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Zaira Wasim is an Indian actress who is best known for her playing the role of childhood character of the Indian sportswoman Geeta Phogat in the popular movie Dangal. Let’s check out Zaira Wasim’s age, her personal life, career, and other interesting facts.
Biography/Wiki
Zaira Wasim was born on 23 October 2000 (18 years old; age as in 2018).
She shot to fame for her portrayal of the role of the child version of Geeta Phogat in the movie “Dangal.” Since then there has been no looking back for Zaira Wasim. Her performance in the movie was commercially and critically acclaimed.
Physical Appearance
Zaira 5′ 1″ tall & weighs approx 50 kg. She has black eyes, black hair, and fair complexion.
Family, Caste & Boyfriend
Zaira Wasim was born and brought up in a Muslim family with Islam ethnicity in Hawal, Downtown, Srinagar, Jammu, and Kashmir. She is a half Kashmiri and half Punjabi.
She lives with her parents and one younger brother, Zoraiz Wasim. Her father, Zahid Wasim, is an Executive Manager of the Jammu and Kashmir Bank while her mother, Zarqa Wasim, is a teacher. She is very close to her father.
She is single as of now and not dating anyone.
Career
Zaira Wasim completed her schooling from St. Paul’s International Academy, Sonwar, Srinagar, Jammu & Kashmir and Jammu’s Heritage School, Jammu & Kashmir. Since her childhood, she was a brilliant student. She scored 92% marks in 10th board examination. As of 2018, she was pursuing secondary education from Heritage School, Jammu.
Before entering the Bollywood, she had acted in two television commercials- “Microsoft Lumia” and “Tata Sky.” In 2016, she started her career in Bollywood with the superhit Bollywood movie “Dangal” in which she played the childhood character of Indian sportsgirl Geeta Phogat.
Zaira Wasim in Dangal
In 2017, she appeared in the movie “Secret Superstar.”
On 30 June 2019, she announced her disassociation from the glamour world citing religious reasons.
Awards
- National Film Award for the Best Supporting Actress (2017) for Dangal.
- Star Screen Award for the Most Promising Newcomer (2017) for Dangal.
- National Child Award for Exceptional Achievement (2017) for Dangal.
- News18 Movie Award for the Best Supporting Actress (2017) for Dangal.
- Big Zee Entertainment Award for Best Child Actress (2017) for Dangal.
- Filmfare Award for Best Actress (Critics) (2018) for Secret Superstar.
- Star Screen Award for the Most Promising Newcomer (2017) for Secret Superstar.
- National Child Award for Exceptional Achievement (2017) for Secret Superstar.
- Lux Golden Rose Award for Emerging Beauty of the Year (2017) for Secret Superstar.
Controversies
- In 2016, Zaira Wasim’s pictures with hair trimmed went viral on the internet. She was criticized and trolled by radical Muslims for having been un-Islamic by acting in a Hindi film.
- In 2016, Zaira had a controversial meeting with the then Jammu & Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti whereby Mufti had portrayed Zaira as the role model of the Kashmiri youth. Later, Zaira apologized on her social media accounts. However, deleted this apology after some time and added another open letter clarifying everything. Moreover, the subsequent post was yet again deleted.
- On January 2017, the former Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports Vijay Goel tweeted that ”This painting tells a story similar to @zairawasim. Pinjra torh kar hamari betiyan barhne lagi hai aage (Our daughters are breaking out of their cages and moving forward) More power to our daughters!” In reply, Zaira tweeted “I feel I must disagree. I request you not to connect me to such a discourteous depiction. Women in hijab are beautiful and free. Moreover, the story depicted through this painting is not even remotely relevant to mine.” After that, Goel responded that Zaira had misunderstood his tweet and he appreciated her work and meant to discourage evil and patriarchal notions.
- On 10 December 2017, she was molested on a Vistara flight from Delhi to Mumbai by a 39-year-old man, Vikas Sachdeva, a senior executive of a media and entertainment company. The same day, the Police arrested the accused of molesting her and booked him under section 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty) of IPC, and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO).
Favourite Things
- Zaira Wasim likes to listen to the song “Jealous” by Labrinth.
- Her favourite singer is Ed Sheeran.
- She has a liking for black colour.
Facts
- Zaira’s list of hobbies includes breaking things, listening to songs, sleeping, reading, hanging out with friends, and playing with her pet cat.
- Before acting in the movies, she appeared in the TVC ads for Microsoft Lumia and Tata Sky.
- Initially, Zaira Wasim’s parents did not agree with her decision to act in a movie but Zaira’s school principle convinced them for letting her work in the movie “Dangal.”
- She did hard training for the role of a wrestler.
- While preparing for the Dangal, Zaira stayed along with Fatima Sana Shaikh, Sanya Malhotra, Suhani Bhatnagar at Aamir’s Khan’s old apartment in Mumbai for 6 months.
- She is also the youth ambassador for the Bengaluru Midnight Marathon 2017.
- Wasim had social anxiety and self-esteem issues before she started her acting career.
- In an interview, she said that she is very shy and have a limited number of friends.
- Zaira Wasim has some unusual and cranky likings like earthquakes, turbulent flights, wind turbines and loves to break things.
- Wasim loves to listen to melodious songs and her all-time favourite song is Jealous by Labrinth.
- She plays the guitar very well.