From Karan Johar and Yashraj to Shah Rukh and Alia Bhatt — Arif Zakaria on the directors, actors and movies he has done in a remarkable career spanning 40 years.
Key Points
- ‘Dharma and Yashraj treat actors very well.’
- ‘I was paid 750 bucks per episode for my first TV serial, it was big money that time.’
- ‘We used to carry our own clothes for shoots.’
Actor Arif Zakaria stumbled into acting by accident and became a household name with his first TV show Chunauti in 1987, a hugely popular hit series on college life.
A student at Mumbai’s Sydenham College then, he remembers doing theatre for Rs 100 and carrying his own clothes to shoots for the earlier TV dramas he acted in.
IMAGE: Arif Zakaria has played diverse roles across theatre, films, OTT and TV in an outstanding career spanning 40 years. Photograph: Hitesh Harisinghani/Rediff
After spending nearly 40 years as an accomplished performer across TV, films, OTT and theatre — he speaks to Rediff‘s Archana Masih on The Rediff Podcast about the diverse roles he has played in My Name is Khan, Raazi, War, Darmiyan, Dance Like A Man, Haunted 3D, Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, Special Ops, Freedom at Midnightand many more.
Here are a few highlights that you may not want to miss:
On Karan Johar & Aditya Chopra
‘Karan Johar is larger than life. Big production houses like Dharma and Yashraj treat actors very well. They spoil you.’
On Meghna Gulzar
‘She has a quiet way of directing.’
On Neeraj Pandey
‘He is poetic and genteel.’
On Nikkhil Advani
‘Very good with chaotic scenes where many actors appear in a single scene. Has very good grasp of the script’
On Shyam Benegal
‘He was a historian-scholar. Very under-rated despite his immense body of work’
Watch all this and more in an easy-breezy conversation on The Rediff Podcast.
Interview: Archana Masih/Rediff
Video Production: Hitesh Harisinghani/Rediff, Rajesh Karkera/Rediff, Satish Bodas/Rediff
Editing: Saahil Acharekar/Rediff
