Kumar Gaurav - Career

Career

He made his film debut with Love Story (1981) produced by his father and directed by Rahul Rawail which was a blockbuster. Many youngsters began to emulate him. His next film, the 1982 release Teri Kasam with actress Poonam Dhillon, another heart-throb of the generation, was a mild success, though his later films proved to be disappointing at the box office.

Yet he received rave reviews for his performance in Mahesh Bhatt's Janam (1985). His understated performance in this film is still considered his career's best. In the following year he had his second box office hit with Naam (1986), again a Mahesh Bhatt film which was produced by his father and also starred his brother-in-law Sanjay Dutt in the lead role. Despite the success of Naam, Gaurav's career declined as all of his subsequent films failed to do well at the box office.

Having produced his earlier films Janam and Naam, his father tried to revive his career with the 1993 film Phool which also had his father and father-in-law Sunil Dutt in supporting roles, but that didn't bring him any luck either. He took a long break from acting and returned to films in 2000 with a supporting role in late actor Mazhar Khan's Gang.

In 2002, he shined yet again when he played one of the six protagonists in the crime thriller Kaante, directed by Sanjay Gupta and a remake of the Hollywood hit Reservoir Dogs (1992). Kaante was a huge success at the box office and the third highest grossing film of 2002.

In 2004 he appeared in his first American film Guiana 1838. This award winning film by Rohit Jagessar grossed the highest screen average at North American box office on opening weekend and is among the Top 25 all time highest screen average charts. Guiana 1838 tells the story of Indians arriving on the British colony of British Guiana, now Guyana, as indentured servants amidst the abolition of slavery during the nineteenth century.

In 2009, he starred in the silent film My Daddy Strongest.