Fatima Sana Shaikh

Some Lesser Known Facts About Fatima Sana Shaikh

• Fatima Sana Shaikh is an Indian actress, who predominately works in the Hindi film industry. She is best known for portraying the role of Geeta Phogat in the superhit film Dangal (2016).

• Shaikh grew up in Mumbai. Her family hails from Jammu and Kashmir.

  

• Before venturing into the film industry as an actress, Fatima worked at a photography studio in Mumbai for around two years to gain photography experience.

• At the age of 5, she played the role of Bharti Ratan in the Hindi film Chachi 420 (1997).

• Subsequently, she played a blink-and-miss role in the Bollywood film Ishq.

• In 1999, Fatima appeared in the Hindi film Bade Dilwala as Baby Sana.

• She also appeared as a child artist in the 2001 Hindi film One 2 Ka 4.

  

• After that, Fatima Sana Shaikh took a break from acting for a few years to concentrate on her studies.

• In 2008, she played the role of Zoya in the Bollywood film Tahaan, marking her Bollywood debut.

• In 2009, Fatima Sana Shaikh appeared in the Zee TV serial Agle Janam Mohe Bitiya Hi Kijo as Suman.

• She has also played the role of Richa Shivoy in the sitcom show Best of Luck Nikki (2011), which aired on Disney Channel.

• Subsequently, Shaikh appeared in the Bollywood films Bittoo Boss (2012) and Akaash Vani (2013).

  

• Fatima Sana Shaikh became popular by portraying the role of Geeta Phogat in the Bollywood film Dangal. Equally praised by both, the critics and the audience, the film starred Aamir Khan in the lead role. It became one of the highest-grossing films of the year with a collection of Rs. 2000 crores worldwide.

• In an interview, Fatima shared that she bagged the role of Geeta Phogat in the Bollywood film Dangal after passing 6 rounds of auditions. She also revealed that she watched various wrestling videos which helped her to understand the walk, moves, and body language of the wrestlers and perform her role with ease.

• In the same interview, Fatima revealed that she had received physical training from fitness coach and former wrestler Kripa Shankar Patel Bishnoi and attended various workshops with Tiwari and Aamir Khan.

• In an interview, Fatima shared that during the shooting of the film Dangal, she stayed at Aamir Khan’s old apartment in Mumbai for around 6 months along with Sanya Malhotra, Zaira Wasim, and Suhani Bhatnagar. Fatima also revealed that while rehearsing a scene for Dangal, she misjudged the timing, and consequently, fractured her ankle.

• Some of her popular Bollywood films include Thugs of Hindostan (2018), Ludo (2020), Suraj Pe Mangal Bhari (2020), Ajeeb Daastaans (2021), and Thar (2022).

• In 2022, Fatima appeared in Amazon Prime Video’s Raat Rani episode of the romantic comedy anthology Modern Love Mumbai. She played the role of Lalzari, a chattering, clumsy, and exuberant Kashmiri cook, in the series. Directed by Shonali Bose, the Raat Rani episode of the series depicts the story of a girl named Lalzari from anguish to optimism. Serving as a metaphor for Lalzari’s life, the film shows her forbidden bicycle journey on Mumbai’s Sea Link bridge which is barred for two-wheelers.

• She has also been featured in the music videos of a few Hindi songs like Tujhse Meri by Aditya Salankar and Palkein Kholo by Vishal Bhardwaj.

• She has also worked as an assistant cinematographer in two TV commercials.

• Fatima Sana Shaikh has endorsed several popular brands like KitKat, Fossil, Tata Harrier, and Dabur Almond.

  

• In her spare time, she likes to dance, read, sketch, and do photography.

• In 2022, Fatima, along with the Indian actor John Abraham was crowned PETA India’s Most Beautiful vegetarian.

• People often confuse Fatima Sana Shaikh with the Indian actress named Sana Sheikh due to the similarity in their names.

• In an Ask Me Anything session on Instagram, Fatima revealed that she was diagnosed with epilepsy during the shooting of her debut film Dangal. During the session, when a fan asked her how she got to know about her disease, she replied,
  

  I was diagnosed when I was training for Dangal. I got an episode and woke up straight at the hospital… I was in denial first [for five years]. And now, I have learnt to embrace it, and work and live around it.”

• In an interview, Fatima revealed that during the shooting of the Bollywood film Dangal, she got close to her co-actress Sanya Malhotra that some of their friends misunderstood their friendship as romance, leading to dating rumours. Talking about it, she said,
  

  We simply laughed about it. Just because we are good friends, they assumed the worst.”

• In 2016, Fatima Sana Shaikh revealed on Karan Johar’s talk show Koffee with Karan that before bagging a role in Dangal, she was jobless for around three years.

• In 2017, Fatima Sana Shaikh was awarded the Jackie Chan Action Movie Award for Best Action Actress for the Bollywood film Dangal.

• She was placed at rank 48 in The Times Most Desirable Woman list of 2020.

• In an interview, Fatima shared that she too had experienced a #MeeToo moment. While talking about it, she said,
  

  It was about a personal experience. I think people have misunderstood the #MeToo movement if they restrict it only to the film industry. It’s not only ki film industry mein aisi cheez hoti hai. Har job mein hoti hai. Jo mere saath hua hai, woh bohot pehle hua hai. Aisa nahi hai ki Dangal ke time hua hai ya uske baad. It happened when I was very young. I think people assuming that it’s very current and wondering why I am not talking about it… that’s a lot of expectation. Every woman in our country has dealt with it and I’m sure not everyone wants to talk about it publicly.”

• Fatima is a pet lover and had two pet cats named Sultan and Michelle. She also has two pet dogs named Nush and Bijlee.

  

• She is a bike enthusiast.

• In 2021, Fatima Sana Shaikh was featured on the cover of Cine Blitz magazine.

  

• She is very particular about her fitness and follows a strict workout regimen.

• Fatima has been linked with the Bollywood actor Aamir Khan several times after the duo worked together in the Bollywood film Dangal (2016). Although the two rubbished the dating rumours multiple times, things got intense after Aamir Khan announced his divorce from his second wife Kiran Rao as people blamed Fatima Sana Shaikh for their separation. In November 2022, Fatima shared a few pictures on Instagram with the caption
  

  “To do or Knot to do, That is the question…”

  The word ‘Know’ captured the attention of the netizens who started asking her if her wedding with her rumoured boyfriend Aamir Khan was on cards. Later, Aamir Khan’s daughter Ira Khan’s comment on the post added more fuel to the speculations. Ira left a trail of heart eyes emojis on her post. Fatima was also invited to Ira Khan’s engagement, where she was seen twinning with Aamir Khan.

• Fatima was also linked with the Bollywood actor Aparshakti Khurana. In an interview, when confronted about the same, Khurana said,
  

  They don’t affect me at all because these are rumours. Plus Sanya (Malhotra) and Fatima are close enough to my wife (Aakriti Ahuja) for her to understand the equation.”

• Fatima appeared as ‘Indira Gandhi‘ in the film ‘Sam Bahadur’ (2023) for which she charged Rs. 1 crore.