Q.I am very proud to be a Zoroastrian…
A.Besides playing a Parsi in few of my films, I have played a Parsi in the play I am not Bajirao . I presume it is probably my best work to date. About the community, I am very proud
to be a Zoroastrian. I do not know anyone who does not have a Parsi family friend. They are difficult but at the same time easy to live with. You can’t ignore a Parsi. It’s so wonderful to see that in spite of there being only 60,000 of them, they are all over the place.
Q. Parsi characters in films, quirky as they may seem, are for real…
A. The Parsi characters in the film, quirky as they may seem, are for real. You can never have a straight Parsi, and sometimes it’s unbelievable that characters like these exist. Parsis are unique and have this great ability to laugh at themselves. They are very honest, philanthropic and fun-loving. Go into a restaurant and the noisiest group having the most fun will be a Parsi one. I’m so proud to belong to this community, though not happy when they are referred to as ‘mad’, as the reference reads badly.
Q. Being Cyrus must’ve been a more-than-special film…
A. Being Cyrus was a film made not necessarily on the community but to use the texture of the Parsi quirkiness to tell the story. It was a nice way to go about a film that intends to be out-of-the-box. It’s great that someone had the guts to make a Being Cyrus. I am very proud to be part of it.
Original interview here.