Ranveer Singh Bhavnani (; born 6 July 1985) is an Indian actor who works in Hindi films. The recipient of several awards, including five Filmfare Awards, he is among the highest-paid Indian actors and has been featured in Forbes Indias Celebrity 100 list since 2012. After graduating from Indiana University Bloomington, Singh made his acting debut with a leading role in Yash Raj Films' romantic comedy Band Baaja Baaraat. The film was a critical and commercial success, earning him the Filmfare Award for Best Male Debut. He gained praise for playing a melancholic thief in the drama Lootera (2013), and established himself as a star through his collaborations with Sanjay Leela Bhansali, the first of which was in Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ram-Leela (2013). He gained critical acclaim for portraying Bajirao I and Alauddin Khilji in Bhansali's period dramas Bajirao Mastani (2015) and Padmaavat (2018), respectively. He won the Filmfare Award for Best Actor for the former and the Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actor for the latter. These, along with the action film Simmba (2018), in which he played the title character, rank among the highest-grossing Indian films. He won further Best Actor awards at Filmfare for playing an aspiring rapper in the musical drama Gully Boy (2019) and Kapil Dev in the sports film 83 (2021). Singh has also hosted the television game show The Big Picture (2021–2022), and endorses several brands and products. He is married to his frequent co-star Deepika Padukone. Off-screen, he is known for his flamboyant fashion sense. Early life and education Ranveer Singh Bhavnani was born on 6 July 1985 into a Sindhi family in Bombay, Maharashtra, India (now Mumbai), to Anju and Jagjit Singh Bhavnani. His grandparents moved to Bombay from Karachi, Sindh (in present-day Pakistan) during the Partition of India. He has an elder sister, Ritika Bhavnani. Singh is the paternal grandson of character-actress Chand Burke and is related to actor Anil Kapoor's family through his wife Sunita Kapoor (née Bhavnani). Singh explains that he dropped his surname Bhavnani, since he felt that the name would have been "too long, too many syllables", thus downplaying his brand as a "saleable commodity". Singh always aspired to be an actor, participating in several school plays and debates. However, after he joined H.R. College of Commerce and Economics in Mumbai, Singh realised that getting a break in the film industry was not easy. Feeling that