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At age five, the fraternal twins Pia and Tara Sutaria tagged along with their mother Tina to her Stop Gaps’ weekly choir practices. They enjoyed the experience. Tara was particularly carried away at the rehearsals for the opera Fakir of Benares by Frederick Ligier at the National Centre for the Preforming Arts. At 17 today, the performing arts are their career choice — Pia pursues dance and sings, Tara pursues singing and dances.

 

Starting young
"I prefer the stage to a television channel and I try to stay out of the limelight … I feel artificial in front of the camera when asked to smile when I don’t want to,” states Pia. Tina adds, "Pia is realistic, no fuss, no frills. She wants to be wholesome. She finds it a breach of privacy when she is recognized.” Pia believes she is the lesser known of the two.
This danseuse talks of  her transformation: "I was a tomboy when young but after seeing the ballet film Billy Elliot, I kept doing twirls and got on my toes.” She insisted she wanted to do ballet and headed to Tushna Dallas’s ballet class. Pia faced her first decision — either music or dance — as the timings of both classes clashed. Dallas changed the timing of her academy to accommodate Pia who narrates, "I kept pulling at Dallas’s skirt (on her visit) and told her ‘I must learn this dance,’” Tina chimes in to say, "Tushna said she has the right attitude greater even than aptitude… Pia’s been with her 11 years.” Currently, she also performs, studies and teaches with The DanceWorx, Bombay, founded by Delhi based Ashley Lobo.
Tara’s story of singing on stage harks back to her childhood. "At age seven, Alfred D’Souza (conductor of the Stop Gaps), arranged Felix Mendelsohn’s Spring Song for me to sound ‘christmasy’ for their Christmas concert.” This turned out to be her stage début. Ever since, Tara has sung classical, rhythm and blues, pop, classic rock, musicals, declaring "Broadway is my biggest passion.”
The twins attend St Andrew’s College in Bandra, in the vicinity of their home. Pia has opted for the commerce stream for the 12th standard and wants to do psychology and economics. She wants to introduce dance therapy in Bombay at a later stage and her dream is to popularize musical theater. "I love singing. I love old bands like the Beatles, classical music, Broadway musicals, pop singers, country music, jazz — Liza Minnelli, Barbra Streisand, Louis Armstrong — my time music too, especially the English Grammy award singer Adèle (Adkins).”  She loves writing and reading — her preference being self-help books. She rattles off what she has just enjoyed reading — Attitude Aptitude Altitude by Robyn Simpson, and Jesus in Blue Jeans by Laurie Beth Jones. Both sisters sing in the Junior Stop Gaps Choir. Tara has opted for arts and wants to do mass media. She unwinds with drawing, sketching — charcoal being her favorite medium. In fact she says she wanted to do fine arts but has now chosen acting and theater. "With this, I can act, use my voice and dance as well,” she expands.

The taller of the two, Tara copes with being recognized saying "it feels great. It is exciting and fun, but along with it come other things… so much negativity. Once on stage, it doesn’t really matter what people say and think,” she trails off as a true artiste. She shot to fame with Disney Channel’s Big Bada Boom and is starring in the situational comedy The Suite Life of Karan and Kabir as Vinita Mishra (Vinnie) the down-to-earth girl at a candy-counter of a hotel. She recounts how she was unsure of her reaction when "two girls went crazy in the lift” when they recognized her as Vinnie, as she was coming up for this interview.
The two cope varyingly with their busy schedules — Tara says "it is very tricky sometimes… have to be one up on everything, especially studies as I have to deal with mum and dad on this. Every day is a challenge — you have to dub, shoot episodes and rehearse for the upcoming musical Grease… You may be called at a moment’s notice and I have learnt to live in the moment.” Tara believes there is a lot of similarity between her and Sandy, the character she plays in Grease, both being intense and light-hearted at the same time. Pia says, "after school, my life’s turned upside down — 9.30 a.m. to 12.30 p.m. at DanceWorx training, where we do three styles — ballet, contemporary and jazz; 12.30 p.m. to 5 p.m. is college. Then, to Tushna’s twice a week in the evenings.” Tina is proud of both her daughters and quotes a friend who stated to her "you are my inspiration to have children.”

Zealous Zoroastriennes
Born to Tina (48), née Mistri, and Himanshu (49), the girls have had their navjote initiation. Tina is a life skills coach and image consultant qualified in the UK trained by Viscomtess Chelsea and sings in the aforesaid choir. Himanshu is an electronics engineer who has his own consultancy and business. Their mamaiji (maternal grandmother) Mani’s presence in their lives is paramount as they live together.
Tara says she loves every­thing about Zoroastrianism. "I respect good thoughts, good words, good deeds and am proud to be a Zoroastrian, though not according to some people. We claim to be growing but if someone can do something like this, then we are not growing. (She refers to a letter in the Jamé Jamshed Weekly of December 23, 2012, claiming that Tara ‘masquerades as a Zoroastrian’ following an article profiling her two weeks earlier). Why would you cause pain to an individual? We wear our sudreh-kusti but feel alienated now.” She was asked to participate in the Zoroastrian Youth for the Next Generation (ZYNG) calendar launch at Rustom Baug. She highlighted her point that her name was not mentioned in the credits or media coverage of the event. (The BPP Review of January 2013 has a photo of her and a write-up on her inside the issue — editors.)
True to the Parsi ethos, the teenagers give back in charity wherever they can. They participate gratis for fund raising events to benefit organizations such as Kripa Foundation for drug abuse and AIDS/HIV patients and for Welfare of Stray Dogs. Tara was chosen as a Star Volunteer (on Star channel) to distribute gift baskets to under privileged children last year. There are causes too to which they contribute in both cash and kind.

 

Future Forays
Both the young ladies would like to test themselves abroad but lament that finance is an issue. "We need to change our mindset; performing arts should be given a lot more recognition and importance in India. People look down on it and think it is only for the wealthy,” Tina states and continues that they have lost friends because they do not view her daughters’ professional pursuits as being honorable. She also highlights how expensive on-line mentoring is, as also fees which in themselves can cost £ 5,000 at the Royal Academy of Dance, London, for stage craft, make-up, conceptualization — not factoring in travel, boarding and lodging. Tara takes expensive lessons on skype for vocal training from Diedre Lobo in the United States. The mother applauds the Bai Avabai Petit High School which they attended and says, "Avabai school believed in them. They call them even now. They sent them for competitions and gave them impetus.”
Tara and Pia, who share their birth date of November 19 with the late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, are asked what message they would like to give today’s youth. "Enjoy your youth,” states Tara. "People of my age grow up too fast. I don’t want to sound preachy but they dress like way older… smoke, drink, (do) drugs. It is now happening at 13. I’d like to tell them to enjoy their youth. So much so that my friends ask me ‘Disney Channel is for kids, why are you there?’ I don’t see this age bar.” Pia gets back with her message after contemplating the question: "We have no power to choose where we come from but we do have the power to go where we want to. I hope everyone pursues and chooses their passion. If you are a happy person, you are a successful person.”