JOIN US'I want to see people watching my movie'
A song from her debut film Heartless plays on before an accented American voice takes over. Curious, we ask how she managed to learn and articulate Hindi dialogues? Perhaps it was a wrong question to begin with as Ariana Ayam, Adhyayan Suman’s leading lady in the upcoming flick, takes us by surprise. Effortlessly, she doesn’t only rehash a Hindi dialogue “Tum apni zindagi saalon mei ginte ho aur mai apni lamhon mei,” from her film but also leaves us baffled with a Farsi version of the same. Brilliant, we say!
Weaving together the scattered bits of information about the debutante actress, Metrolife delves into her life. Confirming her non-filmy record, she says, “I was born in Kabul, Afghanistan. But I have no memory of that country since we shifted to New York when I was just one. But the atmosphere back home even in NY is culturally Afghani. We talk in Farsi, and celebrate all Afghani festivals.” Like a traditional Afghani family, she has four sisters and two brothers, Ariana adds vivaciously.
Her breezy tone and a non-filmy background, coupled with a career in graphic designing based in New York does make her stand out amongst the newly introduced girls in B-Town. But wasn’t it a risk for Shekhar Suman to select her for his debut directorial venture? “Everybody around Shekharji wondered and questioned him if it was a good idea to take me up for this role,” she admits, adding, “I hadn’t auditioned per se, but I performed a scene from the film in front of everybody in the crew just to prove it to myself that I could do it,” shares Ariana happily mentioning that it was followed by an applause.
Call it a quirk of fate or sheer luck, it was the younger Suman who introduced Ariana to his father and guess how? “I had played a role in a film school’s project when Adhyayan was studying in New York. We were friends since then. Though the movie had no dialogues to it, but when Shekharji saw it, he liked the way I emoted,” reveals the actress who has taken her first step in Bollywood.
And what about future plans? “Did I plan acting, coming down to India and acting in this movie? I love doing different things. While everybody on the sets knew what to do, I stood there wondering what all to expect from a life in cinema.” She signs off, adding, “I enjoyed and feel grateful to both Shekhar and Adhyayan Suman. And I want next is to see people watching my movie. I leave it up to them to decide if I should act again and again."