Nikitin Dheer

Actor

Biography

Nikitin Dheer is an Indian actor and is the son of well known actor and producer Pankaj Dheer. His grandfather C. L. Dheer was a producer of as many as 19 Hindi films. Nikitin, who is among only 10 civilians who have undergone black cat commando training in unarmed combat and is black belt in Jeet Kune Do, a martial art form developed by Bruce Lee, made his debut with Ashutosh Gowarikar's Jodhaa Akbar as the main antagonist. He made his acting debut in 2008 with Ashutosh Gowariker's historical drama Jodhaa Akbar, in which he co-starred alongside Hrithik Roshan and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, as Sarifuddin Husain, Akbar's brother-in-law. Whilst the film earned critical appreciation and box office success, Dheer received praise for his role, with noted critic Taran Adarsh of Bollywood Hungama noting him as "fantastic". The same year he acted alongside Vivek Oberoi, Shriya Saran and Zayed Khan in Apoorva Lakhia's unremarkable action thriller Mission Istaanbul. In 2011, Dheer appeared in Anees Bazmee's comedy Ready, alongside Salman Khan and Asin. The following year, he had a supporting role in Arbaaz Khan's action film Dabangg 2 alongside Salman Khan, Sonakshi Sinha and Prakash Raj. In 2013, he featured as the primary antagonist in Rohit Shetty's action comedy Chennai Express with Shahrukh Khan and Deepika Padukone. For his role as Tangaballi, a dreaded Tamil goon, Dheer was asked to gain more muscle and work on his accent. His physique in the film was received warmly; Mohar Basu notes that Dheer is "robust" although "hardly has a role enough to perform". Although these films earned mixed reviews from critics, they were received well financially.