The belle of Bollywood

While we were at the cash counter at the fast food outlet our companion was identified as Maya, the key actress in the teleserial Hum Pardesi Ho Gaye which has already seen 41 episodes. After we had settled down at the table, a college boy plucked up courage to confirm whether she is the star of the popular film Bollywood Calling. On receiving an affirmative reply he confides that he has won a bet of Rs 10. Shortly thereafter comes up a girl with a request for an autograph from our charming interviewee. She writes a short message and signs her name ‘Perizaad Zorabian.’

"I don’t want all this to end. It’s such a high. It’s like a dream. I am trying to be modest but I can’t,” frankly confesses Zorabian and flashes her heartwarming smile when referring to the success of her screen debut in Bollywood Calling which has been "a most unexpected hit.” Running in seven theaters across Bombay and its suburbs, Zorabian can’t disguise her happiness when she is told that tickets for the movie are not easily available in the fourth week since its release on November 23, 2001.

A spoof on Hindi cinema which with its trappings of songs, romance, violence and a lead star cast can guarantee success even devoid of an original story or a brilliant script, in Bollywood Calling we see Zorabian playing the role of Kajal who, according to the story line evolves from a sensuous bimbette to a sensitive actress. Her co-stars are the veteran Om Puri who enacts the role of a desperate South Indian producer turned director Subramaniam who is willing to sacrifice many principles to complete his Hindi film, Maut; Navin Nischol who plays the versatile lead role of Manuji, an actor who is used to calling the shots in real and reel life; and Pat Cusick who is specially flown down to India to emote the part of Pat Stormare, Manuji’s brother. The film has its moments of laughter when the Bollywood culture is seen through the eyes of a fallen Hollywood hero; when Manuji and Pat share their confessions and dreams in their stuporous state; when Kajal and Pat establish an enduring rapport.

During the month long shooting of this low budget film in Hyderabad in February 1999, Zorabian recalls they had long working days from seven in the morning to six in the evening. She had to do her own make-up and hairstyle for each shoot but she enjoyed her days. Working with stalwarts like Puri and Nischol was a rewarding experience for the newcomer who would watch them with fascination, see how they altered their facial expressions depending on the chosen frame — long shot, medium range or close-up. And yet they never once made her feel like a novice. "In fact they treated me like a daughter; were very supportive and protective.” In her candid style, Zorabian confesses, "During the shooting there were times when I couldn’t give director Nagesh Kukunoor the performance he wanted. He would tell me to play the bimbette with sincerity, not as a spoof, which was difficult for me. It was very frustrating. I would break down.” Kunal Vijayakar, her first real-life director for the stage who plays the reel director in the film, "was a huge moral support. He was amazing, like a guardian angel.”

Every evening would see her send an e-mail to her family, summarizing the day’s proceedings. "I think of them before taking any decision,” declares Zorabian. Even before she could accept Bollywood Calling she needed her mother’s consent, especially since there were some kissing scenes in the movie. Her mother Firoza’s initial response was, the script is good enough for Bollywood, but not for Perizaad who then had to give her "one of my heartfelt emotional numbers” to convince her to the contrary. "If my mom says yes, my dad Khoram will also say yes,” Perizaad has learnt along the way.

The family was concerned that the commu­nity’s gossip mills would start talking, ‘Irani ni chhokri film maa kaam karéch (An Irani girl is working in a film).’ And this, at a time when the parents are hoping to find a nice Irani husband for their 28-year-old eligible daughter! But Perizaad cannot conceal her glee that she actually got a matrimonial offer on behalf of an Irani boy whose family had seen her in the film and were willing to wait until she finished her tryst with stardom! Although the self-confessed "hard core romantic” has not accepted this offer she delights in reminding her staid, old-fashioned bomas (grandfather as he is addressed in Dari — Behramsha Irani is the owner of Rising Sun Bakery) that her value in the marriage market has actually gone up because of her following! He laughingly responds, "Bésharam thai gaeech (you have become shameless),” whilst conceding that she should be allowed to do what she wants so long as she does not bring dishonor to the family and the community. "In fact I have suddenly become hot and happening; I am invited to colony functions; to be the chief guest,” the vivacious actress observes in her husky voice.

Perizaad Zorabian with her co-stars in Bollywood Calling Cusick (above) Puri (left) and Nischol

Just before our interview she was invited to hear another script and after the interview she was heading for the dubbing of her teleserial Hum Pardesi Ho Gaye, aired on Thursdays on Sony TV. Running into 52 episodes here she plays the role of a woman who honestly admits to the man she loves and trusts that the institution of marriage does not appeal to her, whilst unknown to her he goes and gets married to another girl to appease his family in India. Since the shooting of this film was abroad Perizaad was happy that her green card was put to good use. Whatever following she had because of Hum Pardesi reinforced her star image with Bollywood Calling and she hopes will be further strengthened with Namaste, her next film scheduled for release in early 2002. "If Bollywood Calling has done good to any career, it’s mine. It’s made me,” humbly acknowledges the actress. Perizaad has been forewarned by one of her senior stars: "Now that you’ve tasted blood (success) you’ll want more.” But although she has received offers she is very clear in her mind that she does not want to accept a small role in an A-grade movie nor a big role in a well-paying B-grade movie. "I can leave it at this stage and feel very proud of my performance.”

She knows her father would gladly have her rejoin the family’s poultry and catering business from which she has taken a sabbatical to pursue her fascination with acting. As Khoram who owns a poultry farm in Khopoli, runs Gondola restaurant at Pali Market, Bandra and has helped son Sohrab establish himself in the catering world under the Cheron Caterers banner — was wont to telling his associates, "I have lost my daughter to the glamor world.” She is also the "superstar sister” to youngest brother Shazaad who is studying computers abroad. Following her MBA in advertising and marketing from Baruch University (the business school at the City University of New York), USA, for a while Perizaad devoted herself to her father’s business. She would be working from 7.30 in the morning to 8.30 in the evening with her life revolving around chickens! Her work ethics she had imbibed during her happy stint with the 695-room Lexington Hotel in New York which she had joined as assistant manager and which she had left as front office manager, her mentor being Sam Bhadha.

Perizaad with her family (clockwise from left): Khoram, Firoza, Gauhar, Sohrab and Shazaad

Her stage and screen presence she attributes to her love and aptitude for dancing since she was a schoolgirl at Bandra’s Auxilium Convent and a commerce student at the Mithibai Motiram Kundani (MMK) College from where she graduated, topping the Bombay University in management accountancy, she relates. Whilst studying management in the States she also did a course at the Lee Strasberg College of Drama. For 12 years she had studied ballet with Tushna Dallas whom she held in awe in her younger days, but now considers her ‘jaan (sweetheart)’ recollecting how a minute late for Dallas’ Malabar Hill class, the sojourn from Bandra notwithstanding, left the student facing a closed door.

Since she was more comfortable wearing the ballet attire without her sudreh-kusti, Perizaad says this habit has continued. "We Parsis are very close-minded,” notes Perizaad referring to the non-acceptance of non-Parsi spou-ses. "I’m very angry and irritated with this attitude. It’s suffocating. It’s ridiculous that children of intercommunity marriages are not welcome,” she adds. Although she is happy that "as a community we are not mean and cunning,” this rigidity she finds "very stupid.” The concept of dakhmenashini she had always associated with a Zoro-astrian’s final act of charity, but in the absence of vultures she wonders whether this tradition should continue.

Support from family and friends does however mean a lot to Perizaad or Peezee as she is known among those close to her. At the première of Bollywood Calling, she knows there were 55 tickets bought to cheer her up (never mind that they forgot to include her in the count), making one of her co-stars comment that she had filled half the theater with a Parsi crowd! When she went up to greet Puri, he reportedly told her, "After the screening you will have become a star. Then will you come and say ‘Hello?’”

Mom Firoza is viewed as her best critic and supporter. "She is quick to fault everything with me making me burst out with ‘Do you like anything I do?’” Her mother always reminds her, "You have got away with a lot of things which I couldn’t as a child.” The mother’s love for ballet ultimately found an expression in Perizaad’s dance. "But she gives me both ends,” values Perizaad unlike her biased father to whom "my daughter’s the best.” She has a very good opinion of her father as a boss though. "He would treat me like an intelligent individual, respect my decisions, value my presentations for clients. I, in turn, put in my best efforts, never asked for privileges or favors or took the business for granted.” In fact even when she was rehearsing for her maiden stage appearance in Unfaithful where she was cast alongside Cyrus Broacha in Kunal Vijayakar’s play, she would be working whole day, taking time off only in the evenings for rehearsals.

The first commercial for which she modelled was Fair and Lovely after coordinator Monaz Irani who met her at a navjote asked her whether she would be interested. Since then she has modelled for Ponds, Ariel, BPL, Titan, Tanishq, Close-up, Perizaad’s charming face breaks into a smile.

But more than a model, Perizaad wants "to make an identity as a person, an actress.” Being an actress has "gone totally against my plans of life,” and where destiny will next lead her Perizaad cannot predict. "I may not know where my life is going,” says the star with a down-to-earth approach pointing out that although she may not be clear on what she wants to do, she at least knows what she does not want!