Monday, December 15, 2008

‘I Can’t Be an Actor All My Life’ - Imaad Naseerudin Shah

Naseerudin Shah's son Imaad Shah will be seen next in 'Little Zizou'

IMAAD SHAH hasn’t had a release this year after his debut with 'Dil, Dosti Etc' in 2007. Imaad’s one of the few non-Parsis in the cast of the forthcoming Little Zizou, a film on the Parsi community scheduled for a January release. “I’m the only non-Parsi among the primary characters in the film. I play the son of a Parsi religious fanatic,” says Imaad. How did he imbibe the idiosyncrasies of the community? “It needed a basic amount of observation. The old-timers from the community are caught in a time warp. But the newer generation is a lot more cosmopolitan. I’ve lots of Parsi friends as my mom grew up in Dadar Parsi Colony,” reveals Imaad. The 22-year-old, who finished his graduation last year after “losing a couple of years”, plays a graphic novelist in the film. “He has a wacked out, sharp, irreverent imagination that comes to life. There are lots of bizarre layers to the character. I love graphic novels. I recommend City of Glass by Paul Auster to all,” Imaad says.

For his character, he sought help from Delhi-based graphic novelist Sarnath Banerjee, author of Corridors and Barn Owl’s Wondrous Capers. “Sarnath and I are good friends. I’ve read both his graphic novels. He’s done the drawing for the film. I’m a hopeless artist. I sat with him and observed him draw,” reveals Imaad. The actor also finds time for music, his first love. “We have a band and we play sometimes. We record as well. But I’m not going solo as it really saps you,” explains Imaad. What about film-making? “I’ve been working on a few shots using digital camera. I’ve made a couple of films with digicam. I can’t be an actor all my life. Everybody has their own agenda,” he states.

Like his father, Naseerudin Shah, he’s a thespian too. “I’m part of a theatre group called Motley. Five of us are doing this play called All Thieves. It’s a commission of stories by writers like Italo Calvino and Haruki Murakami. We’ll be coming to Bangalore with the play next month,” says Imaad.

One mention of his gene pool, and he gets a tad restless. “The media does things in a very obvious manner. Comparisons get boring. The comparison question is, in fact, redundant. I’m hoping people have seen my acting and can judge me solely on that. I concentrate on what I’m doing without being bothered about comparisons,” he asserts.

As for his trademark frizzy hair he’s inherited from his dad, he says, “I shave my head every now and then. I have really short hair now.”

Source: Times Of India