Mrunal Thakur
Mrunal Thakur
Born/Date of Birthday: 1 August 1992
Place of Birth: Dhule, Maharashtra, India
Height: 1.66 m
Alma mater: Kishinchand Chellaram College
Occupation: Actress
Siblings: Lochan Thakur
Mrunal Thakur (born 1 August 1992) is an Indian television and film actress who predominantly appears in Hindi films and television along with Marathi films. She made her acting debut in 2012, with the role of Gauri Bhonsle in Mujhse Kuchh Kehti...Yeh Khamoshiyaan. She had her breakthrough with the role of Bulbul Arora in Kumkum Bhagya. Thakur made her film debut with the Marathi film Vitti Dandu (2014).
Thakur made her Hindi film debut with the drama film Love Sonia (2018), for which she received critical acclaim. She then appeared in successful films including Super 30 (2019), Batla House (2019) and Dhamaka (2021).
Early life
Mrunal Thakur was born on 1 August 1992 in Dhule, Maharashtra. She did her schooling at St. Joseph's Convent School, Jalgaon, and at Vasant Vihar High School, Mumbai. Mrunal studied Mass Media from KC College and also possesses a B-Tech degree.
Career
Television career (2012–2016)
While attending college, Thakur signed a lead role as Gauri Bhosle opposite Mohit Sehgal in the Star Plus series Mujhse Kuchh Kehti...Yeh Khamoshiyaan. The show aired from 2012 to 2013. Later in 2013, Thakur appeared in an episodic appearance on the mystery thriller Har Yug Mein Aayega Ek – Arjun, in which she played a journalist named Sakshi Anand.
In February 2014, Thakur signed Zee TV's soap opera Kumkum Bhagya, for which she began shooting the following month. The show, co-starring Sriti Jha, Shabir Ahluwalia, Arjit Taneja, and Supriya Shukla, started airing on 15 April, and saw Thakur portray Bulbul Arora, a woman who along with her elder sister (played by Jha) helps their mother (played by Shukla) run a marriage hall. The show received positive reviews from critics in critical reception. Thakur quit the show in January 2016.
Mrunal appeared as a Contestant on Box Cricket League 1 in 2014 and Nach Baliye 7 in 2015. In 2016, She performed dance in a special episode of &TV's SauBhagyalaxmi and had a Guest appearance in Tuyul & Mbak Yul Reborn. Her final appearance on TV was with the Indonesian serial Nadin, where she was she as Tara, after which she took a retirement from television.
Film career (2018–present)
Thakur made her film debut with the Marathi film, Vitti Dandu, which released in 2014. She was seen as Sandhya. Her next Marathi film was Surajya, where she was seen as Dr. Swapna.
In 2012, Thakur began work on the international film Love Sonia, for which she stayed at Kolkata. The film was released in September 2018 after various delays and featured her in the titular role of a village girl who brings to light issue of global human trafficking. For preparation, Thakur stayed at a brothel to study the body language of prostitutes. It marked her first Hindi project.
Thakur's Bollywood debut came in 2019 with Vikas Bahl's biographical movie Super 30, narrating the story of mathematician Anand Kumar (played by Hrithik Roshan in the film) and his educational program of the same name, in which she portrayed Kumar's love interest, a classical dancer Supriya. In the same year, she played John Abraham's wife Nandita in Nikkhil Advani's Batla House, based on the 2008 Batla House encounter case. While Batla House grossed over ₹1.11 billion (US$15 million) worldwide, Super 30 had a global collection of ₹2.08 billion (US$27 million) worldwide, and both of them were commercially successful.
In 2020 Thakur appeared in a Netflix venture, the four-part anthology horror film Ghost Stories as Ira in the Segment: Karan Johar's segment. The same year she appeared in a music video 'Gallan Goriya', alongside John Abraham.
In 2021, Thakur has starred in the sports drama, Toofaan, directed by Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra and co-starring Farhan Akhtar, which premiered on 16 July 2021 on Amazon Prime Video. In addition, she starred in the action thriller Dhamaka, directed by Ram Madhvani and co-starring Kartik Aaryan and Amruta Subhash, which released on Netflix on 19 November 2021. She also appeared in two music videos in the year 2021, 'Bad Boy x Bad Girl' with Badshah and 'Aise Na Chhoro' with Guru Randhawa.
Thakur will appear in the upcoming film Jersey, a remake of the 2019 Telugu film of the same name, co-starring Shahid Kapoor, which will premiere theatrically on 14 April 2022.
Upcoming films
Thakur will appear opposite Abhimanyu Dassani and Paresh Rawal in the multi-starrer comedy Aankh Micholi, which is slated for release on 13 May 2022. Following this, she will portray the female lead opposite Ishaan Khatter in the war action film Pippa. She will also star opposite Aditya Roy Kapur in the Hindi remake of the 2019 Tamil film Thadam, where she will be seen playing a police officer. The movie is directed by Vardhan Ketkar and produced by Bhushan Kumar's T-Series and Murad Khetani’s Cine1 Studios. Thakur will make her Telugu film debut opposite Dulquer Salmaan in Hanu Raghavapudi's Sita Ramam.
