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’16-year-old’ outshines Priyanka, Deepika, Alia with Top-grossing film, then quits Bollywood

Sanjana Bailwal2 years ago2 years ago3638 mins

This Superstar-ed Film, fronted by a 16-year old female actress, and sown with a cameo by a super star, witnessed an astonishing ₹905 crore worldwide.

Indian cinema, for decades, has been a male bastion. For the last decade, however, it has been led by a couple of female stars into the ₹100-crore club. Such films as Mother India, Pakeezah, and Seeta Aur Geeta have been few.
Alia Bhatt and and Kangana Ranaut have multiple entries in the club. However, if the global earnings are taken into account then one film leaves behind the hits of all these stars, and it was headed by a 16-year-old.

India’s Highest-Grossing Woman-Led Film

Advait Chandan’s 2017 release Secret Superstar was a coming-of-age story about an aspiring singer fighting against an authoritative father. Lead actress: ZAIRA WASIM in just her second film after Dangal, and first as lead actor Secret Superstar also includes Raj Arjun, Meher Vij, Tirth Sharma, in addition to producer Aamir Khan, in a cameo.

Secret Superstar was successful at the Indian box office, collecting ₹64 crore net on a ₹15 crore budget.
But it brought it to mainland China as one of the biggest grossers from Indian cinema. Secret Superstar minted $124 million ( ₹750 crore) in China. Including its ₹65 crore collections from Hong Kong and other overseas markets, the film did an international business of ₹905 crore, which was the highest for any woman-centric film made in India.

All About Zaira Wasim

Born on 23 October 2000 in Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, India, Zaira Wasim decided to quit films at a very young age of 18 due to religious issues.

On 14 November 2017, India’s President Ram Nath Kovind awarded the National Child Award for Exceptional Achievement to Zaira Wasim. The reason behind giving this award to her was that she appeared in some films, which grabbed attention towards burning issues such as child marriage, sexual abuse, and gender parity.

She had a scar on her forehead which she got when she was 7 years old when, while running towards her house, a car crashed into her. The stitches that she got on her forehead left an impression there.
The central protagonist in the movie secret superstar plays guitar; the creative team decided not to cheat so that Zaira Wasim went through special training by a guitar instructor, Jackson John, to get hold of minute details of playing the guitar.

Before she started her journey in the Indian Film Industry, Zaira Wasim had featured in television commercials for Microsoft Lumia and Tata Sky TV.
Zaira Wasim loves cats very much and has 3 of them: Dodo, Jerry and Snow, in her house.
Zaira loves French fries highly; she eats them so much that her friends have nicknamed her “Alu (Potato)”.

A Jashn-E Youngistan conclave was organized on 24th November 2018 in New Delhi. In this function, young achievers across diversification are honored for their contribution towards society. Zaira Wasim received her award during the ceremony at the hands of the Vice President of India, Mr. Venkaiah Naidu.
While growing up, Zaira never thought of becoming an actress and movies were never any interest. She believes it was the destiny that took her to this profession.
Zaira Wasim did her schooling from St. Paul’s International Academy in Srinagar, Jammu & Kashmir.

India’s Leading Film Producers and Actresses heading Popular Films of the Year

No female-led film has been able to gather even half the amount Secret Superstar did. The Adah Sharma starrer Kerala Story rounds off the second position with ₹304 crore worldwide business. Kangana Ranaut features in two films in this list – Tanu Weds Manu Returns ₹255 crore and Manikarnika ₹133 crore.

Alia Bhatt is three times as well for Gangubai Kathiawadi at ₹212 crore, Raazi at ₹196 crore and Dear Zindagi at ₹135 crore. The other films on the list include Rani Mukerji’s Hichki at ₹208 crore, Kriti Sanon, Kareena Kapoor and Tabu starrer Crew at ₹157 crore and Kareena Kapoor and Sonam Kapoor’s Veere Di Wedding at ₹139 crore.

ZAIRA WASIM’s Career was cut short abruptly

ZAIRA WASIM dream debut, in which the two first films – Dangal and Secret Superstar – together raked in nearly ₹3000 crore. At 16, she was when the second of the films was released. The former made her a National Film Award winner, the latter a Filmfare Award winner.

But Zaira did just another film and retired just before it was released. At the tender age of 18, Zaira quit cinema as she felt it was affecting her faith. Her last cinematic outing, The Sky Is Pink, released much later in the year. But the actor did not attend any of the promotion events. Zaira leads a serene life now far away from showbiz.

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