It came as no surprise to her parents when Sayyeshaa indicated that she wanted to be an actor when she was nine years old. After all, she’s the grandniece of Saira Banu and the fifth generation of artistes in her family. Her dream came true with her Telugu debut in director V V Vinayak’s Akhil opposite Akhil Akkineni last year. Recently, she debuted in Bollywood with Shivaay opposite Ajay Devgn. Now, she’s entering Kollywood with director Vijay’s flick opposite Jayam Ravi.
Sayyeshaa is proud of her lineage and excited to carry the torch forward. “My grandfather Sultan Ahmed is Saira Banu’s elder brother. Their grandmother Shamshad Begum and mother Naseem Bano were artistes too. My mother Shaheen also acted in a few films. I grew up in an environment of films around me. We have been living in a building in the same compound of Saira ji and Dilip saab’s huge 22-bedroom home in Pali Hill. I’ve always been in and out of both homes. When I was a child, I would go on a drive every evening with Dilip saab and Saira ji,” she recalls.
Now, the 19-year-old is busy juggling film schedules, but visits them regularly. “For every birthday and family occasion, we meet for a family dinner. Dilip saab is also a wonderful singer, something not many are aware of. When we would have tea on his terrace, he would sing songs such as ‘Koi sagar dil ko behlata nahin’ and I would sing along. I’m an actor now, but for them I’m still the same child. They find it tough to believe I’m going for meetings on my own,” she laughs.
So great was her desire to be a complete actor that she started dancing, acting and taking gymnastic lessons in childhood. When most children would be playing during the summer holidays, she travelled abroad to learn dance forms. “My parents knew early itself that I wanted to act, so they helped me to prepare to be a complete actor. My mother would take me to London, South Africa and Brazil, where I learnt dance forms such as Samba, Ramba, Cha Cha, belly dancing and hip-hop. I also learnt Kathak, Odissi and gymnastics, besides taking acting lessons from former National School of Drama alumnus Abhay Joshi.” All the hard work paid off when she faced the camera for the first time. “I wasn’t nervous since that’s where I’d always wanted to be,” she says.
About her Kollywod debut, Sayyeshaa recalls, “Director Vijay saw me in Akhil and approached me. It’s an intense love story and very different from Akhil and Shivaay. I was familiar with films of Rajinikanth, Kamal Haasan and Mani Ratnam. After coming to Chennai, I’m learning more about the culture and people. I speak Telugu fluently, and learning Tamil is the next step. Vijay is a very hands-on director. He wants emoting to be very real and natural, and observes the actor close up and not from the monitor. He corrects me when he wants something different. Jayam Ravi is so grounded despite being a star. His sense of humour keeps me in splits on sets. I’m really enjoying working here.”
Sayyeshaa is already getting more offers in Tamil and Hindi movies and is taking her time choosing them. “When I look back at 60, I want to be happy to have done good films and worked with good directors who honed my talent with their passion to tell stories,” she says.