Nimrat Kaur (born March 13, 1982)[1][2] is an Indian actress who appears in Hindi films and on American television. She began her career as a print model and went on to act in theater. After brief appearances in a few films, Kaur starred in Anurag Kashyap's production Peddlers, which was screened at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival. She followed it with her breakthrough role in The Lunchbox, a critically acclaimed drama co-starring Irrfan Khan, which was screened at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival.
Kaur was born into a Sikh family in Pilani, Rajasthan.[1][2][3] Her father Major Bhupinder Singh, SC was an Indian Army officer, and she has a younger sister, Rubina, who is a psychologist based in Bangalore.[4] Her family lived in Patiala, and she studied at Yadavindra Public School, Patiala. In 1994, her father was abducted and killed by Kashmiri Terrorists.[2] Thereafter, her family moved to Delhi-suburb, Noida, where she grew up and attended Delhi Public School, Noida. Later, she studied at Shri Ram College of Commerce, Delhi University and obtained a B.Com Hons in commerce.[1][5]
After her studies, Kaur moved to Mumbai and worked as a print model. She began working as a theater actress appearing in plays such as Baghdad Wedding (2012), All About Women and Red Sparrow, working with directors like Sunil Shanbag and Manav Kaul.[6]
Kaur was launched in a two-part music video for the songs "Tera Mera Pyar" by Kumar Sanu and "Yeh Kya Hua" by Shreya Ghoshal in 2004. The videos were directed by writer-editor Apurva Asrani.[1][7] She also did TV advertisements.[8]
Kaur made her film debut with a small role in an English film, One Night with the King (2006), which was shot in Rajasthan. Her Hindi film debut came with Peddlers in 2012, produced by Anurag Kashyap. The film was screened at Cannes Film Festival to good reviews.[9]
Kaur came to public attention in India when she appeared in a mid-2013 Dairy Milk Silk commercial.[10]
In 2013, Kaur also came to wider attention with her co-lead role in the epistolary romantic film The Lunchbox, when it aired at the Cannes Film Festival – her second consecutive appearance at Cannes.[11] The film was a commercial and critical success,[12] with Kaur receiving rave reviews for her portrayal of a lonely wife who begins a friendship with a stranger (Irrfan Khan) through letters in a tiffin carrier, (initially) mistakenly delivered to the stranger by a dabbawala.[5]Raja SenofRediff.com said of Kaur's performance: "It is a disarmingly natural performance that is impossible to forget and difficult to analyse, and in this limited space one may merely express admiration."[13] Jay Weissberg of Variety called her a "radiant presence",[14] while Pratim D. GuptaofThe Telegraph wrote that "Nimrat strips off all the sentimentality to attach dignity and grace to the character. This one's a sparkling debut."[15]
In 2016, she acted in the war drama Airlift, alongside Akshay Kumar.[2] Based on the civil operation of evacuation of Indians based in Kuwait during the Iraq-Kuwait war, the film was released on 22 January to mostly positive reviews. Rajeev Masand in his review wrote: "For the most part, the film feels authentic, and Nimrat Kaur blends right in. Just a wee bit awkward in the early scenes, she comes into her own by the time she must deliver a scathing monologue during a crisis of faith over her husband's actions."[18] The film was a financial success.[19] Kaur also began portraying Rebecca Yedlin in the second season of the American television series Wayward Pines in 2016.[17][20]
After a four year hiatus, Kaur co-starred in the 2022 Netflix film Dasvi, playing Haryana's CM alongside Abhishek Bachchan.[26] Grace Cyril of India Today reviewed the film and stated, "Though Nimrat Kaur's character in Dasvi was confusing, she lit up the film with her performance."[27]
In 2023, she portrayed Yanna Seldon in the second season of the science fiction series Foundation.[28] In the same year, she played School counsellor in the web series School of Lies.[29] She played an inspector in Sajini Shinde Ka Viral Video, her final work of the year.[30]Saibal ChatterjeeofNDTV praised her and said, "It is Nimrat Kaur who saves the day with a solid, admirably consistent performance as the investigator who has much more on her plate than just a case of a missing girl."[31]
