Prateik Babbar

Prateik Smita Patil (born Prateik Babbar; 28 November 1986), is an Indian actor who predominantly appears in Hindi films. The son of late actress Smita Patil and former MP and actor Raj Babbar, he began his career as a production assistant before pursuing an acting career. Prior to his screen debut, Prateik appeared in television advertisements for a variety of products, including Nestle KitKat, on recommendation of the filmmaker Prahlad Kakkar. Since his debut in Bollywood, Patil has received accolades such as a Filmfare Award and a Stardust Award.

Patil made his screen debut with the 2008 coming of age drama Jaane Tu... Ya Jaane Na. He garnered nominations at various award ceremonies including the Filmfares, Screen Awards, and the Stardust Awards for best debut, winning the last of the three. Babbar played a variety of roles in 2011, appearing in commercially viable projects such as the crime thriller Dum Maaro Dum and the political drama Aarakshan, while drawing the attention of critics for his performances in independent films, including the drama Dhobi Ghat and the romantic comedy My Friend Pinto. Following a number of box-office failures, he had his biggest successes with the thriller Baaghi 2 (2018), the comedy Chhichhore (2019) and the action drama film Darbar (2020).

Early life Prateik was born on 28 November 1986 and is the son of the actor-politician Raj Babbar and the actress Smita Patil. His mother died due to complications in childbirth soon after Prateik was born. Prateik was raised by his maternal grandparents in Mumbai. He has said in interviews that he had a strained relationship with his father while growing up, as his father was "always busy with his other family". However, he also said that he and his father reconciled after Prateik grew into adulthood.

Career Prateik Babbar assisted advertisement filmmaker Prahlad Kakkar for a year as a production assistant. During this time Babbar was cast in advertisement films for several companies, including KitKat.

Prateik made his acting debut in the Aamir Khan production, Jaane Tu... Ya Jaane Na alongside Imran Khan and Genelia D'Souza. His portrayal of the annoying, attention-seeking brother of Genelia's character won him critical appreciation as well as numerous awards. At the 54th Filmfare Awards, Patil received a Special Jury certificate, as well as nominations for Best Male Debut and Best Supporting Actor. The film went on to become a major commercial success. In 2011, Patil appeared in four films, the first of which was Kiran Rao's Dhobi Ghaat, which opened to positive reviews at film festivals worldwide.

After gaining sobriety over substance abuse, he attended acting school taking up a course in method acting at the Jeff Goldberg Studio in 2016. Patil Babbar's first role after the course was in a short film entitled The Guitar. He made his feature film comeback with the comedy-drama Umrika, which opened at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival to a positive response. In 2017, he starred in a video titled "#DilSeAzaad", which highlighted the stigmas around addictions and addicts.

In 2018, he made a comeback with the film Baaghi 2, with Tiger Shroff in lead role, where Prateik for the first time portrayed an antagonist role as Sunny. He appeared in two more films; Anubhav Sinha's Mulk where he played Shahid Mohammed and Nitin Kakkar's Mitron. He also appeared in the 2019 Tamil language action thriller film Darbar, written and directed by AR Murugadoss and produced by Allirajah Subaskaran starring Rajinikanth. The film was a major commercial success.

Patil later starred in Mumbai Saga (2021).

Personal life In 2011, during the filming of Ekk Deewana Tha, which is a remake of the Tamil-Telugu Bilingual film Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa/Ye Maaya Chesave, he began a relationship with Amy Jackson, a British actress. They broke up the following year.

Following a battle with substance abuse in 2013, a problem that Babbar had struggled with in the past, he went through rehab and counseling and has stayed sober since.

In January 2024, he got engaged to his girlfriend, actor Priya Banerjee. On 14 February 2025, they got married.

In March 2025, he changed his name from Prateik Patil Babbar to Prateik Smita Patil. Babbar stated that the reason behind this because his father was absent from his life.

Filmography Film

Television

Web series

Awards and nominations Year Film Award Category Result 2009 Jaane Tu... Ya Jaane Na Filmfare AwardsSpecial Jury Award Best Supporting Actor Stardust AwardsBreakthrough Performance – Male 2012Dhobi Ghaat Superstar of Tomorrow – Male