Maryam Zakaria is an Iranian-born actress and model who works in

Indian films The cinema of India, consisting of motion pictures made by the Indian film industry, has had a large effect on world cinema since the second half of the 20th century. Indian cinema is made up of various film industries, each focused on pr ...

. She has appeared in

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of South India ** Telugu literature, is the body of works written in the Telugu language. * Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Tel ...

, and

Tamil Tamil may refer to: People, culture and language * Tamils, an ethno-linguistic group native to India, Sri Lanka, and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka ** Myanmar or Burmese Tamils, Tamil people of Ind ...

language films. She is best known for her work in films such as '' Madatha Kaja'', ''Agent Vinod'' and ''

Grand Masti ''Grand Masti'' (), also referred to as ''Masti 2'', is a 2013 Indian Hindi-language sex comedy film directed by Indra Kumar and produced by Ashok Thakeria. The film is a sequel to the 2004 film ''Masti (2004 film), Masti'', and the second ins ...

''.

Career

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

, Zakaria worked as model, dance teacher, choreographer, and established a Bollywood dance school, the Indisk Dans Studio, which was the first dance school in Sweden to teach the "jhatkas and matkas of Bollywood cinema". She moved to

Mumbai Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

, in 2009 to work in

Bollywood Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, is primarily produced in Mumbai. The popular term Bollywood is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (former name of Mumbai) and "Cinema of the United States, Hollywood". The in ...

and began working as a model, appearing in various television adverts, the most notable being the adverts of Set Wet, Layz, and Coke. She also appeared in a Coca-Cola advertisement with

Imran Khan Imran Ahmed Khan Niazi (born 5 October 1952) is a Pakistani politician, philanthropist, and former cricketer who served as the 19th prime minister of Pakistan from August 2018 until April 2022. He was the founder of the political party Pak ...

. Tamil film director

Sundar C Vinayagar Sundar Vel (born 21 January 1968), known professionally as Sundar C, is an Indian actor, filmmaker, and playback singer who predominantly works in Tamil cinema. He has directed over 30 films and received the Kalaimamani#2009, Kalaim ...

signed her to perform an

item number In Indian cinema, an item number or special song is a musical number inserted into a film that may or may not have any relevance to the plot. The term is commonly used within Indian films ( Bengali, Hindi, Kannada, Punjabi, Tamil, and Telugu c ...

in his film '' Nagaram'' (2010), after watching a dance video of hers on

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

. Her performance in the hit number "Diyalo Diyala" from '' 100% Love'' was her big breakthrough. She went on to play one of the female lead characters in another Telugu film, '' Madatha Kaja'' (2011), alongside

Allari Naresh Edara Naresh (born 30 June 1982), better known as Allari Naresh, is an Indian actor and film producer who works predominantly in Telugu films. Starring in over 55 films and known for his various comic roles, Naresh earned two Filmfare Awards ...

, and signed to do another Telugu movie as leading actress in ''Arjuna''. In 2012, she appeared in the item number "Dilli Ki Billi" in Muazzam Beg's film '' Sadda Adda''. In the Saif Ali Khan film '' Agent Vinod'', she acted as Farah and performed a mujra in the song "Dil Mera Muft Ka" alongside

Kareena Kapoor Kareena Kapoor Khan (; ; born 21 September 1980) is an Indian actress. A prolific leading lady of Hindi cinema since 2000, she is noted for her roles in a range of film genres—from romantic comedies to crime dramas. Kapoor is the recipient ...

, which gave her a fame in Bollywood. In 2012, she signed for Indra Kumar's movie ''

'', as leading actress opposite Aftab Shivdasani, which released on 13 September 2013. ''Grand Masti'' is the highest grossing Bollywood film with an A (Adults Only) certificate in India to be a big hit, subsequently entering Bollywood's 100-crore club in India. The film was declared a Super Hit in India by Box Office India.

Personal life

Maryam Zakaria married choreographer Arvind Thakur in 2012. The couple had a son, Aryan Thakur, in 2013.

Filmography

Films

Music videos

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Zakaria, Maryam Living people 1984 births Actresses from Tehran Iranian film actresses Iranian female models Iranian female dancers Iranian emigrants to Sweden Iranian emigrants to India Swedish film actresses Swedish female models Iranian expatriates in India Swedish expatriates in India Actresses in Hindi cinema Actresses in Tamil cinema Actresses in Telugu cinema Expatriate actresses in India Iranian former Shia Muslims Converts to Hinduism from Shia Islam