Brother of the actress Ameesha Patel, he began his career as an assistant director and later progressed to leading roles in Bollywood productions.

[2] Patel studied at the Cathedral and John Connon School in Mumbai and later attended the University of Texas at Austin in United States, from which he received a bachelor's degree in Business in 2000.

[7] Media reports in early 2010s extensively linked Patel with actresses Veena Malik and Sara Khan, but he denied any romantic relationships with them.

[10] Patel started his cinematic career as an assistant director and worked with Vikram Bhatt in the making of his films, Aap Mujhe Achche Lagne Lage (2002), Awara Paagal Deewana (2002), Raaz (2002) and Footpath (2003).

He played the role of terrorist Abu Shamil, who masterminded the attacks and managed to brainwash the rest of his crew into perpetrating this heinous crime.