Arif Zakaria (born 11 November 1966) is an Indian actor. He has had roles in many films, beginning with his debut filmDarmiyaan (1997),1947: Earth (1998),Dance Like a Man (2004), and biographical projectsMardana and the controversialNanak Shah Fakir.^[1][2][3]

Arif Zakaria's uncleRafiq Zakaria was a veteran politician from theIndian National Congress. His brotherAsif Zakaria is also an INC politician and cousinFareed Zakaria is an American journalist. Zakaria completed his graduation fromSydenham College of Commerce and Economics.

Zakaria married Namrata Sharma, aFashion Writer, in 2002. The couple divorced in 2010.

Zakaria began acting in theatre while in college and later moved on to work in television and films. He acted in numerous television serials likeChunauti,Karambhoomi,Mrityudand,Dhund,Aarzoo,Campus,Kaali - Ek Agnipariksha, etc. Arif acted in diverse roles in films likeDarmiyaan,Hero,Asambhav andDance Like a Man (English). Zakaria travelled the globe since 2005 with the Australian musical showMerchants of Bollywood, performing major roles in the production across Europe, China, France, Poland, Hong Kong, Singapore and Australia (the last season in Sydney in 2010).^[4]

The actor portrayed Rustom Sethna inDeepa Mehta'sEarth/1947 and Major Dhillon inShyam Benegal'sNetaji Subhas Chandra Bose: The Forgotten Hero.^[5] He also appeared inHome Delivery: Aapko... Ghar Tak,Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi,Deewaar and theShah Rukh Khan filmMy Name is Khan.^[6]

In 2011, Arif played the ghost that haunts the female protagonist inVikram Bhatt'sHaunted and was appreciated for the ghastly portrayal of a piano teacher falling in love with his young student who gets murdered while making advances towards her and rapes her as a ghost, which forces her to commit suicide in the movie. He played the role of a police officer inJism 2, starringSunny Leone, appeared inLootera and inKrrish 3 as Dr. Varun Shetty.

Other releases of the actor areDee Saturday Night,Darr at the Mall,Blue Mountain (all 2014) andNanak Shah Fakir andIshq Forever (both 2015). He is also acting in the playGardish Mein Taare, directed by Saif Hyder Hasan, which is based on the life ofGuru Dutt. In 2015, Zakaria produced a children's film "Pinti Ka Sabun" for theChildren's Film Society of India; (CFSI) this film is directed by Pramod Pathak.

In 2017, Arif was seen inVikram Bhatt's web series Spotlight –Web series as famous actor/director/producer Dev Bannerjee. Featured in the short filmAamad – written and directed by Neeraj Udhwani for the Terribly Tiny Tales web portal.

Arif Zakaria also worked inRaazi, directed byMeghna Gulzar, along withAlia Bhatt andVicky Kaushal and the filmAhaan, directed by first-time director Nikhil Pherwani; a tender story of a young man withdown syndrome.^[7] He is slated to shoot for an English filmSwords and Sceptres, a re-telling of the story of theRani of Jhansi. Plays the role of Gaus Khan. Shooting commenced from October 2017 in Jaipur. At present the actor is playing the role of Gen. Bakhtiyar in a romance-thriller series Qubool Hai 2.0 that will be streamed on all ZEE5 platform.^[8][9]

• Arif Zakaria atIMDb 
• Arif Zakaria atBollywood Hungama

• Male actors from Mumbai
• Living people
• Konkani Muslims
• 1967 births
• Male actors in Hindi cinema
• 20th-century Indian male actors

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