Biography
Shahana Goswami was born in New Delhi to an economist father and an editorial consultant mother. Her elder brother and sister-in-law are physicists. She studied at Sardar Patel Vidyalaya, Delhi, and Sophia College, Mumbai. In school, she was the house captain and sports champion, securing second place at the National Artificial Wall Climbing Competition and representing her school in athletics, badminton, basketball, and volleyball at the zonal level. Additionally, she trained in Odissi for ten years under Guru Padmashri Kiran Segal and toured extensively with her dance troupe.
From a young age, Shahana was dedicated to pursuing professional acting. She moved to Mumbai for her graduation and to explore acting as a career. Her initial acting experience came with Jaimini Pathak's theatre group Working Title, where she began as a production assistant and later performed in productions like Seagull and Arabian Nights.
Through her theatre connections, she met talent consultant Shaanu Sharma, who encouraged her to audition for a role in Naseeruddin Shah's directorial debut, Yun Hota Toh Kya Hota. She also landed a small role as Boman Irani’s daughter in Reema Katgi's Honeymoon Travels Pvt. Ltd. after visiting the production house for unrelated work. A cinematographer, impressed by her work in Yun Hota Toh Kya Hota, recommended her for an audition for the lead role in Percept Picture Company's Ru Ba Ru, directed by Arjun Bali, starring opposite Randeep Hooda. Goswami shot her first scenes for Ru Ba Ru in Bangkok while still completing her college graduation, well before her role in Rock On.
Her friends Shaanu Sharma and Simran, who were casting for Rock On, recommended her to director Abhishek Kapoor. After auditioning, she secured the role of Debbie, which became her breakthrough performance. This role not only established her in Bollywood but also earned her numerous awards, including the Filmfare Best Actress (Critics) award—the first time a supporting actress had received this honor.
She appeared in the music video for Dido's "Let's Do the Things We Normally Do," portraying a taxi driver in Mumbai, directed by Siddharth Sikand. She also featured in a Fevicol commercial set in a Rajasthani village.
Goswami's first international project is Deepa Mehta's Winds of Change, an adaptation of Salman Rushdie's Booker Prize-winning novel Midnight's Children, scheduled for release in spring 2012.
