Sumit Nijhawan

Early life and Education

Nijhawan was born and brought up in Meerut and holds a Masters in International Business from the Delhi School of Economics. He has modeled for brands like Mitsubishi, Globus, Vitara and Larsen & Toubro.

Career

Sumit Nijhawan made his debut in Bollywood in 2004 with Girlfriend. His second film was Jackie Shroff's Tum... Ho Na! in 2005, which was followed by Ram Gopal Varma's Aag in 2007 and Sarkar Raj (2008). He also played the role of RD in Ram Gopal Varma's Contract and received appreciation for his performance. In 2010, his portrayal of Ali in multi-starrer Phas Gaye Re Obama, won him much critical acclaim. Nijhawan was then seen in Jannat 2 in 2012, where he played one of the main negative characters, Sarfaraz, and left quite an impact on the audience with his performance. He was also seen in Mahesh Bhatt's Jism 2 where he played the role of Randeep Hooda's friend and confidant.

He played his first lead role in the film Maazii, produced and directed by newcomer Jaideep Chopra. Though the film saw a limited release, it received great critical acclaim. It was nominated in the Best Film category for Dada Saheb Phalke Film Festival 2014 and received a Special Mention in the Indian Cine Film Festival 2014. It was also the official Best Foreign Film nomination at Sunset Film Festival, L.A, and Indie Film Festival, California, where it won an "Honorable Mention" and an "Award of Merit" respectively. Faheem Ruhani of India Today praised Sumit's performance saying he "plays the lead protagonist with the subtlety that is required of him. He portrays restrained anger with the indomitable spirit of a hero". Film critic Subhash K. Jha called Maazii the "shocking surprise of the season]] and stated that the lead was "a complex role which Sumit Nijhawan plays with stoicism and smothered anger which works fine for the character." IBN Live's review by Rohit Vats emphasized that Sumit's "body language separates him from the superheroes we see in usual Hindi films" and that "this works amazingly in his favor."

Post-Maazii, Sumit was seen in a substantial role in Shilpa Shetty's home production Dishkiyaoon where he played a gangster, Iqbal Khaleefa, and gave "an implosive performance that ignites the frames". Though the film as a whole did not work commercially and the lead protagonist was weak, Sonia Chopra, a critic for Sify wrote that "the talented supporting cast – Prashant Narayanan, Anand Tiwari and Sumit Nijhawan among others— salvaged the film." The review in Hindustan Times mentioned that Khaleefa, as a "character artist stood out" and though Taran Adarsh was critical of the film, he approvingly wrote that Sumit "played the bad guy without much effort.".

His role as the cop, Mr. Singh, in the Emraan Hashmi starrer Raja Natwarlal received a lot of appreciation. As Raja Sen of Rediff wrote, he had "a solid, menacing presence as a bad cop." Vishal Verma of IndiaGlitz wrote "Sumit Nijhawan as a greedy cop is fantastic" and Subhash K. Jha said that Nijhawan was "brilliant as a corrupt cop." Renowned film critic Komal Nahta mentioned in his blog review that Nijhawan provided "terrific support". Sweta Kaushal of Hindustan Times appreciated Sumit's performance saying, "Sumit Nijhwan, who plays a corrupt cop, fits the bill perfectly and the lusty, evil look he has on his face each time he talks to Humaima just hits the nail."

Personal life

Nijhawan lives in Mumbai and also enjoys writing and directing.