Following his dream

Son of advertising legend Alyque Padamsee, he has successfully managed to step out of his father’s shadow and carve a niche for himself in an entirely different field — directing. Incredibly candid and practical, he still comes across as refreshingly off-beat.

Metrolife caught up with Quasar recently to find out more about his take on direction, theatre, Bollywood and much more.

Not many know this, but Quasar actually began his career in his father’s playground — an advertising agency. He’s quick to clarify, though, that this was simply a means to support his true passion, which has always been theatre. “It just so happened that I studied literature, which made copy-writing a viable option. But I was only doing it to support my theatre habit. I enjoy it but it gave me no time to think about anything else, so I left and joined theatre,” he explains, adding, “I didn’t want to be thirty years old and still wishing about following my dream. It’s been ten years of theatre now and I’m happy.”

Ask him whether he has ever felt the burden of being compared to his father and he denies this immediately. “I was away at boarding school when my father was at the peak years of his career. I joined advertising after he retired, so it wasn’t like he was around, working with me. Besides, I started at the other extreme – I was just a trainee. There weren’t any comparisons,” he says.

His father isn’t the only celebrity in the family; Quasar’s little sister, Shazahn, is now a known face in the movie industry, and Quasar is visibly proud of her accomplishments. “She’s at the start of her career. She’s learning all the time, and works really hard. Sometimes I call her for dinner, and she tells me she can’t because she has to shoot the next day,” he says.

And what about her skills in front of the camera? “She’s has relatively simply roles so far, but I think this will change with next film, ‘Housefull 2’. Here, she’s working with a different genre and a different kind of energy,” he explains.

Most theatre personalities are contemptuous of Bollywood, but Quasar isn’t one of them.
“In Mumbai, theatre lives a parasitic existence off Bollywood. Many of us write and work over there and this gets us the space and money to do theatre. These days, we have off-beat, powerful movies like ‘Shaitaan’ as well. I think directors  understand the value of trained theatre actors in Bollywood,” he says frankly.

Quasar was recently in the City to stage his latest production, ‘Mind Walking’, and admits to loving his trips here. “It’s my second favourite City after Mumbai. I have great relations with Bangalore — culinary relationships with places like Koshy’s and Opus, as well as a great bunch of friends here. I love the theatre here as well,” he concludes.