Payal Rajput walks the red carpet at the PTC Punjabi Film Awards in Mumbai, with Karisma Kapoor, Raveena Tandon and Malaika Arora

Punjabi cinema's big night came to Mumbai. The PTC Punjabi Film Awards were held on Wednesday, 22 October 2026, at Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC), and Payal Rajput was one of the stars on the red carpet. For Payal, the evening was a homecoming of sorts. Although she is best known today as a Telugu star, her film career began in Punjabi cinema. The guest list The ceremony brought Punjabi and Hindi film stars together under one roof. Alongside Payal, the guests included: 1. Karisma Kapoor 2. Raveena Tandon 3. Pankaj Kapur 4. Malaika Arora 5. Sargun Mehta, one of Punjabi cinema's leading actresses Among the winners, actor Nikitin Dheer received the Best Negative Lead award for Akaal, his Punjabi film debut opposite Gippy Grewal. In a post shared after the ceremony, he called it a moment he would cherish for a lifetime and dedicated the award to his late father, Pankaj Dheer. About the PTC Punjabi Film Awards Presented by the PTC Punjabi television network, the awards have honoured artistic and technical achievement in Punjabi cinema since 2011. Holding this year's ceremony in Mumbai reflects how closely Punjabi films and the Hindi film industry now work together. Payal Rajput's Punjabi connection Payal made her film debut in the Punjabi film Channa Mereya (2017), a remake of the Marathi hit Sairat, and won the Filmfare Award Punjabi for Best Debut Actress for it. She went on to star in Punjabi films including Mr & Mrs 420 Returns (2018), Marriage Palace (2018), Ishqaa (2019) and Shava Ni Girdhari Lal (2021). In 2026 she returned to Punjabi cinema with The Great Punjab Robbery. In Telugu cinema she broke through as Indu in RX 100 (2018), winning the SIIMA Award for Best Female Debut, and earned a SIIMA Best Actress nomination for Ajay Bhupathi's Mangalavaaram (2023). Her other films include Venky Mama (2019), Disco Raja (2020), the Kannada film Head Bush (2022) and the 2026 Tamil film Leader. Off screen, she is the co-founder of the Indian streetwear brand SUPERCAPE. The awards appearance came days after Payal hit back at online trolls who body-shamed her, saying in a social media post that her body is hers and not up for public debate. Explore Payal Rajput's full filmography, awards and latest projects on her Media Marvels profile.