Former VJ and new Bollywood actress Shenaz Treasurywala didn’t exactly have a normal childhood. Her father was a Merchant Navy captain and she spent the first years of her life sailing the seas, visiting exotic locations, swimming and fishing. She was even once nearly kidnapped on the leaning tower of Pisa! “My mother befriended a French woman who couldn’t have kids,” she explains, “Then while climbing down from the tower, the woman held me, looked at mum coldly, and said, ‘I have to take her. You can have more children, I can’t.’ In typical filmi style my mother ran after her, snatched me away from the crazy lady and made a run for it!”
After her debut in Ishq Vishk with Shahid Kapoor and Amrita Rao, Shenaz admits she lost her sense of direction, making a couple of instantly forgettable appearances and then disappearing to the States for a while. Then, a year ago, she suddenly realised that it was movies she wanted to be in and has returned with a much more focussed and mature approach. A strong performance in Aagey Se Right with Shreyas Talpade led to her working on Delhi Belly with Imran Khan and now she’s about to hit the screens in Radio. What does she like about her new movie? “The script was so tight, fast-paced, the music was exceptional,” she says, “I loved my role in the film and fell in love with my character Shanaya.”
Shenaz seems to have a very persuasive personality – she recently persuaded Salman Khan to reveal on 10 Ka Dum 2 that his favourite actress was Preity Zinta!
