Zakir Khan is an Indian musician, stand-up comedian, writer, poet and YouTuber. He came into limelight after winning the ‘India’s Best Stand Up Comedian’ competition on Comedy Central in 2012. He is one of the most popular stand-up comedians in India.
Wiki/Biography
Zakir Khan was born on Thursday, 20 August 1987 (age 32 years; as in 2019) in Indore, Madhya Pradesh. His zodiac sign is Leo. His family has roots in Rajasthan.
Zakir Khan childhood pictures
He attended St. Paul Indore. After completing his schooling, Zakir enrolled himself in B.Com, but dropped out of the college in between. While sharing the incident, Zakir said,
Yaar, college mein rehne ka koi matlab nahi tha. Class hum attend karte nahi the, aur degree se jyada apni khwahisho se pyaar tha.”
Born into a musical family, Zakir developed an interest in music at a very young age. He studied music under the guidance of his father and grandfather. After dropping out of college, Zakir continued his studies to the diploma level at Sitar. He wanted to become a radio producer for which he moved to Delhi. There, he did radio programming at ARSL for a year and then, shifted to Jaipur in 2009 for an internship. After completing the training, Zakir returned to Delhi.
Physical appearance
Height (approx): 5′ 7″
Hair Color: Black
Eye Color: Brown
Family, Caste & Wife
Zakir Khan belongs to a Muslim Family. His father, Ismail Khan is a music teacher at St. Raphael, Indore. His mother, Kulsum Khan is a housewife. He has two brothers, Zeeshan Khan (Lead Singer in Malang-The Band) and Arbaz Khan (Student). He is the grandson of the Indian classical instrumentalist and vocalist, Ustad Moinuddin Khan.
Zakir Khan with his parents
Zakir Khan with his brothers
Zakir Khan with his grandfather
Zakir Khan with his family
Career
While in Delhi, Zakir tried different fields, from theater to radio. Finally, he took up a position as a copywriter and lead researcher at HT Media Ltd. He worked there for about 4 years. Later, his roommate, Vishwas, encouraged him to do an open mic. Slowly, he started performing in cafes and people started liking his jokes. Gradually, his performance began to receive thunderous applause. He was then called to Mumbai to write the script for the news comedy show “On Air With AIB.”
Zakir Khan performs on stage
Zakir rose to fame in 2012 after winning Comedy Central’s ‘India’s Best Stand Up Comedian’. He was praised for his comedy style in NDTV Prime’s ‘The Rising Stars of Comedy’. After that, he gained widespread popularity for his punchline “Sakht Launda,” which means a man with great self-control who cannot be easily manipulated by beautiful and cunning girls.
In 2015, he wrote and co-hosted ‘On Air with AIB,’ a news comedy show. The show aired on Star World, India. Some of his popular comedy shows include “Trading Station” (2014), “A Promising Game” (2017), “Haq Se Single” (2017) and “Chacha Vidhayak Hain Hamare” (2018).
In September 2017, Zakir appeared as a mentor in the fifth season of “The Great Indian Laughter Challenge,” judged by Akshay Kumar. He has also appeared as one of the judges in Amazon Prime’s “Comicstaan Season 2”.
He has also co-hosted the 5th Annual Kela Emas Awards with other famous comedians like Vir Das and Papa CJ.
Favorite Things
- Poet: Mirza Ghalib, John Elia
- Book: The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand
- Movie: Chhoti Si Baat (1976)
Facts/Trivia
- His hobbies include playing the Sitar, singing, and composing songs.
Zakir Khan plays the Sitar
- Interestingly, Zakir did his first comedy show with popular comedian “Neeti Palta.”
Zakir Khan with Neeti Palta
- Zakir is very fond of dogs and has a pet dog called Champ.
Zakir Khan with his pet dog
- During the interview, Zakir revealed that his family has been involved with music for a long time. He said,
I come from a family that has a 300-year relationship with music. For my parents, even getting a 9-5 job was an unusual thing to do.”
- Zakir praised his father for the success he achieved in his life.
- Surprisingly, at one time, Zakir and another AIB comedian, Abish Mathew were Radio Jockeys in different radio stations.
- Reportedly, his family was not satisfied with his decision to stop studying and pursue a career in Radio. So, to overcome the tension, Zakir stopped taking money from his family and lied about having a job.
- While in Jaipur, Zakir did several side jobs to cover his daily expenses.
- Apparently, when Zakir left Jaipur, he had no money to pay his room rent. At that time, his host had written him and also offered him some money to return to Delhi.
- During the interview, Zakir shared that he was bullied as a child. His classmates made fun of his face and appearance and such incidents made him brave and helped him make humor his shield.
- According to Zakir, he is a very lazy person.
- During an event in Delhi, when asked to comment on Gutthi (the female lead played by comedian, Sunil Grover in Comedy Nights with Kapil) walking out of the television show “Comedy Nights with Kapil,” Zakir said,
What Gutthi does is not comedy. Especially in Delhi, comedy has grown to be mature and versatile. Gutthi is not versatile.”
He further added,
Live comedy is very different from what you see on TV. A live show is like telling a joke to your friend, but on TV, the joke has to go through a lot of filtering…but Gutthi is still better than the rest. Kapil Sharma’s comedy is based on insulting people. It is very Punjabi. Tu mota hai, tu kaala hai, tere daant kharab hain – that’s their joke, and I don’t think it’s funny.”
- According to Zakir, if not a comedian, he would definitely be a music teacher.
- He shared in an interview that his dream project is to design an agricultural course for teenagers where he aims to shape their personality.
Categories: Biography
Source: SCHOOL TRANG DAI
