Maryam Zakaria

Maryam Zakaria is an Iranian-born actress and model who works in Indian films. She has appeared in Hindi, Telugu, and Tamil language films. She is best known for her work in films such as Madatha Kaja, Agent Vinod and Grand Masti.

Career In Sweden, Zakaria worked as a 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, India, in 2009 to work in Bollywood 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.

Tamil film director Sundar C signed her to perform an item number in his film Nagaram (2010), after watching a dance video of hers on YouTube. 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.

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, which gave her fame in Bollywood. In 2012, she signed for Indra Kumar's movie Grand Masti, 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 Year Film Role Language Notes 2009 Paying Guests Hindi Item number 2010 Nagaram Tamil 2011 100% Love Telugu Brahmigadi Katha Telugu Madatha Kaja Priya 2012 Sadda Adda Hindi Item number Agent Vinod Farah Faqesh Naa Ishtam Telugu Item number Dammu Chakradhaar Hindi Rowdy Rathore 2013 D-Day Bajatey Raho Grand Masti Rose 2014 Anjaan Tamil Item number 2016 Missing on a Weekend Hindi 2017 Firangi 2020 Arjuna Shruti Telugu

Music videos Year Title Artist Notes 2007 "Goli" Saeed Shayesteh "Man Sazegaram" "Akharin Ghasam" 2008 "Ghorboni" 2009 "Jatt Di Zameen" Preet Harpal "Doset Daram" Saeed Shayesteh "Aakh Ladhde" Jaswinder Daghima "Mast Malanga" Sanoj Kumar 2010 "Khoshgeleh" Saeed Shayesteh "Azaaram Bedi" 2011 "Ja Ja Ve Ve" Rishi Singh & Rajveer Dhillon