'I will soon be playing mother to John Abraham'

While most get bored of playing mother roles, this happy-go-lucky lady loves to don the mom avatar on-screen, everytime. She isn’t like Nirupa Roy or Raakhee yet her motherly affection is gaining popularity.

And why not, for the list of kids includes names like Shah Rukh Khan, Ajay Devgn, John Abraham and Hrithik Roshan! Meet the new - ‘famous mommy of B Town’, Zarina Wahab, who was recently in the City to receive an award at the ‘4th Aadhi Aabadi Women Achievers Awards 2012’.

Her knowledge of five languages - Tamil, Telugu, Urdu, Hindi and English has provided her with the right opportunities to work with different industries. Zarina says, “Jitni languages aayen utna achcha hai. I have worked in a number of Tamil and Telugu films because of my knowledge of these languages. But I feel sad that even after living in Maharashtra for five years, I haven’t been able to learn Marathi.” 

For her, the word ‘stardom’ has redefined its rules and she does not regret the long break she took from films. “When I was young, I used to get lead roles but after I got married, I took a break. It was my decision to leave the industry,” says the actress who married Aditya Pancholi, “Even coming back after 10-12 years, was my decision. After my kids grew up, there wasn’t much to do, so I came back.”

Her break from the industry was thus timely for, “When I came back, I had already become a mother in real life so being offered mother roles didn’t affect me. The problem comes when you don’t accept what you are offered. But I am very happy with what I am offered,” says the actress and reveals, “I will soon be playing mother to John Abraham in  I, Me Aur Main and even Ajay Devgn in Himmatwala.” And who has proved to be her best on-screen son? “All are very good. Maa ke liye sabhi bachche ek hote hain,” she says tongue-firmly-in-cheek.

The actress was awarded for playing mother to SRK in My Name is Khan. Zarina recollects, “I got a call from Dharma Productions for this role but at that time I was going to Kerala for a Malayalam movie. They waited for me to complete my assignment and come back. This gesture really touched me.”

Zarina has been a regular on both big and small screens. Which does she prefer? “Both require hard work. The difference is that we shoot for television in small rooms, for films it requires huge sets. And if a half an hour episode is shot in two days then for half an hour of film time, it takes 10 days!”