In the World of Shazahn Padamsee

To enter Bollywood with a description that goes – ‘Alyque Padamsee and Sharon Prabhakar’s daughter’, can come with a lot of expectations, especially when one comes to know, or knows, Read More">that both come from a theatre background. Now the questions. How do you reach the Bollywood A-list when you’re in your early twenties? And DeepikaRead More

To enter Bollywood with a description that goes - 'Alyque Padamsee and Sharon Prabhakar's daughter', can come with a lot of expectations, especially when one comes to know, or knows, that both come from a theatre background. Now the questions. How do you reach the Bollywood A-list when you're in your early twenties? And Deepika Padukone and Sonam Kapoor are getting offered all the best roles? What if you're charismatic, freethinking, well-read, extremely intelligent and a good feet tall, and thus tower over the many female lead in every department? What if you consider yourself to be a serious stage actress and know that you can pull it off when it comes to movies? How do you make it possible? Well, you could do it the Shazahn Padamsee way. She has had one of the rarest and extraordinary creative growth, thanks to her parents. In a world where everyone tries to be a perfectionist, she claims to be having her hands and feet in every profession, she has stumbled upon, making it a learning experience. In an exclusive half an hour chat with the latest Bollywood entrant, I seemed to figure out Shazahn more than her google searches - that in films, people are cast primarily because they look like a character, whereas on stage, in an hour and a half, she has the opportunity and ability to convince the audience she is whatever she chooses to be. That's acting. UK's Harrow Observer columnist and Bollywood Hungama's London correspondent gets up, close and personal with the freshest face in tinsel town. In part one of this exclusive interview where she is being launched as YRF's next big thing in Rocket Singh - Salesman of the Year, Shazahn Padamsee embarks on her journey as a teenager, her career confusions, her theatre background, her dream to work with Vishal Bhardwaj, her fashion, style and brand consciousness and her most important decision - that cinema is the future for her.

Teenage years
"As a kid, I was a very shy person to what I am today. I wouldn't even step out of my room when the rehearsals were going on. But because I helped back stage, I was very interested in theatre. Because of my back stage helping hand, I observed everything to do with acting. I learnt a lot. I can recall so many incidents sitting behind my father's chair and pretend like I was not there. That's when he used to urge me to sit with the actors so that I learn the acting skills by observing. As a result, at one stage in my life, I also wanted to do something behind the stage more than face the audiences. As a teenager, I wanted to enter an advertising agency because my father said so. But it wasn't my cup of tea. Advertising is a complete no-no and I never wanted to do it in the first place. Then my mother suggested I enter event management. I did that for about a year and a half. I did an event management course but again it didn't interest me. It was nice but not exciting."

Read More">Vishal Bhardwaj I loved the way Vishal Bhardwaj made Omkara and Maqbool. I’d love to be featured in any of his films because the story becomes strong as it is based on a play or is an adaptation. I always want to be a part of the story which is strong where I get toRead More

Vishal Bhardwaj
I loved the way Vishal Bhardwaj made Omkara and Maqbool. I'd love to be featured in any of his films because the story becomes strong as it is based on a play or is an adaptation. I always want to be a part of the story which is strong where I get to act rather than just smile and be looked upon."

Fashion, style and brands
"My fashion style is young, it's fresh and at the same time I like the edgy look too, like the dark kaajal and all. I like experimenting. My fashion icon has to be Rihana because I love her style. I like Sarah Jessica Parker's style too. The brands I love are Bebe and Roberto Cavalli and I'd do anything to shop from New York because it has everything."

Entering Bollywood
"Even before I did my first play, I was flooded with film offers. So the decision to enter films wasn't sudden. Theatre is something I love doing. But films are the future for me. Now-a-days we're making such lovely films like Omkara, Jab We Met, Kurbaan, etc that actors are stepping out of their territory to experiment with diverse roles. Everything is changing for good in Bollywood and this is the right time that I be a part of the change."

Career confusion “I was a confused mind as a teenager. At one point in my life, I thought that I was useless and a called myself a loser. You feel so helpless sometimes when you can’t find what you really want to do, you know. It’s the most frustrating feeling. It happens to all, Read More">especiallyRead More

Career confusion
"I was a confused mind as a teenager. At one point in my life, I thought that I was useless and a called myself a loser. You feel so helpless sometimes when you can't find what you really want to do, you know. It's the most frustrating feeling. It happens to all, especially when you are coming from a family like mine. My parents work 24/7. There is never a break. So I too wanted to get busy like them. But it never happened. I felt that I wasn't good enough. I tried so many things besides event management and advertising. Then came fashion, script writing and had my hands and feet all over the place."

Favourite play
"My favourite play has to be Evita for sure because it had my parents in it. I've grown up watching my mom in it. In fact, when my dad did the first Evita, my mother was pregnant with me. I think the year was 1987. Ten years later, they did another version of Evita which was revamped. I was eleven and had come especially to watch the play from my boarding school because I had worked on the play backstage and then I had to go to my boarding school for a year. I was very upset to go as the play really meant a lot to me. I always had tears when she sung. My dream would be to feature in a play called West Side Story."

Musical and Broadways
"I wish that 'musicals' get introduced here in India. Whenever I went to New York, I used to watch the 'Broadway theatres'. It's so grand and its grandeur was even better. But there is no reason that we can't do it. We've got the tools but the problem lies in the fact that nobody has thought of bringing in that concept to India. Theatre can be looked at in a bigger way and it takes a lot of people to do that. For musicals to happen here there has to be a big theatre movement."