanyukta Thakare found that the weak plot constrained Gabbi's performance, but thought that she "showed great promise in deep emotional moments".[73] She gained further attention for her role in Bhardwaj's spy thriller Khufiya opposite Tabu and Ali Fazal.[47] When casting Gabbi for the film, Bhardwaj recalled her audition for his shelved project Midnight's Children.[74] In a mixed review of the film, WION's Shomini Sen praised Gabbi for holding her own in the presence of Tabu and Fazal, despite being a relatively new actor.[75] She earned her first award for Best Supporting Actor in a Web Original Film (Female) at the Filmfare OTT Awards.[76] Describing her frequent collaborations with Bhardwaj, she called it a "privilege" to work with him and revealed that he instilled confidence in her as an actor at a time when she considered quitting.[77]
Gabbi next featured in the Hindi action film Baby John (2024), starring Varun Dhawan in the title role. She was initially hesitant to accept the film, as it was her first time doing action scenes.[78]Sukanya Verma of Rediff.com bemoaned that "the charismatic Wamiqa Gabbi is wasted" in a poorly written role.[79] It emerged as a box-office bomb.[80]
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