Jai Hemant “Tiger” Shroff born 2 March 1990, is an Indian actor and singer known for his work in Hindi-language action films. The son of actor Jackie Shroff and producer Ayesha Dutt, he made his film debut with the 2014 action film Heropanti.
Shroff is best known for his commercially successful action films Baaghi (2016) and its sequel Baaghi 2, and War (2019). One of the highest paid actors in India, he has featured in Forbes India‘s Celebrity 100 list since 2018.
Early life and background
Jai Hemant Shroff was born on 2 March 1990, to Indian film actor Jackie Shroff and his wife Ayesha Shroff (née Dutt). He is the elder of two siblings, and has a three-year younger sister named Krishna Shroff. Due to his experience in the martial arts, he has frequently spent time helping actors train for movies.
On his paternal side, he is of Gujarati and Turkmen ancestry and from his maternal side, he is of Bengali and Belgian descent. Shroff is a devout Hindu devotee of Lord Shiva and has attributed his physique to Lord Shiva. He holds a fast every Monday and during every Mahashivaratri festival. He studied at the American School of Bombay.
In 2014, he was awarded an honorary fifth degree black belt in Taekwondo.
Career
Early days (2012–17)
In June 2012, Shroff signed his debut film Heropanti produced by Sajid Nadiadwala and directed by Sabbir Khan. In preparation, he underwent flexibility training under Ziley Mawai. Heropanti was released theatrically in May 2014 and received unfavourable reviews. Nevertheless, it was a commercial hit with domestic net collection of ₹52 crore and lifetime earnings of ₹72.60 crore against its ₹25 crore budget. Shroff garnered praise for dancing skills and ability to perform onerous stunts, but was criticised for his acting and dialogue delivery. Taran Adarsh of Bollywood Hungama appreciated his performance, saying “Tiger registers an impact in several sequences” and that he “scores brownie points in action and stunts”. Adarsh also added that “for a first-timer, he exudes supreme confidence”. Subhash K. Jha praised him for his versatility, saying that “he emotes, he dances and yes, he can fight”. However, Sweta Kaushal of Hindustan Times disagreed, calling his “dialogues forced” and said “his expressions do nothing in a given situation”. In spite of terming his performance “a little unconvincing”, Kaushal called his action sequences “admirable” and said he’s a “great dancer”. Furthermore, Anupama Chopra, though noting that he has star-like qualities and “very solid screen presence”, called his dialogue delivery “off”. Shroff’s portrayal fetched him the Screen Award for Best Male Debut and the IIFA Award for Star Debut of the Year – Male in addition to a Best Male Debut nomination at the 60th Filmfare Awards.
Shroff promoting A Flying Jatt (2016)
In 2016, Shroff first starred alongside Shraddha Kapoor in Nadiadwala’s critically and commercially success production Baaghi directed again by Sabbir Khan. Set against the backdrop of a martial arts school, it revolved around a pair of rebellious lovers and grossed ₹126 crore worldwide. Bollywood Hungama praised his action sequences, saying: “The action Tiger performed without use of double body is delight to see.” The same year, he was cast opposite Jacqueline Fernandez in Remo D’Souza’s superhero movie A Flying Jatt. He worked with Sabbir Khan for the third time in his 2017 dance drama Munna Michael. Both A Flying Jatt and Munna Michael were flops.
Establishment and singing debut (2018–present)
Shroff’s first massive success was the 2018 spiritual sequel of Baaghi, in which he acted as an army officer opposite Disha Patani. Directed by Ahmed Khan and produced by Nadiadwala, it garnered praise for its screenplay, storyline and action scenes. Earning ₹165 crore net in India and a global gross of ₹253 crore, it was one of the year’s biggest blockbuster films.
Shroff then agreed to team up with producer Karan Johar for the first time on his 2019 teen romance Student of the Year 2 directed by Punit Malhotra, in which he portrayed a college student competing in an annual championship and was paired with debutants Tara Sutaria and Ananya Panday. Rajeev Masand of News18 called his performance “the film’s singular strength”. Ronak Kotecha, from The Times of India, agreed by saying “Tiger Shroff pretty much carries the film on his well-toned shoulders”. It was a box office debacle.
In his many interviews, Shroff expressed that his desire is to work with his idol Hrithik Roshan, which wish was finally fulfilled when the two together played leading roles in Siddharth Anand’s 2019 directorial War, an out-and-out action thriller film backed by Yash Raj Films. War broke all the opening-day records and became the biggest blockbuster of 2019, entering the 300 Crore Club in India and earning over ₹475 crore globally. It ranks among the highest-grossing Indian films ever.
Shroff’s only film of 2020 was his second collaboration with Ahmed Khan and return with Nadiadwala through Baaghi 3, the third installment of Baaghi franchise, also featuring Kapoor and Riteish Deshmukh. It gained mixed reactions and ended up as an average grosser because of theatres shutdown due to COVID-19 pandemic. In that year, by debuting as a singer, Shroff launched his music video “Unbelievable” in September 2020, that was directed by Malhotra and produced by Big Bang Music and Dharma 2.0. Anvita Singh of Indian Express described the song as lackluster, noting Shroff’s “heavily auto-tuned” vocals.
Other works
In 2017, Shroff was brought in as Brand Ambassador and co-owner of Bengaluru Tigers, which is owned by 8K Miles Media Group. The Bengaluru Tigers won 3rd place in his inaugural season of Super Fight League, the first mixed martial arts (MMA) League in India.In 2018, Shroff was also made the Brand Ambassador of Prowl.
On 23 December 2019, Shroff launched his own YouTube channel and has more than 111K subscribers and 12.6 million views as of January 2021. He released the teaser of his second single “Casanova” on 10 January 2021 and the full video song on 13 January 2021.
Filmography
Films
 |
Denotes films that have not yet been released |
| Year | Title | Role(s) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | Heropanti | Bablesh “Bablu” Singh | Debut film |
| 2016 | Baaghi | Ranveer “Ronny” Pratap Singh | |
| A Flying Jatt | Aman Dhillon | ||
| 2017 | Munna Michael | Manav “Munna” Roy | |
| Spider-Man: Homecoming | Peter Parker / Spider-Man | Hindi voiceover | |
| 2018 | Welcome to New York | Himself | Special appearance |
| Baaghi 2 | Ranveer “Ronnie” Pratap Singh | ||
| 2019 | Student of the Year 2 | Rohan Sachdev | |
| War | Khalid Rahmani / Saurabh | ||
| 2020 | Baaghi 3 | Ranveer “Ronnie” Chaturvedi | |
| 2021 | Heropanti 2 |
TBA |
Music videos
| Year | Song | Singer | Composer | Notes | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | “Zindagi Aa Raha Hoon Main” | Atif Aslam | Amaal Mallik | ||
| “Chal Wahan Jaate Hain” | Arijit Singh | ||||
| 2016 | “Befikra” | Meet Bros, Aditi Singh Sharma | Sam Bombay | ||
| 2018 | “Get Ready To Move” | Armaan Malik | Amaal Mallik | ||
| 2019 | “Are You Coming” | Benny Dayal | Sachin-Jigar | ||
| “Har Ghoont Mein Swag” | Badshah | Badshah | |||
| 2020 | “I Am A Disco Dancer 2.0” | Benny Dayal | Salim–Sulaiman | ||
| “Muskurayega India” | Vishal Mishra | Kaushal Kishore | |||
| “Unbelievable” | Tiger Shroff | Daniel Glavin, Kevin Pabon and Avitesh Shrivastava | Debut as singer | ||
| “Unbelievable Acoustics” | Tiger Shroff | Daniel Glavin, Kevin Pabon and Avitesh Shrivastava | Special released on Instagram | ||
| 2021 | “Casanova” | Tiger Shroff | Avitesh Shrivastava |
Awards
| Year | Award | Category | Film | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | Stardust Awards | Superstar of Tomorrow – Male | Heropanti | Won | |
| BIG Star Entertainment Awards | Most Entertaining Actor – Male | Won | |||
| Star Guild Awards | Best Male Debut | Won | |||
| 2015 | IIFA Awards | Star Debut of the Year – Male | Won | ||
| Life Ok Screen Awards | Most Promising Newcomer – Male | Won |