Zeishan Quadri was born in Wasseypur, Dhanbad, Bihar (now in Jharkhand) in 1983.[4] He is the only son and the youngest child of Syed Imran Quadri, a civil engineer. Quadri grew up in a strict and protective environment. He has two elder sisters.[5] Quadri was educated in Dhanbad. Quadri left Dhanbad to study for Bachelor of Arts (BA) from Meerut. Quadri worked in a call center and for HCL computers in Delhi for 18 months before coming to Mumbai in 2008.[6]
Film career
In 2009, Quadri moved to Mumbai to pursue a career in acting.[7][8] Quadri studied world cinema including film makers such as Majid Majidi, Fateh Akın and Akira Kurosawa.[9] Quadri has worked in the genre of Bollywood crime films. His film Revolver Rani was directed by Sai Kabir and starred Kangana Ranaut and vir Das.[10][11][12]
His first film as a director and producer was Meeruthiya Gangsters.[3] The editing of the film has been done by veteran filmmaker Anurag Kashyap who presented the film along with Prateek Entertainment Pvt. Ltd.[13] Quadri visited many cities for the promotion of the film including Aligarh at Aligarh Muslim University.[14]
According to Mumbai Mirror, Anurag Kashyap and Quadri are collaborating on the third installment of the Gangs of Wasseypur franchise, with Kashyap insisting that Quadri writes and directs the film.[23] Quadri initially planned to produce Sarbjit, and brought in Omung Kumar, who directed the film released in 2016.[24][25] Quadri and Ekta Kapoor are collaborating on a new non-fiction TV series.[26]
"Gangs of Wasseypur" is based on real life events in the coal rich city of Dhanbad. It is a story about the "coal mafia" that spans several generations from 1941 to 2010 in two parts. On 30 May 2009, Quadri's story was sold to Anurag Kashyap. Quadri negotiated to write the script and play the character "Definite" in the second part.[28][29][30][31]