zoom on actress: Shazahn Padamsee's

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Thursday 15 September 2011

Shazahn Padamsee's

S hazahn Padamsee Ptofile, Biography, Reallife Photos, Unseen Pics

Name: Shazahn Padamsee

Born: 1987

Occupation: Film actress, Theatre artist, model

My favourites:

Movie: Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge

Director: James Cameron

Actor: Shahrukh Khan, Robert De Niro and Al Pacino

Actress: Meryl Streep

Colour: Pink and purple

Book: The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

Perfume: Bright Crystal by Versace

Outfit: Little black dress

Holiday destination: Bali

Fashion designers: Roberto Cavalli, Diane von F�rstenberg, Swapnil Shinde

Fitness mantra: Eat well but work out to have a fit body.

Food: Indian and Italian

Party Look: “Skinny, well-fitted jeans teamed with a colourful top. Black is an absolute no-no. I like funky accessories like leather belts, sparkling swish jewellery in stones of interesting hues and shapes, and bags, which I love to mix ‘n’ match with my clothes.”

Brand Basics: “I am not a brand person. But I do pick up well-tailored, good clothes. I like wearing stylish, well-cut jeans, mostly ‘Zara’, though I don’t mind picking up good stuff from the flea market in Bangkok too. For bags and shoes, I prefer ‘Roberto Cavalli’. Makeup wise, I only opt for ‘M.A.C.’ products.”

Best Do: “The best was the surprise birthday party at my own house, which was arranged by my friends. I was extremely touched by their gesture.”

Worst Event: “It was in Dubai last year, where DJ Paul Oakenfold played some boring music, the space was extremely huge and people were very few and horrible. I yawned and yawned!”

Party Goof Up: “I was stuck in a lift all through a party which was thrown for me.”

Biography:

Shazahn Padamsee can be highbrow and familiar with you all at once. One minute the talkative wide-eyed youngster, the other a careful debutante, who insists on choosing the picture that must appropriately accessorise the article. But Shazahn, the youngest of the Padamsees, is the girl of the moment. With many major brands in her advertising kitty, a Yash Raj movie – Rocket Singh Salesman Of The Year and opposite Ramcharan Tej in Anjana Productions Movie Orange – she’s the only one from her family to seek a career in films.

She is the daughter of renowned ad guru cum theatre personality Alyque Padamsee and pop diva Sharon Prabhakar. Shazahn make silver screen debut as lead actress opposite Ranbir Kapoor in Yash Raj Films production directed by Shimit Amin.

“It happened quite unexpectedly. My dad who is playing King Duncan in Macbeth asked me to read his lines. I had never read Shakespeare before and when my dad heard me he said I was very good. He was very surprised that it came very naturally to me.”

The camera shy Shahzahn is also gearing up to face it. “I want to be fully prepared. Channel [v] had asked me to audition for their VJ hunt, but I didn’t go. I was not very confident about being in front of a camera then. I had to get over that. Now I am getting my portfolio done and then try to get into modelling.”

Shazahn Padamsee’s acting background includes her subtle performance in play ‘Unspoken Dialogues’ which turned out to be very successful. Besides helping her parents with the production of the plays, Shazahn was chosen by FHM India to be a FHM girl and shot a hot photo shoot. The girl has also had a stint with the ramp.

I like going out with my close friends, just to chill out. My party magnet would be good company and great music.”

Currently Shazahn is working with Ram Charan Tej in "Orange", Bugs Bhargava’s ad-film company and is training to be a copywriter. “A friend asked me to write for a show on televisionand that is when I discovered that I really like writing.”

“Dad (adman Alyque Padamsee) played Jinnah in Gandhi and was offered Amrish Puri’s role in Indiana Jones And The Temple of Doom,” says Shazahn. “But he declined because he would have to eat monkey brains! I’m pretty chilled out. I can sit around for hours in my vanity van and find ways to be occupied. My dad would go insane with the inactivity,” Shazahn says.

Her half-siblings – Raell and Quasar – and mother Sharon, not to mention “dad” and his former wives – the late Pearl Padamsee and Dolly Thakore, are involved in theatre. “I was the last person to get into acting. My parents didn’t believe it when I told them that this is what I wanted to do. Though I’ve always been around the stage, helping with the props and production, I was very shy. And then Gary Richardson offered me a role, which he said involved ‘sitting onstage, reading a book’. It then expanded to ‘saying a few lines, like yes and no’. Turned out, it was the central character,” says Shazahn.

Once on stage, she took courage from her father’s advice: Nervousness is another side of excitement. “Whenever I go on stage, all my nervous energy blooms into a performance,” she says. She was clear about stepping into films and was willing to wait for the right project. “I knew, I had time on my side since I look young, so I started working on my Hindi and got into modelling. And then came Rocket Singh,” she says. It is at this point that the starry airs settle on her, and she says this is all she can divulge about the film.

“I call my dad for every little thing. He always advises me to give my best shot. I take rejection very badly, but he is emphatic that I must get used to failure because there will be more of it than success. My mother is a darling and sugarcoats everything. She is completely focused on me and sets objectives and deliverables. I miss Pearl more now. I have never known my grandparents. She’d have filled that space,” she says.

Shazahn Padamsee had the opportunity to meet Shah Rukh Khan while shooting for a commercial with him. The actress made her debut with Shimit Amin’s Rocket Singh starring Ranbir Kapoor and one of SRK’s biggest hits, Chak De! India was also directed by Shimit. So, the two were seen having a discussion on the director and SRK shared some incidents that took place during Chak De! India’s shooting.