Events & Personalities
Bunshah’s bluster
"Most of my caricatures stem from people I know… My own aunts and uncles speak like this,” states 28-year-old actor, singer and voice artist Zervaan Bunshah (pictured). "Obviously there is embellishment… A lot of my inspiration comes from the annoying habits of people… Parsis have a way of inflecting their voices when they speak… maybe because we are excitable people… I could be doing a few reels (short videos) soon on Doongerwadi, but I have to keep it respectful and not hurtful to anyone.”
His over-the-top reels on Parsi peculiarities have been winning him new fans on Instagram (IG) with followers zooming from 12,100 to about 31,000, he told Parsiana on September 15, 2022. Amongst his latest offerings is one of a grief-stricken senior citizen bemoaning the death of 96-year-old Queen Elizabeth II. "I never thought this day (September 8, 2022) would come… I thought I would outlive her… Havvé toh Rani pappa ni nai…Rani khodai ni (The Queen belongs no more to pappa… She belongs to God).” Bunshah’s other avatars include Shirin Aunty the matchmaker who also handles "cocktail” (mixed) marriages; the man who loves his Ambassador car ("just see Freny’s curves”) more than his wife Godafrid; the middle aged Parsi who has to eat vegetables after a heart attack, et al.
The ham-handed handling of Marathi and Hindi by Parsis is par for the course as is the fussiness of South Bombay people when travelling to the Greek islands. "I love to make fun of things…specially myself… Without hurting anyone,” stated the Dadar resident. Terming his parents, orthopedic surgeon Dr Jamshed and Pooran, "psychotically supportive” and sister singer Delaraaz "the only one who can take me to task,” Zervaan says his hobby is consuming content on social media.
He ascribes the motivation for the Parsi videos to his "unbelievably intelligent, over-achieving” non-Parsi girlfriend. When Zervaan was apprehensive about offending the community at large she counseled him, "Just do it. No one really cares about what you think!” Zerwaan says he used IG for the first time in 2018 willy-nilly. "I thought ‘Why do I need to be on IG when I wanted to put all my juices into acting?’” He has acted in an experimental play and had a role in a production of My Fair Lady besides doing a promotional film for Netflix (see "Bunshah’s bounce,” Events and Personalities, Parsiana, April 7-20, 2021).
The mimic worries that he may run out of material and followers at some point in the future. He gets inspiration from watching animes (Japanese animation films) "that you folks call cartoons. I also pretend to love IG,” he smiled. "What will happen when all 12 of us Parsis have seen all my videos?” he laughs. "Right now I am just focusing on building my brand… I have to be big, to aspire to bigger things,” he stated.
His over-the-top reels on Parsi peculiarities have been winning him new fans on Instagram (IG) with followers zooming from 12,100 to about 31,000, he told Parsiana on September 15, 2022. Amongst his latest offerings is one of a grief-stricken senior citizen bemoaning the death of 96-year-old Queen Elizabeth II. "I never thought this day (September 8, 2022) would come… I thought I would outlive her… Havvé toh Rani pappa ni nai…Rani khodai ni (The Queen belongs no more to pappa… She belongs to God).” Bunshah’s other avatars include Shirin Aunty the matchmaker who also handles "cocktail” (mixed) marriages; the man who loves his Ambassador car ("just see Freny’s curves”) more than his wife Godafrid; the middle aged Parsi who has to eat vegetables after a heart attack, et al. The ham-handed handling of Marathi and Hindi by Parsis is par for the course as is the fussiness of South Bombay people when travelling to the Greek islands. "I love to make fun of things…specially myself… Without hurting anyone,” stated the Dadar resident. Terming his parents, orthopedic surgeon Dr Jamshed and Pooran, "psychotically supportive” and sister singer Delaraaz "the only one who can take me to task,” Zervaan says his hobby is consuming content on social media.
He ascribes the motivation for the Parsi videos to his "unbelievably intelligent, over-achieving” non-Parsi girlfriend. When Zervaan was apprehensive about offending the community at large she counseled him, "Just do it. No one really cares about what you think!” Zerwaan says he used IG for the first time in 2018 willy-nilly. "I thought ‘Why do I need to be on IG when I wanted to put all my juices into acting?’” He has acted in an experimental play and had a role in a production of My Fair Lady besides doing a promotional film for Netflix (see "Bunshah’s bounce,” Events and Personalities, Parsiana, April 7-20, 2021).
The mimic worries that he may run out of material and followers at some point in the future. He gets inspiration from watching animes (Japanese animation films) "that you folks call cartoons. I also pretend to love IG,” he smiled. "What will happen when all 12 of us Parsis have seen all my videos?” he laughs. "Right now I am just focusing on building my brand… I have to be big, to aspire to bigger things,” he stated.
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