Zafar Hai is the Managing Partner of Haimark Films in Mumbai and a Partner with Tabrez Noorani in The Malabar Film Company based in Los Angeles. He has an impressive portfolio of work, having written and directed a feature film, and produced and directed numerous TV commercials, documentaries, promotional films, and history of art films shot in various parts of the world, which have garnered many awards.
One of his notable works is 'The Perfect Murder', a feature film in English directed by Zafar with Ismail Merchant as producer, starring Naseeruddin Shah and Stellan Skarsgard, and featuring Oscar award-winning cameraman Walter Lassally as Director of Photography.
Zafar's films have won several prestigious awards, including National and Filmfare Awards, as well as international awards such as Prix-ITB Berlin, for films like 'Timeless India' featuring Michael York as narrator, and 'The Taj of Apollo Bunder', a centenary film for the fabled Taj Mahal Palace hotel anchored by Roshan Seth.
His past films include 'Keepers of the Flame', centered on the lives of Jamsetji Tata, the founder of the group, and the legendary JRD Tata, with Kabir Bedi as on-camera narrator, and 'Crucible of Fire', featuring Jeremy Irons as narrator, an epic story interlacing Tata Steel's history with the great events of the time.
From 'Jewels & Marble Palaces' evoking an ambience of royal splendor to 'Merchant Princes of Bombay' chronicling the swashbuckling times when fortunes were made from the opium trade, Zafar's films have dealt with varied subjects that have borne his signature style of uncompromising quality backed by imaginative technique.
He has directed four films for a history of art TV series covering India's major heritage sites that was premiered at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington DC prior to being broadcast on the Discovery channel. He has made biopics on business tycoons such as Aditya Birla and Anil Agarwal of Vedanta. Amitabh Bachchan has featured as narrator for two of his films, and he has had music composed by the likes of Ustad Zakir Hussain, Ustad Sultan Khan, and Pandit Shivkumar Sharma.
Among Zafar's projects in development is a limited series for an international audience based on John Zubrzycki's book 'The Mysterious Mr. Jacob' featuring one of the most fascinating figures of the British Raj, and his fateful tryst with the largest brilliant-cut diamond in the world.
In recognition of his distinctive contribution to the advertising industry, Zafar was conferred with a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Advertising Club, Bombay.
Zafar did his B. A. Honours in English Language and Literature from St. Stephen's College, Delhi. He later went to University College, Oxford, where he read Philosophy, Politics, and Economics. While at Oxford, he directed and acted in several theater productions, which laid the foundation for his career in films.
