Aasif Khan (born 13 March 1991) is an Indian actor, best known for his role as Babar in action crime thriller web television series Mirzapur (2018-2020).[1]
Early life
Aasif Khan was born and raised in Nimbahera, a small town in Chittorgarh district of Rajasthan, India.[2] His father, Mr. Late Ayyub Khan was an employee in J.K. Cement, and his mother, Mrs. Firdous Ayyub Khan is a housewife. He has two brothers and a sister.[3]
Khan was mediocre in academics but had a great inclination towards the field of arts. His keenness for acting began in 2001 at his school's annual event, where he performed the role of a servant in Kissa Kursi Ka play.[2][4] He was deeply inspired by the "shaadiwallah" act performed by comedian Raju Srivastava in the popular TV show The Great Indian Laughter Challenge.[2][4] It encouraged him to participate in the stand-up competition held locally where he surprisingly won.[3][4]
The sudden demise of his father in 2008 brought his acting ambition to a halt. He engaged himself in taking up small jobs for a living and parallelly completed his higher secondary education.[2][4][5]
Career
Khan moved to Mumbai in 2010 to revive his acting ambition.[2] For sustenance, he initially worked in a hotel as a waiter. He later worked in a mall and simultaneously gave auditions, where he was advised to learn the art of acting and perform theatre.[2][6] He appeared in Ready and Agneepath as a junior artist.[3][7]
In 2011, he joined Sarthak and Ujaagar Theatre Group in Jaipur to learn theatre and sharpen his acting skills. He performed as a professional theatre artist, his first play being Abu Hassan directed by Rajiv Acharya, and several others for 5 years with prestigious groups and renowned personalities like Sabir Khan.[2][3][8][9][10][11]
He played the lead role as Durgesh Kumar – a young aspirant for an interview in Anurag Worlikar's short film Vacancy (2017) for which he won the Best Actor award in Skylight Film Festival (2018) and Cineshorts by Viacom18.[5][7]
In 2018, he played Babar, a loyal aide in web series Mirzapur.[15]
Aasif made his Bollywood film debut in Raj Kumar Gupta's India's Most Wanted (2019) where he played a crucial role of Bittu Sinha alongside Arjun Kapoor.[2] He appeared as Chintu in Humorously Yours (2019).[3]
In 2020, Aasif overwhelmed the audience by his appearance in a crucial role of a journalist as Anas Ahmad in Jamtara – Sabka Number Ayega.[16][17][18] He was next seen as a stubborn bridegroom in The Viral Fever's comedy drama Panchayat (2020).[18][19] He then appeared in Paatal Lok (2020) as Kabir M, a petty car thief who makes great efforts in dissembling his identity during an interrogation.[20][21][22][23][24][25]
He continued to play Babar in Mirzapur season 2[1][26] and appeared in short film: Sorry (2020).[27][28]
In 2021, Khan appeared in Click (2021),[29] a short film streamed on Disney+ Hotstar[30] and then appeared as Parchun in Umesh Bist's comedy-drama film Pagglait[31][32] which was released on 26 March 2021 on Netflix.[33][9][10][11]
In 2022, Aasif appeared in the web series Human which was streamed on Disney+ Hotstar,[7] in Dil Se Hero, a mini-series by FilterCopy,[34] and in Murder In Agonda, an Amazon miniTV web series.[35][36]
Aasif appeared as a lead protagonist in Ghar Set Hai,[37][38][39][40][41] a comedy-drama web television series streamed on VOOT.[42]
Khan was next seen in The Great Indian Family, a romantic comedy film written and directed by Vijay Krishna Acharya and produced by Aditya Chopra under Yash Raj Films banner.[43] He was featured in Amazon miniTV's web series - Dehati Ladke, as Prashant Bhaiya, who is an extremely talented UPSC aspirant, a mentor and a role model for the youth.[44] Aasif's portrayal of Prashant Bhaiya, left a lasting mark adding to the richness of the character dynamics.[45]
Aasif's return as Ganesh in Panchayat season 3 was a perfect set up for an explosive season finale. His surprise appearance was massively applauded by the audience with majority complimenting his role from being the most hated in season 1 to the most loved character in season 3.[46][47]
He will be seen next in horror-comedy films Kakuda[48] and The Virgin Tree,[49] and in romantic comedy films viz. Ishq Chakkallas[50] and Noorani Chehra.[51][52] Aasif will also be featured in Section 108, a thriller drama, written and directed by Rasikh Khan and presented by Anees Bazmee.[53][54]