Aaron Taylor-Johnson of "Nocturnal Animals" registered a surprise win in the category, which also had nominees like Mahershala Ali for "Moonlight", Jeff Bridges for "Hell or High Water" and Simon Helberg for "Florence Foster Jenkins".
Patel earlier took to the Golden Globes stage to introduce the Garth Davis-directed movie with film's another Indian-origin star Sunny Pawar.
The "Slumdog Millionaire" star has been riding high with critics loving his performance as Saroo Brierley, a man in search of his Indian roots.
In an interview to PTI ahead of the awards, Patel had said that more than winning, he was looking forward to celebrate the film at the Globes and was happy to be mentioned alongside great actors.