# Disha Patani

Disha Patani (pronounced; 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.

## Early life and education

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.

## Career
### Early work (2015–2020)

Patani debuted with a Telugu film, Loafer alongside Varun Tej in 2015. She plays 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 plays the role of Priyanka Jha, the girlfriend of Rajput's character who dies in a car accident. Directed by Neeraj Pandey, the film emerged as a major commercial success, earning over ₹2.16 billion (US$25 million). Taran Adarsh from Bollywood Hungama and Shubhra Gupta from The Indian Express both commended Patani on a strong debut. At the IIFA Awards, she won the Star Debut of the Year (Female). She also featuredin Jackie Chan's Kung Fu Yoga, along with Sonu Sood.
Patani starred opposite Tiger Shroff in Baaghi 2, the second instalment of the Baaghi franchise. Saibal Chatterjee of NDTV wrote, "Patani is a pretty sight all right but is only required to sleepwalk through her role". Grossing over ₹258 crore (US$30 million) worldwide, the film ranks among the highest-grossing Hindi films of 2018.
In 2019, Patani appeared in a brief role in the action drama film Bharat starring Salman Khan and Katrina Kaif. She began the new decade with Mohit Suri's action thriller film Malang co-starring Aditya Roy Kapur, Anil Kapoor and Kunal Khemu. Writing for Bollywood Hungama wrote that she, "gets the most screen time ever she looks gorgeous and delivers a heart-warming performance". It was a moderate commercial success. The following month, she appeared in a song for the film Baaghi 3, the third instalment of the Baaghi franchise.

### Career struggles (2021–present)

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 was panned by critics. In 2022, Patani played a proxy killer in Mohit Suri's psychological thriller Ek Villain Returns opposite John Abraham. It underperformed commercially. Sukanya Vema of Rediff dismissed Patani's character as derivative.
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 emerged as a box-office bomb. Patani saw success with the Telugu film Kalki 2898 AD where she was paired opposite Prabhas. Earning over ₹12 billion (US$140 million), the film was a major success commercially, emerging as the year's highest-grossing Indian film and Patani's first success since Malang. Following this, she expanded to Tamil films with Kanguva, playing a bounty hunter opposite Suriya. The film opened to mixed reviews with criticism for her "insignificant part" from India Today's Janani Kumar.

## Other work and public image

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$660,000).
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.

## Filmography
### Films

Key :
| † | Denotes films that have not yet been released |
* All films are in Hindi unless otherwise noted.
| Year | Title | Role(s) | Notes |
| 2015 | Loafer | Mouni / Parijatam | Telugu film |
| 2016 | M.S. Dhoni: The Untold Story | Priyanka Jha | |
| 2017 | Kung Fu Yoga | Ashmita | Chinese film |
| 2018 | Welcome to New York | Herself | Cameo appearance |
| 2018 | Baaghi 2 | Neha Rawat | |
| 2019 | Bharat | Radha Mathur | |
| 2020 | Malang | Sara Nambiar | |
| 2020 | Baaghi 3 | Bar dancer | Special appearance in the song "Do You Love Me" |
| 2021 | Radhe | Diya Abhyankar | |
| 2022 | Ek Villain Returns | Rasika Mapuskar | |
| 2024 | Yodha | Laila Khalid | |
| 2024 | Kalki 2898 AD | Roxie | Telugu film |
| 2024 | Kanguva | Angelina | Tamil film |
| 2025 | Welcome To The Jungle † | TBA | Filming |

### Music videos

| Year | Title | Singer(s) | Composer | Notes |
| 2016 | "Befikra" | Meet Bros, Aditi Singh Sharma | Meet Bros | |
| 2019 | "Har Ghoont Mein Swag" | Badshah | Badshah | |
| 2023 | "Kyun Karu Fikar" | Nikhita Gandhi | Vaibhav Pani | Also director |
| 2025 | "Tell Me" | Karan Aujla, OneRepublic | Ikky | |

## Awards and nominations

| Year | Award | Category | Work | Result |
| 2017 | BIG Star Entertainment Awards | Most Entertaining Actor in a Drama Film – Female | M.S. Dhoni: The Untold Story | Nominated |
| 2017 | BIG Star Entertainment Awards | Most Entertaining Actor Debut – Female | M.S. Dhoni: The Untold Story | Won |
| 2017 | Stardust Awards | Superstar of Tomorrow – Female | M.S. Dhoni: The Untold Story | Won |
| 2017 | Stardust Awards | Best Debut (Female) | M.S. Dhoni: The Untold Story | Won |
| 2017 | International Indian Film Academy Awards | Star Debut of the Year – Female | M.S. Dhoni: The Untold Story | Won |
| 2017 | International Indian Film Academy Awards | Best Supporting Actress | M.S. Dhoni: The Untold Story | Nominated |
| 2017 | Screen Awards | Best Female Debut | M.S. Dhoni: The Untold Story | Won |
| 2023 | Bollywood Hungama Style Icons | Stylish Mould Breaking Star Female | — | Nominated |
| 2023 | Bollywood Hungama Style Icons | Most Stylish Trendsetter | — | Nominated |
| 2023 | Bollywood Hungama Style Icons | Stylish Glam Star | — | Nominated |
| 2023 | Pinkvilla Style Icons Awards | Glamorous Trendsetter of the Year | — | Won |
| 2024 | Pinkvilla Screen and Style Icons Awards | Most Stylish Game Changer | — | Won |