Shazahn Padamsee is just back from her shoot in Hyderabad and says she has had a wonderful time working with Ram Charan Teja. Shahzahn Padamsee’s new BMW is home and she can’t wait to see it. Shahnaz Padamsee is at the airport, has just realised her face is on baggage tags and she thinks it’s so cool. That, together with “thought provoking” lines like “make each day your masterpiece,” is Padamsee on Twitter.
It certainly says more about the “actor, dreamer, performer, thinker and soul searcher” than our conversation. We did, however, manage to unearth a few gems on the young actor who is becoming quite popular in the South.
In the beginning
Eight successful commercials and a Bollywood blockbuster later (she has three upcoming releases), the last of the Padamsees (Alyque Padamsee is said to be very protective about his youngest) takes us by surprise when we contact her, armed with a slate of questions. You see, she had confessed to having a crush on Ranbir Kapoor on the sets of ‘Rocket Singh’ in an earlier interview, together with other tidbits of information. But this time around, “the dreamer and thinker” stumps us with carefully worded sentences that don’t reveal much. Trying another tack, we ask her to recount her first moments on stage (she was known to be camera shy). “My father was playing King Duncan in Shakespeare’s ‘Macbeth’ and asked me to read out lines,” Padamsee recounts.
“But that was so long ago yaar, I don’t remember!” More prodding. “Then I produced my own play, ‘Unspoken Dialogues’, and acted in it as well. It runs even today!” Modelling and walking the ramp landed her a few plum commercials (think Ponds, Clean & Clear, Mc Donalds, Nescafe). “People still refer to me as the Clean & Clear girl,” shrugs Padamsee, insisting that her many assignments were earned on merit and that her famous father “never tweaked any of his contacts.”
“What I am today is purely because of talent and the way I look. I auditioned just like any other girl would, stood in lines and got through,” adds Padamsee, referring to the “eight big commercials” she landed in nine months. “I think that is unheard of. Normally, it takes at least two years (to get that far).”
The 22-year-old has also worked with an ad company, Bugs Bhargava’s, as a copywriter “I was doing an odd job as a copywriter, which didn’t go anywhere. That was the phase when I was trying to find myself and my father advised me to do this,” she slowly opens up. “I worked at an event management company as well. I did try. And even though I was a lost teenager, I knew what I didn’t like.”
Give me comedy, please
Choosing roles in films is an instinctive thing, Padamsee continues. “It’s quite impulsive. I know what will suit me if I listen to the script.” Sounding a lot like the teenager she used to be, the actor adds that she sees a bit of herself in all her roles. In ‘Dil To Bachcha Hai Ji’ (an upcoming Madhur Bhandarkar movie), she plays a Catholic girl, June Pinto. “She is young, vivacious and bubbly. I can’t reveal much about the movie, but you can call it my dream role,” says Padamsee, adding, “I would love to work on the slapstick comedy genre. It’s all about timing and is quite challenging.” Her tweet informs us that she had shot a salsa sequence for DTBHJ and that the “months of hard work and rehearsals have paid off.”
As for Ajay Devgn, the actor known for pulling pranks on his costars, she allows, “He is down-to-earth and very professional. One moment he will be his usual funny self, and when the lights are down, he will transform into something else entirely!”
Of course, the ‘Rocket Singh’ sets did have its share of laughs as well. “There is this scene in the movie, after the party, when Ranbir and I are sitting in the back room, getting to know each other. And a guy comes in, pretending to puke,” she laughs. “And because Shimit wanted to document our honest reactions, we didn’t know about it at all. Shimit did get his perfect shot though!”
The girl admits that there have been several lessons over her years. “It isn’t possible to say what and when. But working with Shah Rukh Khan in the Airtel ad was an experience by itself,” she explains.
“Also, when I look at myself in ‘Rocket Singh’ and compare it to my performance in ‘Orange’ (an upcoming Telugu flick), I see that I have matured a lot.”
How?
“It is all very subconscious and adds to your persona.” And she narrates what Aditya Chopra once told her on the sets: “Actors are like sponges, they absorb what they see — the varied emotions, the intonations, et al.”
South bound
Tamil and Telugu cinema happened by chance. “They saw my ads and called me,” Padamsee says, adding that the experience has been “amazing and people are very punctual.” In ‘Kanimozhi’, the forthcoming Tamil movie directed by Sripathi, starring actor Jai, she plays Anu, “a fun loving girl.” Talking about the experience, she adds, “Jai is so funny and we shot a song in Madurai. The whole movie was completed in 25 days and it was the hottest month of the year in Chennai.” In ‘Orange’ (releasing later this year and starring Genelia), Padamsee plays Ram Charan Teja’s first love. “Mine is a flashback sequence but it is very important in the movie, which was also shot in 25 days. I’m a huge fan of ‘Bomarillu’ Bhaskar, the director, as well.”