Zareen Khan, born on May 14, 1987, is best known for her role as a princess Yashodhara in Salman Khan's Veer. Having made her debut in 2010, Zareen credits her break in Bollywood to Salman. "If it wasn't for him, I don't even think I would have ever thought of becoming an actress," said Zareen in an interview with mid-day. (All pictures courtesy: Zareen Khan's official Instagram account)

Veer was a dream debut for Zareen Khan. But, unfortunately, the film did not do well. She even received flak for looking like Katrina Kaif and was also body-shamed for being on the heavier side.

However, staying unaffected by the negativity at the beginning of her career, Zareen Khan went on to bag big films such as Houseful 2, which starred Akshay Kumar, John Abraham, Riteish Deshmukh, Shreyas Talpade, Asin, Jacqueline Fernandez, Shazahn Padamsee. She even appeared in a special number Character Dheela in Ready with the Dabangg star.

Zareen Khan admitted that big projects that she did at the beginning of her career did not benefit her much. Housefull 2 was a big film but it was a multi-starrer and Zareen was one of the four girls. Naturally, she couldn't cash in on it completely. Ready too, Zareena just appeared in a song.

Over the years, Zareen Khan underwent a drastic transformation and changed the ball-game completely.

A source then had informed mid-day, "Zareen Khan wanted to lose weight and as soon as a good friend and mentor Salman Khan got a whiff of it, he asked his personal trainer to provide proper assistance. She has managed to lose quite a lot of weight."

When Zareen Khan addressed the issue of body shaming in a powerful Instagram post and subsequently, took up a 100-day fitness challenge, a brand manufacturing weight loss pills approached her to endorse their product.

Zareen Khan was offered close to Rs 1 crore but the actress turned it down right away. "I work hard in the gym every day and believe there are no shortcuts to weight loss," she said.

While Zareen was being applauded by few for her drastic transformation, there were some who body-shamed her. She tried to silence body shamers with her stand and said that she was always comfortable with her appearance.

In 2014, Zareen Khan made her debut in the Punjabi film industry with Jatt James Bond. However, her career did not take off there.

After almost three years, in 2015, Zareen Khan made her comeback in Bollywood with erotic thriller Hate Story 3.

After Hate Story 3, Zareen Khan set temperatures soaring with her sizzling pole dancing act in the song Maahi Ve from Wajah Tum Ho in 2016.

Zareen Khan looked fit and fabulous in the song. Wajah Tum Ho featured Sharman Joshi, Gurmeet Choudhary and Sana Khan, in lead roles, while Zareen just had a special appearance with the song.

Meanwhile, Zareen Khan grabbed headlines for her 'bold' scenes in films such as Hate Story 3, Aksar 2. However, she put out her point of view that there is a disparity between the reception of bold scenes by the audience in our country.

Zareen Khan feels part of the problem is that many people in the country look down upon bold scenes, but will be the first ones to watch them.

In an interview, Zareen Khan stated that when a big star does bold scenes on-screen it is appreciated but when something similar is done by a relatively less established face, people label it as 'trash'.

In 2016, she appeared in the music video Pyaar Manga Hai with Ali Fazal, which again raised eyebrows for certain scenes. Apart from Bollywood films, Zareen Khan has worked in the Tamil film Naan Rajavaga Pogiren (2013) in which she did an item song titled Malgove and the Punjabi flick Jatt James Bond (2014).

With social media becoming the new age norm, most actors today have their own channels, especially on YouTube. Zareen Khan too has jumped onto the bandwagon. Her channel will capture her life not only as an established Bollywood actress but also show other aspects of her life.

Her upcoming release, Hum Bhi Akele, Tum Bhi Akele, was screened at the Rajasthan Film Festival in 2019 and received great feedback. She will start shooting for a Punjabi film soon (post the lockdown) and has signed another horror movie. Besides this, she is all set to make her web debut with a woman-oriented [series].

Here's a look at some interesting facts about Zareen Khan:

Zareen Khan speaks Hindi, Urdu, English and Marathi, and some Pashto.

Zareen Khan used to weigh over 100 kg, before making her Bollywood debut.

Zareen Khan pictured kissing her pet Persian cat. She is a cat lover and has almost a dozen cats at home and is keen to add more.

The actress has set up a room for them in her new pad and has also hired a caretaker for her four-legged pets. Despite the cat family at home, whenever she sees a hungry cat, she rushes with food for them and wants to bring it home.

Zareen Khan has completed her intermediate at Rizvi College of Science, Mumbai.

Here's wishing a very happy birthday to Zareen Khan!