Zarar serves as the primary antagonist in the Indian Police Force. The character is played by Mayyank Taandon in the show, available to stream on Prime Video.
Zarar is a young man who is just like any other ordinary citizen when he goes by his alias Haider. Other times, he’s the most wanted terrorist in India.
Zarar’s childhood
During a communal riot in Kanpur, a young Zarar experienced loss and trauma.
His dear uncle ended up dying inside the factory his father owned after it was set ablaze by rioters.
A broken Zarar was taken advantage of by Rafeeq, a teacher at the madrasa he began attending frequently.
Rafeeq radicalizes Zarar and he goes on to become a religious extremist because of it.
His family later disowns him as well as his younger brother, Sikku, who also ends up being radicalized and in the same terroristic outfit as his elder brother.
When Sikku dies after being caught trying to bomb a carnival in Goa, Zarar’s parents come to collect the body.
But the mother makes it clear how much she dissociates with the kind of people her sons became.
Point of no return
As an adult, Zarar has been behind serial blasts all over India. His targets include Ahmedabad, Delhi, Jaipur, and Goa.
He works for Indian Mujahideen, a terrorist organization, and by the end of the show, he’s become an IM commander.
His brother Sikku often joins him in their missions, which have caused hundreds of deaths of innocent people. Meanwhile, Zarar leads a second life as Haider.
Haider the perfume maker
He lives in Delhi, at Saeed’s house for a while. He falls in love with Saeed’s daughter, Nafeesa, who is completely unaware that her father is a sleeper cell and Haider is India’s most wanted terrorist.
She thinks he’s just a bohemian perfume maker and falls for him. It’s only after their marriage and her getting pregnant, in Bihar, that she comes to learn about his real identity.
Zarar loves Nafeesa very much and is ready to risk it all for her as well. He does so alone when he flees India after losing Sikku in Goa and having his mission be unsuccessful.
Nafeesa is back home in Darbhanga, Bihar, still unaware of all that has happened to her family in Delhi and all that her husband is about.
Choosing truth
He tries to get her to meet him in Dhaka and Rafeeq sends his men to get her out of the law’s grasp. But she decides to stay in India and help out the authorities against her husband.
She does so because she realizes that Zarar is really a terrorist, something she couldn’t come to terms with all this time. She realizes this when she finds out about his lie.
Long ago, back in Delhi, he had told her that his parents had died in an accident when he was just a child.
However, she happens to catch his father on TV when his identity makes rounds on every news channel.
Looking at his father disowning him makes her realize that she would be siding with an enemy of the nation and someone who hasn’t truly loved her if she reunited with him.
She helps DCP Kabir Malik track him down in Dhaka and the police officer ultimately arrests Zarar with the help of his team and brings him back to India.
During his last conversation before jail with his wife, Zarar is struck with some semblance of guilt and shame over his actions. However, he’s lost his chance at penance.
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