July 7th, 2011

Nazneen – Interview

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A LARGE wooden name plate  with “Nazneen” written in English but with Arabic-style lettering greets you at the en­trance to her flat on Bhulabhai Desai Road. Nazneen can claim to have the largest name plate ever put up. “In spite of this,” she laughed,  “Not many pro­ducers have bothered to knock at my door.” After being in films for six long years, she hasn’t made it anywhere close to the top.

Nazneen describes herself as an actress by accident. She had never thought of becoming one. As a girl out of Hill Grange High School nearby, air hostesses had fascinated her. She wanted to be one too. Her father, a liberal-minded Muslim, had left it entirely to Nazneen to do what she liked.

Actually she didn’t need to work. The father owns a print­ing press. The mother however thought aeroplanes were too risky. And then it happened. At a party hosted by a relative of theirs, producer Yusuf Teendar­wajawalla (who made “Mere Humsafar”), director Satyen Bose offered her a role in “Sa Re Ga Ma Pa”, which he was directing.

Nazneen was signed for two more films to be directed by Satyen Bose but they were never made. But working under the veteran director did help her a lot, she said. Satyen Bose also wanted Nazneen to have a screen name—he had suggested Suparna, Then somebody sug­gested Sonali. The best thing, she decided was to be herself, Nazneen.

Nazneen has done some 10 films. Two of her starrers in the making are “Haiwaan” and “Pandit our Pathan”. Though she never looked upon these last six yeas as a waste, Nazneen says she has so far never got a role where she really had to act. Not even her role in “Kora Kaagaz”, which won her critical acclaim. They said Nazneen had kept an artiste like Jaya Bhaduri (she played her sister) on her toes.

After “Kora Kaagaz” she got several offers, but everyone said “there was a wonderful role of a sister”. “They all thought I was good only for goody-goody roles”, Nazneen said.

Nazneen declined all those offers. She was already playing the leading lady in a few “B” class films and the producers of these films told Nazneen if she accepted the sisters’ roles their films would suffer at the box office.

“Chalte Chalte”, which is cur­rently running successfully in Bombay, in morning shows, has a special attaaction—Nazeen in a bikini. The film, Nazneen felt, would have been far more successful but for her leading man, Vishal Anand. “He is no com­parison to Clint Eastwood”, she says, hinting that the film is inspired by Eastwood’s “Play Misty For Me”.

Was the bikini a desperate attempt to catch attention? “Not at all,” she said. I just wanted to prove that I wasn’t just good for goody goody roles, that I could be equally good in sexy roles.”

In “Haiwaan”, Nazneen says, she plays a newspaper reporter and she is supposed to wear a bikini to gain the villain’s confi­dence. It all sounded a bit too unconvincing, I told her. “That’s true,” she agreed, “But then aren’t most of our film charac­ters a little out of this world?” And to top it, three directors— Ram, Rono and Subhash Mukerji —all directors in their own right — are directing the film jointly,

Another interesting film in which Nazneen co-stars with    Kiran Kumar is “Yaari Zindabad”. The film is awaiting release. Actor – producer – director Joginder who made “Yaari Zindabad”, is currently making “Pandit our Pathan” once again   with Nazneen and Kiran Kumar (As told to A. A. Khatib in 1976).

Interviews