Almost every argument about regional cinema is made with opinion, because almost nobody gets to run the test. Yash Soni ran it by accident. His debut, Chhello Divas, was remade in Hindi the following year by the same director, and he was carried over to play the same character. So one performance went out twice, once in Gujarati and once in Hindi, close enough together that nothing else about him had changed. The Hindi version underperformed and the Gujarati one is still being talked about eleven years later. He went back, and three years after that he led the film that set the ceiling for the entire industry.
The arc
01The same boy, twice
Chhello Divas opened on 20 November 2015 across 231 screens worldwide, grossed a reported Rs 18 crore and ran more than fifty days. Soni was nineteen and played Nikhil. Ten months later, on 23 September 2016, Krishnadev Yagnik released Days of Tafree, the Hindi remake of his own film, and Soni was the actor carried across to play Nikhil again.
Days of Tafree took a reported Rs 60 lakh in its opening weekend and drew a poor response. Same script, same director, same performer, bigger language, worse result. Whatever conclusion the trade wanted to draw about where Gujarati actors belong, he had already been handed the counter evidence before he turned twenty.
02Going back on purpose
He returned to Yagnik for Shu Thayu? in 2018, another commercial success, then took the film that changed the arithmetic. Chaal Jeevi Laiye!, written and directed by Vipul Mehta and released on 1 February 2019, put him opposite Siddharth Randeria as a workaholic son driving his terminally ill father to Kedarnath.
It completed fifty weeks in cinemas on 17 January 2020, was re-released with subtitles on 31 January 2020, and reportedly grossed about Rs 50 crore worldwide with roughly Rs 40 to 42 crore netted in India and around three hundred thousand dollars overseas. It held the all time Gujarati record for six years until Laalo passed it in 2025, and it entered its eighth year in cinemas on 1 February 2026.
03The Yagnik regiment
Five of his films are Krishnadev Yagnik productions: Chhello Divas, Days of Tafree, Shu Thayu?, and then both Naadi Dosh and Raado in 2022. That is an unusually tight director and actor pairing for an industry this size, and it has given him range that a run of one off comedies would not have.
Raado is the useful one to look at. It is a political thriller, not a college comedy, and it is where he stops playing the affable friend. The same year he did Fakt Mahilao Maate, directed by Jay Bodas, which carried a special appearance by Amitabh Bachchan. Three films in one year across three registers, all of them in Gujarati.
04Being on the table twice
3 Ekka opened on 25 August 2023 with Soni, Malhar Thakar and Mitra Gadhavi, and reportedly took Rs 25 crore, which put it joint third on the all time Gujarati list. He has now led or co-led two of the three highest grossing Gujarati films ever made, in two separate decades of the industry's life.
The work since has kept a steady rhythm: Danny Jigar, Jagat and Fakt Purusho Maate in 2024, Mithada Maheman and Chaniya Toli in 2025, Maaran in 2026. Thirteen Gujarati film credits in eleven years and one Hindi credit, which is not a career that stalled. It is a career that read its own data.
The work that matters
The failure, listed first on purpose. His only Hindi film, made by his own director from his own debut, with him playing the same character. It reportedly opened to Rs 60 lakh. Nothing else in his filmography explains his choices as cleanly as this one does.
Not just the reported Rs 50 crore. It stayed in cinemas for fifty weeks, was re-released a fortnight later, was remade in Marathi with Nana Patekar, and entered its eighth year in theatres in February 2026. Almost no Indian film in any language does that.
The register change. A political thriller in an industry that had typecast his generation into college comedies, and the film where he stops being the likeable friend from Chhello Divas.
It put him on the all time grossing table for a second time, a decade after the first, sharing the frame with Malhar Thakar. One record film can be luck. Two, seven years apart, is a working commercial instinct.
Verified credits
| Year | Film | Role | Language |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | Chhello Divas | Nikhil | Gujarati |
| 2016 | Days of Tafree | Nikhil | Hindi, remake of Chhello Divas |
| 2018 | Shu Thayu? | Neel | Gujarati |
| 2019 | Chaal Jeevi Laiye! | Aditya Parikh | Gujarati |
| 2019 | Tran Aadi Liti (play) | Hemang | Gujarati |
| 2022 | Naadi Dosh | Kevin | Gujarati |
| 2022 | Raado | Karan | Gujarati |
| 2022 | Fakt Mahilao Maate | Chintan Parikh | Gujarati |
| 2023 | 3 Ekka | Kabir | Gujarati |
| 2024 | Danny Jigar | Danny Jigar | Gujarati |
| 2024 | Jagat | Jagat Pandya | Gujarati |
| 2024 | Fakt Purusho Maate | Brijesh | Gujarati |
| 2025 | Mithada Maheman | Aditya | Gujarati |
| 2025 | Chaniya Toli | Prakash Mistry | Gujarati |
| 2026 | Maaran | Ratan | Gujarati |
The numbers
The two routes, side by side
All figures are industry reported and not audited. The Days of Tafree number is an opening weekend figure, not a lifetime one, because no reliable lifetime gross for it is published. It is included because the gap in scale is the point, not the precision.
Questions people ask
How old was Yash Soni in Chhello Divas?
Nineteen. He was born on 16 October 1996 and the film released on 20 November 2015.
Was Yash Soni in the Hindi remake of Chhello Divas?
Yes. Days of Tafree, released on 23 September 2016, was directed by Krishnadev Yagnik, who also made the Gujarati original, and Soni was carried across to play the same character, Nikhil. It is his only Hindi film credit.
Which is Yash Soni's highest grossing film?
Chaal Jeevi Laiye! from 2019, which reportedly grossed about Rs 50 crore worldwide and held the record as the highest grossing Gujarati film for six years until Laalo passed it in 2025.
How many films has Yash Soni made?
Fifteen film credits are listed on his Wikipedia filmography from 2015 to 2026, of which thirteen are Gujarati and one is Hindi, plus a recorded stage production, Tran Aadi Liti, in 2019.
Where was Yash Soni born?
His date of birth, 16 October 1996, is documented, but his birthplace is not stated consistently: the Wikipedia infobox gives Mumbai while the page categorises him as an actor from Ahmedabad. Because the two disagree, no birthplace is claimed on this page.
Sources
Career facts verified against published biographies and an IMDb-sourced Gujarati credits database. Photographs are free-licensed Wikimedia Commons files, reused with the attribution each licence requires. Nothing on this page is estimated.
- English Wikipedia biography and filmography of Yash Soni and its cited Times of India references, retrieved 29 July 2026
- English Wikipedia pages for Chhello Divas, Days of Tafree, Chaal Jeevi Laiye!, Raado, Naadi Dosh, Fakt Mahilao Maate and 3 Ekka, retrieved 29 July 2026
- List of highest grossing Gujarati films, English Wikipedia, retrieved 29 July 2026