Asif Basra

Asif Basra (27 July 1967 – 12 November 2020) was an Indian actor who worked in Bollywood films and TV serials. He is best known to Western audiences for his role in American film Outsourced (2006). He also appeared in many other films, including One Night with the King (2006). Basra died of suicide by hanging in 2020. There was reportedly suspicion that he might have been murdered but the case was closed as no supporting evidence was found.

Asif Basra was born on 27 July 1967 in Amravati, Maharashtra, India. In 1989, he moved to Mumbai and attended University of Mumbai, and acted in college productions. He regularly won prizes for the characters he played during this time. He graduated with a Bachelor's degree in Physics.

Basra performed in Anurag Kashyap's Black Friday and Rahul Dholakia's Parzania, which received much critical appreciation. He appeared in Michael O. Sajbeland's One Night with the King with veteran actors Omar Sharif and Peter O'Toole. He played a tailor in the Hindi movie Lamhaa; he appeared in 2010's top-grossing Bollywood film Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai as Shoaib's (Emraan Hashmi) father. Basra was also known for his theatrical performances from playing five characters in Feroz Abbas Khan's production of Mahatma v/s Gandhi. Other performances include a child with spina bifida in Main Bhi Superman and Horatio in Hamlet.

In 2020, Basra appeared in two web series: Paatal Lok on Amazon Prime and Hostages on Hotstar. He worked in Hindi, Gujarati, Tamil, and Malayalam films. He was last seen in the second season of the Amazon Prime Video web series The Family Man which released on 4 June in 2021.

Basra's body was found hanging in a private guest house in McLeod Ganj, in Dharamshala, Himachal Pradesh on 12 November 2020 at age 53. The investigation into his death was inconclusive and the case was closed as suicide.