Fatima Sana Shaikh

Fatima Sana Shaikh (born 11 January 1992) is an Indian actress, who works in Hindi films.^[1] Shaikh appeared as a child artist in such films as Chachi 420 (1997) and One 2 Ka 4 (2001).^[2] In 2016, she portrayed wrestler Geeta Phogat in the top-grossing sports film Dangal.^[3] She has since starred in the streaming projects Ludo (2020), Ajeeb Daastaans (2021) and Modern Love Mumbai (2022), and portrayed Indira Gandhi in the biographical drama Sam Bahadur (2023).

Fatima Sana Shaikh
Shaikh in 2023
Born	(1992-01-11) 11 January 1992 (age 33) Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1997–present

Early and personal life

Fatima Sana Shaikh was born on 11 January 1992^{[4][better source needed]} born and brought up in Mumbai. Her mother, Raj Tabassum, is from Srinagar, and her father, Vipin Sharma, is from Jammu.^[5] Shaikh identifies as an atheist.^[6] She had received experience in photography prior to becoming an actress.^[7]

The actress has opened up about her personal experiences of living with epilepsy to help raise awareness of the neurological condition.^[8][9]

Career

Shaikh began her career as a child artist in Chachi 420 and One 2 Ka 4.^[2] Years later, she played Zoya in the Indian drama film Tahaan, which received "The German Star of India award" at "Bollywood and Beyond" festival at Stuttgart, Germany in 2009.^[10]

Shaikh was selected for Nitesh Tiwari's biographical sports film Dangal along with Sanya Malhotra, who had never acted before. Shaikh was chosen to portray Geeta Phogat.^[11] To prepare for her role, she watched several videos on wrestling to understand "how wrestlers move, walk, their body language".^[11] Both Malhotra and Shaikh went through five rounds of auditions, physical training and workshops with Tiwari and Aamir Khan.^[7] They were trained by coach and former wrestler Kripa Shankar Patel Bishnoi.^[7] Released in 2016, Dangal received critical acclaim and became the highest-grossing Indian film ever with earnings of more than ₹2,000 crore (US$230 million) worldwide.^[12]

She played Zafira Baig, a warrior-archer Thug in the epic action-adventure film, Thugs of Hindostan.^[13] Shaikh portrayed Indira Gandhi, along with Vicky Kaushal and Sanya Malhotra in Sam Bahadur (2023) based on the life of Sam Manekshaw directed by Meghna Gulzar.^[14]Shaikh will be featuring in a Hindi remake of Tamil movie Aruvi which will be produced by Applause Entertainment.^[15]

Filmography

Key

†	Denotes film or TV productions that have not yet been released

Films

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Ref.
1997	Ishq	Cameo	As child artist
	Chachi 420	Bharti Ratan	As child artist	[16]
1999	Bade Dilwala	Baby Sana	As child artist
1999	Khoobsurat	Gudiya	As child artist
2001	One 2 Ka 4	Inspector Abbas' youngest daughter	As child artist
2008	Tahaan	Zoya
2012	Bittoo Boss	Priya
2013	Akaash Vani	Sumbul		[17]
2015	Nuvvu Nenu Okkatavudam	Sruti	Telugu film
2016	Dangal	Geeta Phogat		[18]
2018	Thugs of Hindostan	Zafira Baig		[19]
2020	Ludo	Pinky		[20]
	Suraj Pe Mangal Bhari	Tulshi Rane		[21]
2021	Ajeeb Daastaans	Lipakshi		[22]
2022	Thar	Chetna
2023	Dhak Dhak	Shashi "Sky" Kumar Yadav		[23]
	Sam Bahadur	Indira Gandhi		[24]
2025	Metro... In Dino	TBA	Filming	[25]
	Ul Jalool Ishq †	TBA	Completed	[26]
	Aap Jaisa Koi †	Madhu Bose	Filming	[27][28]

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Ref.
2002–2004	Kitty Party	Unknown
2009	Ladies Special	Geeti	Season 1	[citation needed]
	Agle Janam Mohe Bitiya Hi Kijo	Suman	Recurring role	[29]
2011	Best of Luck Nikki	Richa Shenoy	Special appearance in Boys Meet Girls	[citation needed]
2022	Modern Love Mumbai	Lalzari	Segment: "Raat Rani"

Music videos

Year	Title	Singer	Ref.
2015	"Tujhse Meri"	Aditya Salankar	[citation needed]
2020	"Palkein Kholo"	Vishal Bhardwaj	[30]

Accolades

Year	Award	Category	Work	Result	Ref.
2017	Screen Awards	Best Actress (Popular)	Dangal	Nominated	[31]
	Jackie Chan Action Movie Awards	Best Action Actress		Won	[32]
2022	Filmfare OTT Awards	Best Actor in a Web Original Film (Female)	Thar	Nominated	[33]
2024	69th Filmfare Awards	Best Actress (Critics)	Dhak Dhak		[34]

Media

Shaikh was ranked in The Times Most Desirable Women at No. 48 in 2020.^[35]