Disha Patani

Disha Patani (pronounced [ˈd̪ɪʃa paːʈəˈni]; born 13 June 1992) is an Indian actress primarily working in Hindi films. Patani made her acting debut with the Telugu film Loafer (2015), and had her first Hindi film release with the biopic M.S. Dhoni: The Untold Story (2016). After appearing in the Chinese action comedy Kung Fu Yoga (2017), Patani featured in the films Baaghi 2 (2018), Bharat (2019), Malang (2020), Kalki 2898 AD (2024) and Kanguva (2024). She has appeared in Forbes India's Celebrity 100 list of 2019.

Disha Patani was born on 13 June 1992 in Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh, India. She is from a Hindu Kumaoni Rajput background. Her father, Jagadish Singh Patani is a police officer and her mother is a health inspector. Her elder sister, Khushboo Patani is a lieutenant in the Indian Army. She also has a younger brother, Suryansh Patani. She left in 2nd year of engineering at Amity University, Lucknow. She was the first runner up of Pond's Femina Miss India Indore 2013.

Patani debuted with a Telugu film, Loafer alongside Varun Tej in 2015. She played the role of Mouni, a girl who runs from home to escape a forced marriage. Directed by Puri Jagannadh and produced by C. Kalyan under C.K. Entertainment, the film was made on a budget of ₹200 million and performed poorly at the box office with a lifetime collection of ₹106 million. In the following year, Disha appeared in a music video, Befikra along with Tiger Shroff which was produced by Bhushan Kumar and Krishan Kumar under T-Series and composed by Meet Bros. Written and directed by Meet Bros, the singer, Aditi Singh Sharma lent her voice.

Patani found her commercial break with Neeraj Pandey's M.S. Dhoni: The Untold Story, a biographical sports film based on the life story of MS Dhoni, the former captain of the Indian Cricket Team along with Sushant Singh Rajput and Kiara Advani. She played the role of Priyanka Jha, the girlfriend of MS Dhoni's character who dies in a car accident. Directed by Neeraj Pandey and produced by Fox Star Studios, the film was released on 30 September 2016 and was a massive hit with an estimated collections of ₹216 crore (US$26 million). Taran Adarsh from Bollywood Hungama and Shubhra Gupta from The Indian Express both opined that Patani "sparkle" in her debut film. At the 18th IIFA Awards, she won the Star Debut of the Year Female. In addition, she also starred in Jackie Chan's Kung Fu Yoga, along with Sonu Sood.

Patani then acted in Baaghi 2 along with Tiger Shroff, a sequel to the 2016 film Baaghi starring Tiger Shroff and Shraddha Kapoor and the second instalment of the Baaghi franchise. Produced by Sajid Nadiadwala and directed by Ahmed Khan, Baaghi 2 was released on 30 March 2018 to mixed reviews from critics with praise for its action sequences. Saibal Chatterjee from NDTV wrote, "Patani is a pretty sight all right but is only required to sleepwalk through her role". The film grossed approximately ₹258 crore (US$31 million) worldwide to become one of the highest-grossing Hindi film of 2018.

In 2019, Patani briefly appeared in the action drama film Bharat starring Salman Khan and Katrina Kaif. Bharat received positive reviews from critics on release and grossed ₹325.58 crore in its lifetime theatrical run, becoming a commercial success. She began the new decade with Mohit Suri's action thriller film Malang (2020) co-starring Aditya Roy Kapur, Anil Kapoor and Kunal Khemu. The film was praised from critics for its music, action sequences, direction and cast performances, Writing for Bollywood Hungama opined, "Patani probably gets the most screen time ever she looks gorgeous and delivers a "heartwarming performance". It was a moderate commercial success. In March 2020, she appeared in a song in the film Baaghi 3 starring Tiger Shroff and Shraddha Kapoor, the third instalment of the Baaghi franchise.

In 2021, Patani reunited with Salman Khan as the leading lady in Prabhu Deva's Radhe, which was delayed by a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The film was released coinciding with Eid al-Fitr, as premium video on demand on Zee Plex through ZEE5. Although the film had strong viewership on OTT, it received highly negative reviews from critics and audiences alike, who criticised the story, screenplay, direction and VFX and even she received backlash for her unimportant character. In 2022, Patani played a retail salesgirl in Mohit Suri's psychological thriller Ek Villain Returns alongside John Abraham, Tara Sutaria and Arjun Kapoor. The film opened to mixed reviews from critics but was a box office debacle. Sukanya Vema of Rediff wrote "Ek Villain Returns falls back on the popularity of the Galliyan track to boost its appeal".

In her first release of 2024, Patani played a terrorist disguised as an air hostess in the Sidharth Malhotra starrer Yodha, which was too a delayed release. Pratikshya Mishra of The Quint termed Patani a "potential action star", while praising her fight sequence, but added that her dialogues fail to make an impact. Still, the film underperformed commercially. Patani saw a success with the Telugu film Kalki 2898 AD where she was paired opposite Prabhas. Her character Roxie is a worker in the Complex who takes Bhairava inside for the first time. The film was a large box-office success emerging as the year's highest-grossing Indian film and Patani's first since 2020. Following this, she expanded to Tamil films with Kanguva, playing a bounty hunter Angela opposite Suriya. The film opened to mixed reviews with criticism for her "insignificant part".

Patani will next appear in the ensemble comedy sequel Welcome to the Jungle.

Patani was placed fifth in the list of most searched celebrities on Google of 2016. She is one of the most followed celebrities on social media with over 57.5 million Instagram followers. In 2019, Patani appeared in Forbes India's Celebrity 100 list, ranking 43rd with an estimated annual income of ₹58.0 million (US$690,000).

Patani has frequently featured in Times' 50 Most Desirable Woman list. She ranked 19th in 2017 and 9th in 2018. Patani was named the Times' Most Desirable Woman in 2019 and ranked 3rd in 2020. Patani is a prominent celebrity endorser for brands and products including Joy personal care, Bata footwears and Fossil watches. Patani has performed at the opening ceremony of the 2017 Indian Premier League, in Indore. In March 2023, Patani performed in various cities in the United States for "The Entertainers" tour, alongside Akshay Kumar, Mouni Roy, Nora Fatehi, Sonam Bajwa, Aparshakti Khurana, Stebin Ben and Zahrah S Khan.

• All films are in Hindi unless otherwise noted.