Zakaria began acting in theatre while in college and later moved on to work in television and films. He acted in numerous television serials like
Chunauti,
Karambhoomi,
Mrityudand,
Dhund,
Aarzoo,
Campus,
Kaali - Ek Agnipariksha, etc. Arif acted in diverse roles in films like
Darmiyaan,
Hero,
Asambhav and
Dance Like a Man (English). Zakaria travelled the globe since 2005 with the
Australian musical show
Merchants of Bollywood, performing major roles in the production across
Europe,
China,
France,
Poland,
Hong Kong,
Singapore and Australia (the last season in
Sydney in 2010). The actor portrayed Rustom Sethna in
Deepa Mehta's
Earth/1947 and Major Dhillon in
Shyam Benegal's
Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose: The Forgotten Hero. He also appeared in
Home Delivery: Aapko... Ghar Tak,
Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi,
Deewaar and the
Shah Rukh Khan film
My Name is Khan. In 2011, Arif played the ghost that haunts the female protagonist in
Vikram Bhatt's
Haunted and was appreciated for the ghastly portrayal of a piano teacher falling in love with his young student who gets murdered while making advances towards her and rapes her as a ghost, which forces her to commit suicide in the movie. He played the role of a police officer in
Jism 2, starring
Sunny Leone, appeared in
Lootera and in
Krrish 3 as Dr. Varun Shetty. Other releases of the actor are
Dee Saturday Night,
Darr at the Mall,
Blue Mountain (all 2014) and
Nanak Shah Fakir and
Ishq Forever (both 2015). He is also acting in the play
Gardish Mein Taare, directed by Saif Hyder Hasan, which is based on the life of
Guru Dutt. In 2015, Zakaria produced a children's film "Pinti Ka Sabun" for the
Children's Film Society of India; (CFSI) this film is directed by Pramod Pathak. In 2017, Arif was seen in
Vikram Bhatt's web series Spotlight –
Web series as famous actor/director/producer Dev Bannerjee. Featured in the short film
Aamad – written and directed by Neeraj Udhwani for the Terribly Tiny Tales web portal. Arif Zakaria also worked in
Raazi, directed by
Meghna Gulzar, along with
Alia Bhatt and
Vicky Kaushal and the film
Ahaan, directed by first-time director Nikhil Pherwani; a tender story of a young man with
down syndrome. He is slated to shoot for an English film
Swords and Sceptres, a re-telling of the story of the
Rani of Jhansi. Plays the role of Gaus Khan. Shooting commenced from October 2017 in
Jaipur. At present the actor is playing the role of Gen. Bakhtiyar in a romance-thriller series Qubool Hai 2.0 that will be streamed on all
ZEE5 platform. == Filmography ==