Nazriya Nazim, that little girl from Palunku , has blossomed into a beautiful young lady, practically in front of the camera. She made her acting debut, as a child artiste, in Palunku as Mammootty’s daughter. The child artiste is all grown and she made her debut as heroine in Maad Dad , which was released yesterday, as Lal’s daughter.
This student of Class XII of Christ Nagar School, Thiruvananthapuram, busy with promotions of the film on radio and television, is excited about the film. Petite and slim, pretty face, light eyes…she is picture-perfect. High heels, black jeans and top, she is more of a teenager than a heroine. That is till she starts talking. She is at complete ease with show biz and especially the film industry. There is none of the gawkiness one would associate with a debutante. Everyone is an uncle or an aunty, a familiarity which comes with the territory of having almost grown up among these people.
What happened to the chubby kid? The good sport says, “I appear like that onscreen, but I am not as you can see.” She endeared herself to audiences as that cherubic anchor on Asianet’s music reality show, ‘Munch Star Singer’ before graduating to anchoring stage shows and films, of course. She has also acted in Oru Naal Varum and Pramani .
A fun experience
Maad Dad was a fun experience, she says. “With Lal uncle, we were in sync. The moment Revathy (director) aunty would say ‘action’. We would be father and daughter. On ‘cut’ we would be these buddies planning what to eat and where to order food from. We have had the most amazing kappa and beef fry,” she gushes.
She adds that she got special treatment on the set, “because I was easily the baby on the set.” This is more of the girl next-door talking than lead heroine of a film. Tell her that and she laughs, “this is who I am. Even in school I am like this. If anyone in school tries to give me special treatment I just tell them ‘this is me. Please don’t bother with the special treatment.’” Since she has been spending time on film sets, does she get to be a teenager? “I hangout with my school friends and I do teenage stuff too.”
Other projects
The other film that she is working on is Neram opposite Nivin Pauly, directed by Alphonse Puthren who also directed ‘Yuvvh’, the extremely popular music video which featured her with Nivin. Unlike the set of Maad Dad , Neram has a younger crew and she say the vibe is different. She is also acting in a Tamil film.
Learning experience
As far as ‘learning’ acting goes, she says, her first film was the ‘best acting school’ any debutant could hope for. “Working with Blessy uncle and Mammootty uncle was the best learning experience.” Although she was very young at the time she says she picked up a lot from the experience. She was supposed to act in Blessy’s Thanmatra , but she couldn’t, at the time she was living in West Asia.
The family later relocated to Thiruvananthapuram, where they currently live. Her father is a businessman and her mother is a homemaker. She has a younger brother. Her Class XII Board exams are due in a couple of months and she says she is going to focus on them. After that? “It will be films but not at the cost of my education. I am aware of the importance of having an education.”
Now that she is debuted as heroine, any actor she would like to act with? Many, she says. She mentions Dulquer Salman because, she jokes, “I have already acted with Mammootty uncle.”
