Zainab Ravdjee is an Indian contemporary artist and bespoke perfumer from Hyderabad who married Telugu actor Akhil Akkineni in June 2025. She had been showing paintings in galleries for years before that wedding turned her name into a national search term.
Her canvases have hung in Hyderabad, Dubai and London, and she runs a skincare and fragrance project called Once Upon The Skin. The painter M.F. Husain mentored her from childhood, and she later appeared in a film he directed.
Ravdjee watched her husband’s film Lenin with fans at a Hyderabad theatre on its release day in July 2026. Outings like that stay rare for her.
Zainab Ravdjee Quick Facts
DetailInformationFull NameZainab RavdjeeDate of Birth1985Age41 years (as of August 2026)BirthplaceHyderabad, Telangana, IndiaNationalityIndianProfessionArtist, perfumer, entrepreneurReligionIslamHeight5 feet 7 inches (170 cm)Weightapprox 60 kgSchoolGitanjali School and Nasr School, HyderabadCollegeHamstech College of Creative Education, HyderabadArt StyleAbstract and impressionistMentorM.F. HusainDebut ExhibitionReflections, Kalakriti Art Gallery, Hyderabad (2012)Film AppearanceMeenaxi: A Tale of Three Cities (2004)BlogOnce Upon The SkinFatherZulfi RavdjeeBrotherZain RavdjeeMarital StatusMarriedHusbandAkhil AkkineniEngagement Date26 November 2024Wedding Date6 June 2025Wedding VenueAnnapurna Studios, HyderabadInstagram Followers156K (as of August 2026)Net Worthapprox ₹100 crore (as of 2026)
Zainab Ravdjee Date of Birth, Age and Early Life
Zainab Ravdjee was born in 1985 in Hyderabad, Telangana, which makes her approximately 41 years old in 2026. She grew up in the city in a Muslim business household, surrounded by art and design from an early age. Her schooling was at Gitanjali School in Begumpet and then at Nasr School, both in Hyderabad.
Ravdjee went on to study fine arts at Hamstech College of Creative Education in Hyderabad. Painting started earlier than that, and the artist M.F. Husain took her on as a student when she was seven. She spent parts of her adult life in Dubai, London and Mumbai, and Mumbai became her base.
Zainab Ravdjee Husband and Marriage
Zainab Ravdjee is married to Telugu actor Akhil Akkineni, the younger son of Nagarjuna and Amala Akkineni. They got engaged on 26 November 2024 and married on 6 June 2025 at Annapurna Studios in Hyderabad. Akhil was born on 8 April 1994, which puts nine years between them.
Guests at the small ceremony included Chiranjeevi, Ram Charan, Naga Chaitanya, Sobhita Dhulipala and director Prashanth Neel. Nagarjuna hosted a larger reception two days later. No official wedding photographs were released at the time, and the images that spread came from guests.
Zainab Ravdjee Family and Religion
Zainab Ravdjee comes from a Hyderabad business family and follows Islam. Her father, Zulfi Ravdjee, is an industrialist in construction and real estate who also served as an advisor to former Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy. Her brother, Zain Ravdjee, is chairman and managing director of ZR Renewable Energy Pvt Ltd.
The marriage crossed religious lines, and the couple drew online criticism over both that and the age gap. Nagarjuna and Amala Akkineni issued a statement welcoming her when the engagement was announced. Ravdjee has not spoken publicly about the criticism.
Zainab Ravdjee Art Career and Exhibitions
Zainab Ravdjee paints abstract and impressionist work in acrylic and mixed media, and she has exhibited in India, Dubai and London. Her first solo show, Reflections, opened at Kalakriti Art Gallery in Hyderabad in 2012, when she was 27. She started organising art shows in Dubai at 21.
Reflections opened thirteen years before the June 2025 wedding that turned her name into a national search term. She also works as a self-taught perfumer, making bespoke blends for private clients, and she runs the skincare and fragrance page Once Upon The Skin on Instagram. Her one-screen appearance came in 2004, in Meenaxi: A Tale of Three Cities, a film Husain directed.
Zainab Ravdjee Net Worth
Zainab Ravdjee has an estimated net worth of approx ₹100 crore as of 2026. That covers her own earnings alongside her stake in the family’s business interests. Her income comes from painting sales, private perfume commissions and paid brand work.
Ravdjee sells canvases to collectors in India and abroad, and her perfume work runs through private commissions rather than a retail line. The construction and real estate companies her father runs, along with her brother’s renewable energy firm, hold most of the family money. She also takes paid collaborations with skincare and fragrance brands through her blog.
Zainab Ravdjee Height and Weight
Zainab Ravdjee stands 5 feet 7 inches (170 cm) tall and weighs approx 60 kg. She has a slim build and dark hair, which she wore in a floral gajra on her wedding day. Her wedding outfit was an ivory saree paired with diamond jewellery and soft makeup.
Akhil wore a plain pancha for the same ceremony, and photographs from the morning reached social media within hours. Pictures of the pair in matching white outfits from the 2024 engagement were the first images most people saw of her. Ravdjee has since been seen mainly at family gatherings and film events in Hyderabad.
Zainab Ravdjee FAQs
How did Zainab Ravdjee and Akhil Akkineni meet?
Zainab met Akhil Akkineni through Hyderabad social circles, with horse riding reported as a shared interest that brought them together. She kept the relationship out of the press for around two years, and the pair went public with an engagement post in November 2024.
How many followers does Zainab Ravdjee have on Instagram?
Ravdjee has around 156,000 followers on Instagram, gathered from fewer than thirty posts on the account. Her bio there lists skincare work and bespoke perfumery, and she follows only a handful of accounts herself. She also has an account on X under the handle ZainabROfficial.
Was Akhil Akkineni engaged to anyone before Zainab Ravdjee?
Zainab Ravdjee is Akhil Akkineni’s first wife. Her marriage in 2025 followed an earlier engagement of his to fashion designer Shriya Bhupal in December 2016, which ended before the wedding planned for Italy in May 2017 could take place.
Conclusion
Zainab Ravdjee still paints and blends fragrances while her husband works in Telugu films. Her exhibitions in Hyderabad, Dubai and London came well before the Akkineni name attached itself to hers. She keeps her own account of all of it almost entirely private.
