Acting is like feeling: Shazahn Padamsee

Actor Shazahn Padamsee, daughter of theatre guy Alyque Padamsee, says she stumbled upon films just like she did with theatre as well. The young actor who has produced as well as acted in a play, Unspoken Dialogues says working with her father was the best experience of her life.

Recalling how she got into the theatre circuit, she reveals, “As a kid I was very shy. I would hide behind my parents when I met people. Even when my father had a theatre company of his own, it was a friend who got me clued into theatre,” she exclaims.

Shazahn says she never even thought about acting until she just decided to give it a try one day.

“My parents have never forced me into doing anything. They have always supported me in my decision to pursue everything, whether it was acting, event management or now acting,” she says.

She decided to take her father’s help for her first play since they already had a production company.

“I asked him to produce my play and trust me, it was very difficult. Working with him and more so, pleasing him, is an achievement. He is such a taskmaster, so when I got a few compliments from him I was on cloud nine.”

Narrating an incident she says, “I remember there was this time when I just couldn’t get my emotions right for a two-page-long piece titled Dragon Fly. I worked really hard to get it and when I finally did get it, dad made me work on it non-stop for five hours. I broke down but only later did I realise that this was necessary to get into character.” So what is the best advice papa Padamsee has given his daughter? “Acting is like feeling. You have to emote what you feel and that has to come from within. What is show on screen should only be what you are feeling. That is the best acting advice dad has ever given me and to date all that I know about acting comes from there,” she smiles.