Aftaab Shivdasani : Bollywood Star (India)/title> <script language="javascript">  </script> </head> <body bgcolor="white" link="#D10707" vlink="maroon" alink="maroon" topmargin="0" leftmargin="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0"> <div align="left"> <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%" height="92"> <tr> <td background="http://www.pyara.com/top_bg.gif" colspan="2" class="BlkReg8"> <img src="http://www.pyara.com/pyara_logo.gif" alt="pyara.com"><br> Y o u r B o l l y w o o d P o r t a l ! </td> <td width="100%" background="http://www.pyara.com/top_bg.gif" colspan="2" valign="middle" align="right"> <script type="text/javascript"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"> </script> </td> </tr> </table> </div> <br> <center> <span class="BlkReg9bold"> <a href="http://www.ebolly.com">Bollywood</a> | <a href="http://www.pyara.com/stars">Stars</a> | <a href="http://www.desifm.com">Music</a> | <a href="http://www.pyara.com/cricket.htm">Cricket</a> | <a href="http://www.desipoems.com">Poetry</a> | <a href="http://www.desihumor.com">Jokes</a> | <a href="http://www.desichatroom.com">Chat</a> | <a href="http://www.desichatroom.com">Games</a> | <a href="http://www.indiapak.com">News</a> || <a href="http://www.pyara.com/stars">Home</a> </span> <br><br> <script type="text/javascript"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"> </script> </center> <div align="center"> <center> <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="1" width="85%" bgcolor="#D0DEFF">  <tr>  <td align="center"> <span class="RedReg12bold">Aftaab Shivdasani:</span> <span class="BlueReg12bold">Biography</span> </td> </tr> <tr>  <td align="center" valign="top" bgcolor="white" class="BlkReg9"> <br>The starstruck, small-town Mast guy? The regular boy nextdoor? The savvy, upwardly mobile Gen X actor? Who is this guy with the longest and most unfilmi name? Stop wondering. Here's Aftaab... for lunch!<br> <br>Aftaab Shivdasani hops, trips and jumps across the street to meet me at the Cricket Club of India. He's 15 minutes late and his carefree swagger says he has been upto something. "I saw you approaching from my apartment window, but I was listening to my favourite song on the radio. I couldn't resist. Sorry!" He flashes his trump card: The trademark lopsided grin, that's tilting female fans off their centre of gravity. By now, Aftaab has become a pro at using his best charm-weapon.<br> <br>Not that he needs it all that often! Just the name works. Ever since Aftaab debuted opposite Urmila Matondkar in Ram Gopal Varma's Mast, he has had to cope with overnight teen idoldom. For the child-star of Mr India, Shahenshah, Chaalbaaz and Awwal Number-facing the camera is nothing new. Screaming, swooning female fans are. "I don't know where they get my phone number from! There are blank calls and whispering voices saying, 'I love you'. It's crazy," Aftaab shrugs and smiles some more.<br> <br>We are settled for lunch at the CCI Cafeteria, which Aftaab says is his second home. On the table there's pasta, french fries, fried fish and iced tea-all of which he gulps down hungrily. "I have grown up here," Aftaab says, waving his fork in the general direction of the club's pool area. I've always been a sportsperson-playing cricket, football, squash and swimming. All my best buddies are from the club." A couple of them throw a 'Hi!' while passing the table. A girl compliments him on his acting in Mast. Aftaab blushes. "I've got mixed responses to Mast," he admits candidly. "Some people feel I should learn to modulate my voice, others have come up with other suggestions. But everybody has been encouraging. For my first full-length film, I did okay, I guess. Now, there's the long road ahead. It's exciting and interesting."<br> <br>The long road goes a long way back! Aftaab's exciting journey into the limelight started at a very young age-when he was only 14 months old. "Yeah, I was the Farex baby," Aftaab says sheepishly. "I don't remember anything from then, but my mom has kept all the pictures." As a child, Aftaab continued appearing in ads regularly. He remembers Gokul ice-cream and Sunflower oil ads from that time. As a teenager, he was seen in the Nestle Bar One chocolate ad. While at college, he did a couple of videos and featured in the Coke ad.<br> <br>That's where Ram Gopal Varma spotted him and cast him for Mast. "It's incredible," Aftaab wonders, "He just saw me and without even a screen test, cast me for his film. He obviously had more confidence in me than I had in myself then." Apparently, Ram Gopal Varma has been so impressed with Aftaab's work in Mast that he has cast him in a second film, for which shooting started in November.<br> <br>Looking back, Aftaab feels that if it wasn't for the Mast break, he would have been probably doing his MBA. "I've acted in seven films as a child star, but films were not on my mind when Mast came along. My girlfriend of three years is studying Psychology in the UK and I had every intention to pursue an MBA there after graduation. However, now that I'm acting in films, my MBA plans are on hold." Sure, he confesses, he does miss his girlfriend but they're both coping with separation. "She's coming down for a month in the Christmas vacations. I may visit UK in the next year, so we'll have to manage. It's the only practical thing to do."<br> <br>The P word is high on Aftaab's agenda. Contrary to his screen image of a Mast lad, Aftaab learnt to be responsible from a very young age. "I've been working from quite an early age. And it's not always been in ads and movies. On the sets, I've always had fun, played pranks and been a monster. But I also worked with my uncle in his real estate firm. I used to go from building to building checking out vacant properties. I realized then that people can be quite hostile to estate agents. I enjoyed my stint and worked hard at it. So my head never got the chance to get inflated with air," he drawls confidently.<br> <br>Also, contrary to his character of a love-struck star-fan in Mast, Aftaab says he's never idolized anyone. "Without sounding conceited, I'd say that we idolize someone in a cinema hall because we don't feel upto it in real life. With me, that's never happened. Neither have I hero-worshipped anyone, nor have I lusted after a screen idol. But playing the character in Mast has educated me on the fan-syndrome. I can understand it better now."<br> <br>By now, the food has been tucked away and Aftaab orders a Coke. "I don't like diet colas. Coke has a 'zing' about it," he notes. Aftaab himself can be quite the zing-thing when he's partying with his coterie of friends. "I like to go out with my gang, we have dinners, go on drives and party once in a while. My favourite is 1900s at the Taj but since it's closed for renovation, I go to Fire And Ice. It's a happening place, so everybody's there. I generally dance and have a good time since I don't drink or smoke."<br> <br>Aftaab is passionate about music, a dose of which he gave me earlier. Depending on his mood, he likes listening to jazz, classical, rock, pop, chartbusters and ambient music. "I enjoy Hindi film classics, too. But techno, jungle, trance and stuff are not my scene. Nothing heavy, really." He says he can spend an entire day listening to music. "But I'll never cut an album, if that's what you want to ask me next!" he adds. Okay, not that. Then how about the fact that child-stars tend to fall by the wayside on the way to adult stardom? That annoys him. He waves his hand in indignation. "Where's the formula to make it big?" he asks. "As an actor, I only know that I have to perform. Whether I'm successful or not is beyond my control. Child stars like Sridevi and now Urmila have made it too, haven't they?" he reasons.<br> <br>So did Urmila and he discuss the fact that both were once child stars? He laughs-they did discuss Shekhar Kapur. "I was initially a bit apprehensive," he says about meeting Urmila, "but she is a warm person. Shy and reserved, she doesn't make friends easily. I can understand that because I, too, am not the gregarious and chatty type. I don't open up to people easily. But with Urmila, I never pondered on the past because its got no bearing on our careers now. However, we've both had the privilege to work with Shekhar uncle as children-she in Masoom and me in Mr India. I have great memories of that film."<br> <br>The Coke is over, but Aftaab has just about begun to bubble. He's got the looks and the talent. He's got the cool and the self-belief not to lose sight of himself in the fickle world of films. Will he be the first one to dump the myth that boywonders never grow up to be successful stars?<br> <br><I>- India Today</I><br> </td> </tr><br> </table> </div> <br> <table align="center" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" width="100%"> <tr> <td width="100%" align="center" valign="top" bgcolor="d7d7d7" colspan="3" class="BlkReg8"> <b>Network Sites: </b> <a href="http://www.ebolly.com">ebolly.com</a> • <a href="http://www.desifm.com">DesiFM.com</a> • <a href="http://www.desiChatRoom.com">DesiChatroom.com</a> • <a href="http://www.desiHumor.com">DesiHumor.com</a> • <a href="http://www.desiPoems.com">DesiPoems.com</a> • <a href="http://www.hrithik.net">Hrithik.net</a> </td> </tr> <tr> <td width="100%" align="center" valign="top" bgcolor="#f7f7f7" colspan="3" class="BlkReg8"> <br><a class="ht" href="http://www.pyara.com/void(0)" onclick="HomePage = top.location.href;if (document.layers) setNSHomepage(HomePage);else if (navigator.appVersion.indexOf('MSIE 5') !=-1) {this.style.behavior='url(#default#homepage)';this.setHomePage(HomePage);}else alert('sorry, not supported in this browser');return false">MAKE US YOUR HOMEPAGE</a> | <a class="ht" href="javascript:window.external.AddFavorite('http://www.pyara.com/', 'Pyara.com - #1 Bollywood Site')"> ADD TO FAVORITES</a> | <a href="http://www.jaanproductions.com/recommend.asp">RECOMMEND US</a> | <a href="http://www.pyara.com/list.cfm">JOIN OUR MAILING LIST</a> | <a href="mailto:admin@jaanproductions.com?Subject=Content Reproduction">CONTENT REPRODUCTION</a> <br>For Advertising, suggestions, or queries contact <a href="mailto:admin@jaanproductions.com">admin@jaanproductions.com</a> </td> </tr> </table> <p align="right"><img src="http://www.pyara.com/jaan_white_logo.gif" align="right"><br> <span class="BlkReg8">Copyright © 1997-2002, <a href="http://www.pyara.com">Pyara.com</a> - A division of <a href="http://www.jaanproductions.com">Jaan Productions Corp</a>. <br> All Rights Reserved. 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