Taaha Shah

1988–2009: Early life and career beginnings

Taaha Shah was born in Abu Dhabi, the capital city of United Arab Emirates, to Shah Sikkander Badusha and Mahnaz Sikkander Badusha, who are from South India. His father is an F.R.C.S. from Glasgow and Edinburgh and is also an Orthopedic doctor and his mother, an M.Sc and MBA from Washington, D.C., was a biochemist and now an entrepreneur. He has an elder brother, Abid, who is a Lead Civil engineer from University of Toronto. Taaha's education involved quite a worldwide travel. His education began at the Sherwood Academy in Abu Dhabi where he studied till the 4th grade. He then shifted to Kodaikanal International School, a boarding school in Tamil Nadu, India, where he continued his education for the next 3 years. Feeling homesick, he returned to UAE and later shifted to Sharjah with his family, where he finished his schooling at International School of Choueifat and Sharjah American International School. Taaha joined the American University of Sharjah only for a semester and dropped out of his Bachelor of Business Administration course, as he was not willing to do so. He does weaponry on the beach and has also received certificates in paragliding and scuba diving. Since 2006, Taaha worked in several businesses of human resource management, construction, real estate, building materials, and as a hobby did a few modeling] assignments for the next three years. He started modeling at the age of 16 for brands such as Honda, Bacardi, Emirates Bank, Bank of Oman, National Bank of Abu Dhabi, Omantel and others. Taaha Shah was also reported to be a successful entrepreneur with his own steel import firm. He turned to acting after an economic downturn struck him.

2010–present: Debut in films

He later made a trip to Toronto, Canada, to visit his brother for New Year's Eve in 2009, where he finalised to aim his career at acting. Then, he took admission to the New York Film Academy (NYFA) in Abu Dhabi. Taaha had also learnt acting during his school life in Abu Dhabi. After completing six months at NYFA, he was about to leave for Los Angeles to complete the remainder of his course, when his father suddenly thought that Taaha should make a move to Mumbai first. His mother too agreed to this and two weeks later (in September 2009) Taaha came to Mumbai for a two-day visit with his family and incidentally, they remained over there. In Mumbai he had to spend countless hours practicing dancing and martial arts. Nine months later, Taaha was signed for his debut film, Luv Ka The End of Y-Films. He was cast as an antihero, the first of its kind in the youth genre. He was seen for a second time in the 2013 movie Gippi by Dharma Productions, which released on 10 May 2013. Taaha received positive reviews for his performance, Karan Johar said, "Taaha has a strong screen presence that combines machismo and vulnerability. I am sure he will have a great innings at the movies." Ramesh S. Taurani noted, "With two back-to-back good performances, Taaha has the potential to be someone who is here to stay. Right choices of films will ensure a strong foothold for him in the industry. I wish him best of luck and loads of success." Rensil D'Silva wrote, "Taaha has the right mix of vulnerability and intensity to straddle many genres — be it a romcom, an intense drama or a thriller. And to top it all, he's a good actor. That's an enviable mix." Nikhil Advani described, "Taaha is one of the few new talents showing that acting is about versatility. With his second film Gippi, he's chosen the right path."

As of September 2014, Taaha has several projects in various stages of production. Taaha has completed shooting for his next film Tina and Lolo alongside Sunny Leone, Karishma Tanna and Deepak Tijori, and Mahesh Bhatt's Barkhaa opposite Pakistani actress Sara Loren. He is currently filming for J. P. Dutta's Next untitled film.