A Star Is Born Meezaan

Born a Jaaferi, a natural at acting and performing, presenting Meezaan – the new star-kid, at his humble-most.

- Shruti Gupta

What was it like to grow up in a family filled with such eminent Bollywood personalities?

Obviously, it’s an honour and I am extremely grateful to be born in the Jaaferi household where you have veteran actors Jagdeep as your grandfather and Jaaved Jaaferi as father. The minute you are born you’re learning, you’re adapting; somewhere subconsciously, everything starts sitting in your mind that you don’t even realise how much you may have absorbed from their experiences along the journey. Whether it was accompanying my father for his shoots or rehearsals – I see all of that unfolding itself in front of me as I put it together. It is magical, especially for my father and grandfather to see their teachings come to life with me.

You have pursued Visual Arts as your academics, how did your walk on the path of stardom begin?

When I finished my academics in International Business, I went straight to Pennsylvania to pursue Business Studies on my father’s suggestion of laying a strong foundation. After almost a year, I realised my heart didn’t lie in it. I gathered the courage to share this with my father in a difficult conversation over a summer. I had to really let it all out and tell him that my passion magnetises me toward films. Listening to which, he supported my choice and advised me to pursue direction and editing as my majors from New York. During a break when I was home, Sharmin [Segal] who was my classmate then, asked me to double for Ranveer Singh’s costume trial due to his unavailability. I met Sanjay [Leela Bhansali] sir who mentioned about giving me the absolute launch, and that was it. That is when the dream opportunity knocked at my door. My walk to stardom began with him as my mentor who convinced me of my path as an actor; what more can one ask for?