Although Perezade Zorbian has been away from cinema for many years, she is still a face that people have not forgotten. One look at her and you’re reminded of the work she has done in films like ‘Joggers Park’ and Amitabh Bachchan’s ‘Ek Ajnabee’.
She was at the peak of her career when she decided to get married and stopped making films. In a recent interview, Perizad revealed that she had left a film with Anil Kapoor and Nikhil Advani ‘Salam Ishq’ when she got married.Today, instead of chasing scripts, Perizad spends her time building a business empire. The company she once joined during a period of financial struggle has evolved into a thriving enterprise with an annual turnover of around Rs 120 crore.
Ironically, acting was never part of the plan.Born into an Iranian family based in Mumbai, Perizad grew up loving her father and dreaming of becoming an entrepreneur. Long before she knew what the word actually meant, she knew she wanted to follow in his footsteps. “I was 8 years old and couldn’t even pronounce businesswoman properly, but I knew this was what I wanted to be,” she said in an interview with Suketu Shah.After completing her studies in India, she moved to New York to pursue her MBA.
During her time there, she was introduced to the Lee Strasberg Theater and Film Institute through a friend. Curious about acting, she enrolled and spent a year learning the craft after completing business school.
Until then, she returned to India with every intention of joining the family business. At a family gathering, a fashion show coordinator noticed her and showed her a beautiful and attractive advertisement. One commercial led to another, and soon filmmakers started taking notice. Soon, she was cast as the leading lady in Nagesh Kukunoor’s Bollywood film Calling opposite Om Puri. At the time, Kukunoor was among the country’s most exciting independent filmmakers, having already built a loyal audience with films like “Hyderabad Blues” and “Rockford.”Perezad agreed to do the film, took a month off from work and completed filming. But when the film’s release was delayed, she simply returned to work.“I was completely hands-on at Zorabian,” she later recalled. Then came the turning point. When British Nandy Communications acquired Bollywood Calling and put Perizaad front and center in its promotions, everything changed almost overnight. “My life changed after that,” she admitted.
The timing couldn’t be better. Anglophone Indian cinema was still a relatively unexplored space. There were only a few films produced and a small group of actors associated with them.
Perezade suddenly found herself in demand.One project led to another. ‘Morning Raga’, ‘Joggers Park’ and ‘Mumbai Matinee’ followed, making her one of the most recognizable faces in the niche sector.
However, she did not confuse this vision with mainstream Bollywood fame. “I was not a Bollywood star. I would not have gotten the kind of attention that Karisma Kapoor could get,” she said.Even as her acting career flourished, there was another life waiting for her outside of film sets. She continued to divide her time between films and family business until her father finally asked her to choose one path. This time she chose acting.
The decision came with her father’s blessing.Over the next few years, Perizad built an eclectic body of work. She shared screen space with Amitabh Bachchan in Ek Ajnabee, appeared in the TV show Hum Pardesi Ho Gaye, performed extensively in theatre, and traveled to China for three months to star in Bandung Sonata, playing former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.Perizad was 33 years old when she married businessman Boman Irani. Before their wedding, she expressed her preference to avoid extensive travel after marriage. “My husband said, ‘Once we get married, I don’t want you to travel.’ And my mother said, ‘What nonsense! How could he say that?” And my sister-in-law was like, “That’s it.” Don’t get married. He already knew you were an actor. Why would he say something like that at the last minute?But Perizad told her family: “He didn’t say you can’t travel.
He said: I will wait for you, but I would like you not to travel. I did not participate in another film after that. The decision was not only about marriage. She was also thinking about motherhood. Her priorities have begun to change. “The biological clock was ticking,” she said, explaining why she chose to focus on starting a family.Looking back, she admitted that having children helped her make peace with leaving films behind.
“I knew the only way to accept it was to get pregnant, so I chose to have a family.” At that point, Subhash Ghai wanted her in Black and White opposite Anil Kapoor. Nikhil Advani offered her a role in Salaam-e-Ishq opposite Sohail Khan. I rejected them all. Her mother remained fiercely protective of her independence.“My mother said to my husband: ‘It’s a butterfly. Don’t clip its wings because they will wither and die.'”
Fortunately, Perezade never felt trapped by the decision she made. Marriage brought new experiences, not fewer opportunities. She continued to perform in theater, worked on television projects, and embraced motherhood. One memory remains particularly close to her heart. “I gave birth to two babies, weighing 48 kg, wearing shorts, standing in front of 1,100 people to huge applause,” she recalled.While her film career faded into the background, another success story was quietly taking shape. When Perizad first became actively involved in the family business, the company was struggling and carrying significant debt. Over the years, she has helped transform the company from a traditional wholesale poultry company into a modern food company with interests including retail, ready-to-cook products and grab-and-go.
Today, the company employs around 700 people and generates annual revenue of around Rs 120 crore.Despite spending years in the poultry business, she remains very particular about what she eats. Perizad often said that she eats chicken every day, but avoids ordering it when eating out.
