Nobody knew Zaira Wasim since a few months back but now she is a famous girl. She is just a 15 year old, 10th class student from Kashmir who is playing an important role in Aamir Khan Starrer “Dangal”.
She was in line with thousands of the girls and she was never hopeful of getting the role but thanks to her good luck, she is now playing the role of wrestler Geeta Phogat in the movie. She is back in Srinagar after finishing the schedule of 6 month shooting in Mumbai.
She talked to a news portal over phone and told, “I was like new to the (showbiz) world and felt nervous when I was working with my co-actors on the sets. The experience has been so strong to change my life. Playing Geeta Phogat, the role demanded wrestling skills on my part. I had to go through rigorous physical and mental training.”
Geeta Phogat is the first Indian women wrestler who has won the gold medal in the 55 Kg freestyle category in the commonwealth games of 2010. Aamir has portrayed the character of Mahavir Singh Phogat who has trained his two daughters for wrestling.
Zaira’s training schedule was very tiring one as it included running, swimming and wrestling.
She further tells about her acting and modeling career, “Before ‘Dangal’, I had done two ads. I got a call from Mukesh Chabra (the film’s casting director) to attend an important workshop for a week. I went to Mumbai to attend the workshop. There were a lot of girls who had already done one or more ads or serials and I had to do some scenes in front of them; so, I was like ‘there is no space for me’.”
It was not easy for Zaira to convince her parents for allowing her for acting but her principal and aunt helped her a lot as she told, “It was my school principal and my aunt who supported my decision. They both convinced my parents and handled the situation very well.”
She also got some threats online when the news of her working in the movie spread; she said, “Some nasty comments about me were posted on social media. But Aamir Khan and the rest of the crew helped me. I am still getting comments from unknown persons, but I believe in positivity and have learned how to deal with such comments.”
She further adds, “To be honest, after getting back to Kashmir and being a girl, it haunts me how people would feel about me now. But I saw appreciation and support from my friends, family and other neighbours and I am really honoured that people are telling me I am representing Kashmir.”
When she was asked whether she has any plan for her future in bollywood after Dangal, she said, “I don’t have any goal or any aim which I have to follow; I am going with the flow that life shows me… I want to study, but if another film offer comes my way in future and doesn’t affect my studies I will take it.”