Ranveer Singh

Ranveer Singh, born Ranveer Singh Bhavnani, is an Indian actor who works mainly in Hindi films and is known for his high-energy screen presence, his flamboyant personal style and a willingness to disappear into physically demanding roles.^[1] Born in Mumbai on 6 July 1985, he made his debut in the Yash Raj Films romantic comedy Band Baaja Baaraat (2010), which won him the Filmfare Award for Best Male Debut, and he built his reputation through several period dramas with Sanjay Leela Bhansali, notably Bajirao Mastani (2015) and Padmaavat (2018).^[1] He has won five Filmfare Awards, including Best Actor for Bajirao Mastani, Gully Boy (2019) and 83 (2021), and a Critics Award for Best Actor for Padmaavat.^[1]

After a brief period of career fluctuations, he returned to the top with Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani (2023) and then with the two-part spy thriller Dhurandhar (2025) and Dhurandhar: The Revenge (2026), directed by Aditya Dhar.^[1] Both films rank among the five highest-earning Indian films ever, with the first grossing over Rs 13 billion worldwide and the second passing Rs 18.5 billion to become the highest-grossing Indian film of 2026.^[1][3] He was reported to have charged around Rs 50 crore for the second film.^[10]

In 2026 he is also preparing for the post-apocalyptic zombie thriller Pralay, directed by Jai Mehta, and he and his wife, the actress Deepika Padukone, welcomed their second daughter in September 2026.^[5][9]

Ranveer Singh Bhavnani was born on 6 July 1985 in Bombay (now Mumbai) into a Sindhi family, to Anju and Jagjit Singh Bhavnani, and he has an elder sister, Ritika.^[1] His grandparents moved to Bombay from Karachi during the partition of India, and his paternal grandmother, Chand Burke, was a film actress who came from a Punjabi Christian family.^[1] His mother's cousin, Sunita Kapoor, is married to the actor Anil Kapoor.^[1] He later dropped his surname Bhavnani for his screen name, saying it felt too long with too many syllables for a brand.^[1]

He has said he always wanted to be an actor and took part in school plays and debates, but after joining H.R. College of Commerce and Economics in Mumbai he felt that getting a break in films was far-fetched and turned his attention to creative writing.^[1] He then went to the United States, where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Telecommunications from Indiana University Bloomington in 2008, taking acting classes and choosing theatre as his minor.^[1]

After he returned to Mumbai in 2007, he worked for a few years in advertising as a copywriter at agencies including Ogilvy & Mather and J. Walter Thompson, and he also worked as an assistant director before leaving the job to focus on acting.^[1] He sent his portfolio to directors and went to all kinds of auditions, but was offered only minor roles, and he has described that period as bleak and very frustrating.^[1] In 2010 he auditioned for a lead role in Maneesh Sharma's Band Baaja Baaraat, and the producer Aditya Chopra cast him opposite Anushka Sharma.^[1]

In Band Baaja Baaraat (2010) Singh played Bittoo Sharma, a small-town Delhi boy who starts a wedding-planning business, and to prepare he spent time with students at Delhi University.^[1] The film was a sleeper hit and won him the Filmfare Award for Best Male Debut.^[1] After Ladies vs Ricky Bahl (2011), he earned critical praise as a melancholic conman in the period romance Lootera (2013), which underperformed commercially.^[1] His biggest early success was Bhansali's Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ram-Leela (2013), a version of Romeo and Juliet opposite Deepika Padukone, which earned about Rs 2.02 billion worldwide.^[1]

He followed it with Gunday (2014), which grossed Rs 1 billion, and the ensemble drama Dil Dhadakne Do (2015).^[1] For Bajirao Mastani (2015), in which he played the Peshwa Bajirao I, he shaved his head and locked himself in a hotel room for 21 days to prepare; the film earned about Rs 3.5 billion and won him the Filmfare Award for Best Actor.^[1] Befikre (2016) underperformed, and after a year away he played the ruthless sultan Alauddin Khilji in Padmaavat (2018), a film that faced violent threats and protests before its release but went on to earn over Rs 5.7 billion worldwide, his highest-grossing release at the time, and won him the Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actor.^[1]

The same year he starred as a police officer in Rohit Shetty's Simmba, which earned about Rs 4 billion, and in 2019 he played an aspiring street rapper in Zoya Akhtar's Gully Boy, performing his own rap songs; the film premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival, won a record 13 Filmfare Awards and brought him another Best Actor award.^[1] In 2021 he hosted the TV game show The Big Picture, played Simmba again in an extended cameo in Sooryavanshi and played cricketer Kapil Dev in 83, which won him his third Filmfare Best Actor award even though the film failed to recover its Rs 2.7 billion investment.^[1] Jayeshbhai Jordaar and Cirkus (both 2022) were commercial failures.^[1]

His comeback began with Karan Johar's Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani (2023) with Alia Bhatt, which earned over Rs 3.5 billion worldwide and brought him another Filmfare nomination, and he returned as Simmba in Singham Again (2024), which had modest returns relative to its large budget.^[1]

The turning point was Dhurandhar (released 5 December 2025), a spy action thriller in which he plays an undercover Indian intelligence operative working in Pakistan under a false identity, set against events such as the hijacking of Indian Airlines Flight 814 and the 2008 Mumbai attacks.^[1][3] The film, which runs 214 minutes and was his first A-rated release, grossed over Rs 13 billion worldwide and was the highest-grossing Indian film of 2025.^[1] Its sequel, Dhurandhar: The Revenge (19 March 2026), runs 229 minutes, earned Rs 1,650 crore globally in its first 20 days and has since passed Rs 18.5 billion, becoming the highest-grossing Indian film of 2026.^[1][4] A WION review noted that the sequel gave him greater prominence and allowed him to hold attention with one of the most raw performances of his career, though critics were divided on the film's heavy violence.^[1] He won the Best Actor award at the 2026 Screen Awards for the first film.^[13]

His next announced project is Pralay, directed by Jai Mehta and described as a large-scale post-apocalyptic zombie thriller set in a dystopian version of Mumbai, with shooting reportedly planned from September 2026 and a major schedule in Australia.^[5] Media reports in 2026 also suggested that he is no longer part of Farhan Akhtar's Don 3.^[6]

Singh began dating Deepika Padukone, his co-star in Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ram-Leela, in August 2012, and they announced their engagement in October 2018.^[1] They married in November 2018 in two ceremonies, a Konkani Hindu ritual and a Sikh Anand Karaj, both held at Lake Como, Italy.^[1] Their first child, a daughter named Dua, was born on 8 September 2024, and they announced their second pregnancy in April 2026, soon after the success of Dhurandhar: The Revenge; their second daughter was born in September 2026.^[1][9]

Off-screen, he is known for his flamboyant fashion sense. In July 2022 he appeared nude in a photoshoot for Paper magazine, and a month later Mumbai Police summoned him for questioning over complaints filed after the pictures went viral.^[1] In December 2023 life-size wax figures of him were installed at the Madame Tussauds museums in London and Singapore.^[1]

He has been among the most commercially valuable celebrities in India. He has appeared in Forbes India's Celebrity 100 list since 2012, reaching seventh place in 2019, and Kroll valued his brand at US$203.1 million in 2023 and US$170.7 million in 2025, making him India's second most valuable celebrity in both reports.^[1] He became the first Indian actor to appear on the cover of a major international sports magazine after Dhurandhar.^[1] He endorses brands including Adidas, Head & Shoulders, Ching's, Jack & Jones, Thums Up and MakeMyTrip, and in October 2026 he was named brand ambassador for Gresbond by Kajaria, whose new tile-adhesive campaign launches nationally on 16 October.^[1][8]

He launched his own record label, IncInk, in 2019 to promote local musicians, invested in Sugar Cosmetics and in 2024 bought a 50% stake in the packaged-food company Elite Mindset.^[1] In October 2026 he reportedly took delivery of a BMW i7 electric sedan priced at Rs 1.95 crore, adding to a Hummer EV in his garage.^[7]

Estimates of his net worth vary: several media reports in 2026 put it between Rs 350 crore and Rs 400 crore (roughly US$42 to 50 million), while one older estimate gave about US$30 million; because these are unaudited, they should be treated as approximate.^[10][11]