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.
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
