Zareen Khan Biography

Zareen Khan is a Bollywood actress who started her career as a model to make ends meet for her family and then made her film debut opposite Salman Khan in the film Veer where she played the role of a princess. Since then, she has appeared in a lot of films and music videos and has ventured into Kollywood and Punjabi films as well.

Zareen Khan Early Life and Education

Zareen Khan was born into a Pathan family in Mumbai in the year 1987. She was an exceptional student during her school days and always scored great marks, prompting her to become a doctor after she completed her Intermediate studies from Rizwi College for Women in Mumbai but unfortunately, she had to discontinue her education due to some financial problems in her family. Zareen lost weight to get into shape and eventually became a model to support her family and make ends meet.

Career

Being a model, Bollywood had to be her next stepping stone as her entry into films was rather providential; perhaps stardom was in her destiny. During her modeling days, she once casually happened to visit the sets of Subhash Ghai’s Yuvvraaj where the gaze of Superstar Salman Khan, who was playing the lead in the film, fell upon her. He subsequently offered her the role of a princess in his 2010 period film Veer, produced and written by Salman himself and directed by Anil Sharma. A striking resemblance to actress Katrina Kaif too was considered a reason for Salman offering her the role. Interestingly, Zareen was so fit that she had to gain 8 kgs to look the part of a princess in the film. The same year, she got a nomination for the Zee Cinema Award for the Best Debut Female for her performance in the film.

In 2011, she played one of the heroines in Sajid Khan’s Housefull 2 featuring alongside an ensemble cast of Akshay Kumar, Asin, John Abraham, Shreyas Talpade, Riteish Deshmukh and Jacqueline Fernandez. She later ventured into the Punjabi film industry with the 2014 film Jatt James Bond, directed by Rohit Jugraj. Zareen played a journalist in the 2014 thriller Death of Amar directed by Param Gill, but it is the 2015 erotic thriller Hate Story 3 directed by Vishal Pandya which catapulted her to stardom. She shared the screen with Sharman Joshi and Karan Singh Grover in the film.

She was next seen in the 2017 film Aksar 2, a sequel to 2006’s Aksar in the role of Sheena Roy. The film was directed by Ananth Narayan Mahadevan and also starred television actor Gautam Rode and Abhinav Shukla. Then in January of 2018, she starred opposite Karan Kundra in the Vikram Bhatt directorial horror film 1921, which was the third installment in the 1920 franchise.

Special Appearances and Cameos

Apart from acting in Bollywood films, the actress has also made special appearances in songs for movies of different languages. In the year 2011, she was seen in the song Character Dheela in Salman Khan’s ready, which became a chartbuster. She then made her debut in South Indian films with an item number for the song Malgove in the Tamil film Naan Rajavaga Pogiren.

In 2016, Zareen Khan appeared in the remake of the song Khallas for Ram Gopal Varma’s Veerappan and in the same year, also appeared in the song Mahi Ve for the erotic thriller Wajah Tum Ho.

Apart from this, Zareen Khan also appeared in the music video for Armaan Malik and Neeti Mohan’s single titled Pyaar Manga Hai opposite Ali Fazal. 

 

Awards

Zareen Khan has won many accolades for her performances from different quarters and has come close on a few occasions to be nominated in some of the popular awards but somehow has been unlucky. Though she hasn’t won any major awards till now but was nominated for Zee Cine Award for Best Female Debut in 2010.

Endorsements

Zareen Khan has been on the cover of various famous magazines and is the brand ambassador for Samalkha Group of Institutions and has appeared in advertisements for Black Cobra Plywood. The actress was also seen alongside Pakistani cricketer Shahid Afridi for an ad for General Petroleum. Apart from this, Zareen Khan rejected a 1 Crore deal for an endorsement for a weight loss pill, saying “I cannot endorse something I don’t believe in. I work very hard every day in the gym and believe there are no shortcuts to weight loss!”