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Maharani of multiplexes

The unconventional Perizaad Zorabian is now ready for some action

Perizaad Zorabian declares she is hungry. "I will not speak till I get some food!" the perky actor declares. "Can you imagine I am a veggie? My dad tells me not to talk about it publicly as it is bad for the business!"

Perizaad is talking about the family's poultry business she was managing, thanks to her MBA degree (she topped the course), till the acting bug bit her.

The first call

Kicking off her career with Nagesh Kukunoor's Bollywood Calling, Perizaad has gone on to become a multiplex maharani with star-making turns in Mumbai Matinee and Morning Raga. The role that fixed her in the public memory forever was as the no-nonsense working girl - Jenny - in Jogger's Park. "I still have people coming up to me and saying they loved me in that film."

Working with Big B

Now people are also talking of her turn as Nikasha in Ek Ajnabi, her maiden foray into mainstream cinema.

"A lot of the credit for Nikasha should go to Apu (director Apoorva Lakhia). I feel with Ek Ajnabi I have achieved that tehrav (stillness), you know a kind of centring. I do not play a regular Hindi movie mom in the film. Everyone told me I was finished, accepting a mother's role. That I would not have anything to do in an Amitabh Bachchan film, also that I should take my mother or secretary along for the outdoor shoots as you never know what happens out there," Perizaad arches her eyebrows.

"That month in Bangkok was a blast and I was pampered beyond belief!"

Perizaad waxes eloquent about Big B: "He is genuinely a super person. He holds your hand through tough parts but lets you do your thing.You know he would call me `Strassu baba' because I went to the Lee Strasburg Acting Studio in New York." Next on Perizaad's platter is the mother of all biggies, Nikhil (Kal Ho Na Ho) Advani's Salaam-e-Ishq.

"This is the first time I am attempting comedy. There are six tracks and I am opposite Sohail Khan."

Trained dancer

Perizaad's stock as far live acts goes has soared.

"Absolutely no one could believe I can do all these jhataks and mataks. I have learned ballet for years and years and I love performing. It is good fun!"

Lest you think Perizaad has totally sold out to the filthy lucre of commercial cinema, take heart . She has done Bappaditya Bandopadhyay's Devaki that is quite the belle de film festival.

"Devaki has gone to 11 international film festivals and won the Best Feature Film Award at the Asheville Film Festival, North Carolina, when it was up against George Clooney's Good Night, And Good Luck so there!"

The film is a rather dark story of the parallel lives of two women played by Perizaad and Suman Ranganath.

Then there is Moonlight opposite Shekhar Suman, which Perizaad describes as "a kind of sequel to Jogger's Park. I play Radhika who is an out-of- work actress. It is a bitter-sweet love story." About walking on the wild side as far as roles are concerned, Perizaad says: "I have a non-traditional face so at the beginning of my career, I was offered all these vamp roles. If I had accepted them then I would have been typecast. Now that I am established I would like to explore that side as well."

MINI ANTHIKAD-CHHIBBER

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