Aftab Shivdasani is an Indian actor who primarily works in Hindi cinema. He debuted as a child artist in the Anil Kapoor and Sridevi-starrer, the cult movie Mr. India (1987). After appearing in a handful of movies as a child actor, Aftab debuted in a lead role with the musical romantic drama Mast (1999), which was directed by Ram Gopal Varma. The actor has since appeared in over fifty feature films in both leading and supporting roles, with the action comedy Awara Paagal Deewana (2002), the comedy Hungama (2003), Masti (2004), Aloo Chaat (2009) and Grand Masti (2013) being among his notable film credits.
Early LifeAftab Shivdasani was born and raised in the city of dreams, Mumbai, to Prem Shivdasani, a Sindhi, and Putli Shivdasani, a Parsi. He also has an elder sister, Afsana Shivdasani. Aftab completed his schooling from St. Xavier's High School in Mumbai and graduated from H.R.College of Commerce, Mumbai. When he was just 14 months old, Aftab appeared in a TV commercial for Forex baby, a baby food brand. Apart from being a part of Mr. India, he also featured in movies like Awwal Number, Shahenshah, Chaalbaaz and Insaniyat, as a child actor.
Personal Life After being engaged for two years, Aftab tied the knot with a London-based Punjabi girl, Nin Dusanj, in a private ceremony in 2014. Nin Dusanj is the younger sister of actor, Kabir Bedi's wife, Parveen Dusanj.
Movie CareerAftab was just 19 when he got his silver screen break as the lead in Ram Gopal Varma's romantic drama film Mast in 1999. The film, which stars Urmila Matondkar opposite him, was an instant hit at the box office. Aftab won the Zee Cine Award for Best Male Debut for his performance in Mast.
His next release in 2001 was Kasoor, which stars Lisa Ray in the lead along with him. Directed by Vikram Bhatt, the movie received mixed reviews but Aftab was appreciated for portraying the character of Shekhar Saxena, a renowned journalist, who kills his own wife. Taran Adarsh of Bollywood Hungama praised the performance of the lead cast saying, "Kasoor scores the most in that one important department- performances. Credit for this must go primarily to the two principal performers- Aftab Shivdasani and Lisa Ray- who come up with proficient performances." For Kasoor, Aftab received his first nomination for the Filmfare Best Villain Award.
He then went on to appear in films like Love Ke Liye Kuchh Bhi Karega (2001), Awara Paagal Deewana (2002), Hungama (2003), and Footpath (2003), but all of these films were commercial flops and did nothing to boost Aftab's career. The year 2004 proved to be a game changer for him when he starred in the runaway hit film Masti, co-starring Vivek Oberoi, Riteish Deshmukh, Amrita Rao, Genelia D'Souza, Lara Dutta, Tara Sharma and Ajay Devgn. Directed by Indra Kumar, Masti was an adult comedy thriller film.
Thereafter Aftab starred in unsuccessful films like Mr Ya Miss, Deewane Huye Paagal, Money Hai Toh Honey Hai, Aloo Chaat, Players and 1920: Evil Returns. In 2013, he reprised his role from the 2004 blockbuster Masti in its sequel Grand Masti, which was also a huge success like the original. In early 2016, Aftab starred in Ekta Kapoor's Kyaa Kool Hai Hum 3 alongside Tusshar Kapoor and Mandana Karimi. The film was the third installment of the Kyaa Kool Hain Hum film series.
Following the critical and commercial failure of Great Grand Masti (2016), the third movie in the Masti film series, Aftab ventured into South Indian cinema with the role of a main antagonist in the Tamil action comedy Bhaskar Oru Rascal (2018). Subsequently, the actor made his debut in Kannada cinema with the Kiccha Sudeep starrer Kotigobba 3 (2019). Notable among Aftab's other recent acting credits is the Bollywood thriller Setters (2019), which was directed by Ashwini Chaudhary.