Zayn Marie Khan: Despite belonging to an influential family, I was auditioning for years

Actress Zayn Marie Khan, who was recently seen in Monica O My Darling, gets candid in an exclusive chat with The Pioneer, about her recent flick, going to stage for the first time, her guiding point, and much more.

Shikha Duggal

A pulp thriller Monica O My Darling saw the ingress of an actress called Zayn Marie Khan. Not all ‘Khans’ are related to the three biggies of this B-town but this Khan definitely is. The niece of megastar Aamir Khan and daughter of the famous Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak director Mansoor Hussain Khan, was thrilled to be a part of this Indian noir saga and garnered a lot of appreciation along the way.

So, in an exclusive interview with the 27-year old, we get to know about why she picked up the juicy adaptation of a Japanese book.

“I have gotten this film on my own esteem. None of my influential family members commanded over me in the industry. For me to get a chance to act under the direction of Vasan Bala was very reasonable. It was an open effort of my own talent,” claims Zayn.

Already worked in Secret Superstar, while in college she used to deny outright that acting isn’t her calling. And as she was studying in Chennai it gave her the opportunity to keep that recognition at bay. It was at the behest of one of her teachers that she went on the stage for the first time and it was magical. That whole experience just blew her away and she was like this is what she wants to do in future!

“I always wanted to be a storyteller like my father. And then working under the leadership of Vasan, could see so many cool directions are wired in his brain. He intelligently localised the ingredients for the film as per Indian palate. It’s a witty narrative—we have pop culture references. You’ll see feel-good spirit.”

Once she made up her mind and told her family about it, the most apprehensive among them was her dad. He’s such a sweetheart! He couldn’t sleep that whole night and came knocking to Zayn’s room at 3 am. He was like, ‘No qualms if you want to be an actor, the problem is the fame issues it brings along. If you promise nothing will change and you won’t let things get into your head, you can surely go ahead.’ So that has been her guiding point and she has solely been concentrating on her work and enjoying the process of acting until now.

“Indeed, this industry is very unpredictable. Being versatile is the key to stay relevant. Despite belonging to an influential family, I was auditioning for years and years. Acting is a funny job, early on I am not so equipped to handle it all yet I have realised it’s all transient. Waiting process is the biggest moment in our life, whether are we going to come on board for the project or not. I am staying on the level these days.

In the very beginning, my father asked me not to focus on being a magnanimous star/a famed celebrity but to focus on whatever roles I recieve on. He was very worried looking how star kids are treated nowadays, he told me he doesn’t want to see me crashing at all! I’ll prove myself Friday after Friday, without deviating towards popularity.”

Not knowing much about what noir films are, she just stepped into it and, “But we have put a stamp via this film. There is self-awareness in the script. I didn’t know him before but when I watched Mard ko Dard Nahi Hota, I realised the whimsical journey. We were going through ‘vasanisation’ on the sets (she laughed).”

A pro in theatre performances from the past ten years, she was aware of immediate audience reactions but her first film brought immense nervousness inside of her. She continued, “Aamir cha has been really appreciative of my work. It was while assisting for the latter that I got my calling to join films. I assisted for some parts and realised that I wanted to be in front of the camera.

Then I started auditioning and bagged a role for the film Mrs Serial Killer!”  Having acted fully in the film, funnily when she saw the screening she didn’t get many of the references used. So she narrated to us, “A week ago I had fallen severely sick and started to binge-watch. I was finding our film’s references then and was going bonkers on the bed.”