Directoral debut

Little Zizou, Sooni Taraporevala’s directoral debut has done well at all the film festivals it has been screened at so far, wrote Daily News and Analysis (DNA) in its issue of December 12, 2008. "We have shown the film in New York, Italy, Washington DC, Goa and Singapore. Next we plan to screen the movie in Delhi and Kerala, which would be followed by its release in Bombay,” the scriptwriter informed DNA.

A comedy about faith and hope, pain and loss, the film is framed around a gentle yet powerful parable of tolerance. Set in contemporary Bombay, for a global audience, this much-awaited film has been written and directed by Taraporevala (who had earlier written film scripts for Salaam Bombay!, Mississippi Masala, Such A Long Journey and The Namesake), reveals the Studio 18 website. Internationally celebrated filmmaker Mira Nair is associated with the project in a creative capacity while award winning filmmaker Dinaz Stafford and Taraporevala have co-produced Little Zizou under their newly formed banner Jigri Dost Productions along with Studio 18. Among the high profile cast of the film are John Abraham, Boman Irani, Sohrab Ardeshir, Imaad Shah, Shernaz Patel, Zenobia Shroff and Mahbanoo Mody-Kotwal.

Sooni Tarapore­vala: creative career

The movie won awards for Best Director and the Times Warner Award for Best Screenplay, wrote Hindustan Times Café on November 14, 2008. Taraporevala bagged these two awards at the Indo-American Arts Council Festival in New York where she had gone with the child stars of the film that looks at the world of Parsis through the eyes of its central character, a pre-teen boy called Zizou. Quite a few scenes for the film were shot in Cozy Building at Bombay’s Gowalia Tank where Taraporevala lived till she married, HT Café mentions.

Often thought to be a chronicler of the Parsi community, Taraporevala told DNA: "I have been a screen writer for about 20 years and have written about 20 scripts, out of which only six got produced. Of those six, except for my book and Such A Long Journey, there has been no Parsi content. So I won’t say that the subject is something that I concentrate on.” People who know nothing about Parsis have been roaring with laughter while watching Little Zizou, but "the responses so far have had nothing to do with the religion so much as with the story,” Taraporevala elaborates.

Her son and daughter, Jahan and Iyanah Bativala, who debut in the movie have been nominated for best actor and actress at the Singapore Asian Festival of First Films, reveals DNA. "The kids were the easiest part of directing because they knew I did not want any artifice and they were comfortable in front of the camera.” But Taraporevala is quick to explain that "this was just a one-off thing. This is not a career option for them, at least until they grow up and are able to make their own choices.”