“Life is too short but you have to overcome struggles in the industry which are too long”
NAAZNEEN PATNI tells JYOTHI VENKATESH
Sultry and petite Nazneen Patni shot to fame with her brilliant portrayal of a girl with a considerably very small pair of breasts who faces a lot of social stigma but eventually decided to live her life on her own terms and love her body in Gandi Baat 2 .Talking to bollyy.com at Chayos at Versova, Nazneen Patni, who looked like a million dollars with her charismatic smile surprised me by telling me that initially she had actually declined the offer after auditioning for her part as she felt the episode Gibraltar of Gandi Baat 2 was sleazy and erotic but a friend suggested since she had not even seen the first part of Gandi Baat, she should at least listen to the story of the project and then agree whether to be part of it or opt out.
Says Nazneen Patni, “Luckily I agreed to hear the story and had an instinct that I should do the show and it proved to be a turning point of my career”. Interestingly, Gandi Baat 2 was not the first show that Nazneen did. It was Boo Yaah, a film with Remo D’Souza that was her debut film as an actress. “I was overjoyed when I got a call from ALT Balaji for the audition for Gandi Baat 2. They needed a dark, dusky, innocent but strong actress to play the character of Seema in the bold series.”
What attracted you about the show? I asked Nazneen gingerly. She shot back, “I always had a calling to spread awareness and do the kind of work that might bring a change in society. Though I knew for a fact that my own family folks would not be in favor of me being a part of a taboo topic like Gandi Baat 2, who knows, someone in my own family too may be going through a similar crisis in her life and it could affect the family too, I thought. Though the show had really bold scenes, the episode had a special social message too that needed to be told, and thus, I agreed to do the show, which served as a mirror to the society today.’
Explaining further, Nazneen said, “The part that I played in Gandi Baat 2 was that of a girl who is scared of her fiancé who taunts her because she does not have a pair of big breasts. It was a role which was dynamically different from what I am in real life. I have never been scared in life because I do not know what fear exactly is, having lived life on my own terms and conditions all my life”.
Nazneen was convinced and agreed to play the role and the very next day reported for the shooting of the series. To make Nazneen comfortable, when the crucial scenes were being picturised, all the other unit members were cleared of the room and only the cameraman and the director Sachin Mohite, who has to his credit several episode of the popular serial Saavdhaan India, were allowed to remain present along with her and the actor who played her husband and there was no rehearsal at all.
Nazneen confessed that the director really worked a lot on her and gives the full credit to him for having extracted the right work out of her for the series. “Once the camera started whirring, I turned into Seemaji the character instantly and there was absolutely no looking back at all. I literally got into the skin of my character with effortless ease.”
Nazneen reiterates that Ojasvi Tiwari has penned a story of her struggles in life in a book titled 101 Unconventional Strategies. “I talk about the struggles in my life in a big way in the book. It is not just Deepika Padukone who has had a tryst with depression. For almost seven to 8 years, I also have battled depression. In my childhood, my parents were constantly bickering with one another and almost on the verge of a divorce and dad in a bout of anger and frustration, used to beat me a lot as if I were an animal, especially after our house was burnt when communal violence erupted in Gujarat, where I was studying in a Gujarati medium school. ”
Nazneen contains herself and says that once when she was barely 14, she was almost short of being subjected to child abuse at the hands of three old men in her own house. Nazneen contains herself and says that once when she was barely 14, she was almost short of being subjected to child abuse at the hands of three old men in her family who she used to treat as her uncles. “I ran away from my house then though I was studying in my first year in college and sported a long hair. I went through a lot of trauma. We have seen a lot of poverty and life was hell and there was a time when I even felt like committing suicide. Forget about taking me to the doctor, there was no money with them to take me to a psychiatrist for a diagnosis.”
Nazneen breaks down when tears start trickling from her eyes, excuses herself and goes to the counter for tissue papers to wipe the tears away and continues her sad saga. “The riots took their own toll and once my mom did not even know whether dad was alive or dead when for three days he did not return home during the riots”.
However, luck turned in her for and luckily Nazneen joined a TV channel in the marketing division in Nagpur on a salary of Rs 5000 and eventually started being an anchor though she was constantly taunted by other people in the channel that she was too dusky and ugly to be a news anchor or for that matter an actress. Nazneen soon joined another channel in Nagpur as an anchor and started covering crime as well as Bollywood beat and eventually ended up as a reporter with the same TV channel. Nazneen also became a popular as well as a busy voice- over artist in Nagpur and there was a time when she was working in two different channels round the clock to make her living.
Nazneen discards her tissue papers and signs off on a positive note and signs off. “I am now waiting eagerly for the release of my next film after Ram Janambhoomi called Gangs of Bihar directed by Neeraj Kumar, with Rajveer Singh, who had acted with me in Ramjanambhoomi. Today I am 27. From the time I turned 22, I have settled down to my routine peacefully but I have become more mature before time. My parents live in Nagpur. I continue to be a very emotional person but have not become a practical person till date just because I have seen a lot of bad times in my life and that is one of the main reasons why the artiste in me is still alive today. Cinema is the only thing which shows me how much I am confident. I realized that I am something when I saw myself first time in camera and also realized that I am the most beautiful girl. I think I was born to act on Friday for cinema and I believe that soon one Friday will change my life and catapult me to greater heights career-wise”.
