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Mom, you’re the bestest” – the grammatical blunder got Azhaan Cooper advertisement assignments at age three when shooting for Kellogg’s cereal advertisement. He goofed his line "mom, you’re the best” and in the excitement of childhood, he coined his own. The director was so enamored with the phrase that it became the final take. This occurred almost 20 years ago; the young man has since completed 180 advertisements, over 80 percent of which were shot before he turned 12.
Today an aspiring pilot from Basair Aviation College, Bankstown, Australia, Cooper is currently awaiting his license to fly in India. He determined his profession in the fifth standard when he attended an air force show. His mother Shaheen was not happy that he become a fighter pilot, so he opted to be a commercial pilot. With his love for modeling and flying he is aware that "I will have to make a choice between my two passions ­— acting and flying. Maybe I can be like (actors) John Travolta and Tom Cruise.” Travolta has his own Douglas aircraft which he flies on weekends, Cooper extends his choice from modeling lto acting. The neophyte pilot also sings, plays the keyboard and now wants to learn the guitar. He has even performed a cameo role in the 2002 Bollywood romance Na Tum Jaano na Hum where he was cast as Esha Deol’s brother. Saif Ali Khan and Hrithik Roshan were also in the movie. Today at age 22, Cooper continues to shoot for advertisements.
The camera-happy model narrates how actor Salman Khan chatted with him and his father Pervez when they shot together for chhota (small) Thums Up, showing interest in what the youngster wanted to do in life. Khan never went to his vanity van but hung out with the aspiring actor. Azhaan terms model Sushmita Sen, former Miss Universe (1994), "a very loving lady. She hugged me and posed for pictures so easily.” He shot with both actors in Pattaya, Thailand. Pervez narrates they are always looked after well at the exotic locations and hotels they visit. They "see to it I’m comfortable. They give me whatever I want,” seconds Azhaan.

 

All that glitters…
Azhaan breaks out in a Tamil line "amma, paar: kal: nadakkud: (Mum, look, the stone is walking.”) He says these lines are etched unfailingly in his memory. The scenario for the Hamam soap advertisement saw him romping on the beaches of Mahabalipuram in Tamil Nadu after a bath using Hamam soap. He then notices a tortoise. The repeated advertisement shoots irritated the reptile which then withdrew into its shell refusing to oblige, Cooper recalls. "A 30-second advertisement can take as much as the whole day.” The young student undertook assignments on weekends, sometimes even bunking St Xavier’s School and later the College of the same name.

A pet lover, he says he "gets on very well and very fast with animals.” However, shooting with them can often be problematic. He narrates how at 12 he was shooting with a Doberman pinscher for a biscuit advertisement, and the dog just dragged him wherever he willed and refused to obey his commands. He recalls another where a beagle had to eat a cake for a Britannia commercial. After the third attempt, the beagle refused to budge. The agency ultimately put tuna and chicken on the cake slices, enticing the dog into walloping the product. 
Another memory is shooting for Maggi noodles with director Prahlad Kakkar. The model’s line was to start with a lip smacking "Mmmm…” Every time he said ‘Mmmm’ and smacked his lips, his artificially stuck tooth, a replacement for his fallen milk tooth, would pop out. Observing Kakkar’s impatience, he realized the glamor of advertising is not always a reflection of the mood of the model. The lad recounts the shooting of a sand castle for Konark Cement. The structure was then to be broken by the waves. Again, artificial intervention was required. He was tired, sunburnt and exhausted during the repeat shots.
As the flip side to these tribulations, he recalls the goodies he collected ­— the rock star costume for the Parry’s Coffy Bite advertisement, the shoes, the clothes. Ruff Kids (a clothing brand) stands out in his memory for all the outfits he acquired from modeling for it.

‘En famille’
It all began with father Pervez getting a portfolio readied for advertisement agencies when Azhaan was two years as he found his son happy to smile for the camera. The first advertisement was for Godrej, Kellogg’s followed. He was the face of Colgate from 1995-2005 and at age nine shot for the back cover of Navneet notebooks and for their academic guides. Ruff Kids and Samsung followed when he was 12 to 13 as also ­— Coca Cola, Vicks Vaporub, Lays, Bournvita, Adidas, Kinley and others. He has shot a coke advertisement for Pakistan under the aegis of Kakkar, and with Aishwarya Rai and cricketer Virender Sehwag.  In fact, as you enter the Coopers’ rooftop patio you come face to face with advertisement shots of Azhaan at all ages lining the floor and walls of the room.
He uses what he endorses — Colgate toothpaste and Maggi noodles. Ruff is still one of his favorite brands, he says. Azhaan reminisces how his mother insisted he drink Bournvita, also endorsed by him.
Pervez (53) accompanies him for almost all the shoots, as he can make the time as a footwear retailer. Mother Shaheen (45) has talents Azhaan admires, making him confess "I am a mama’s boy, you can say. My best friend is my mama.” The parents and younger brother Tozaar (18), are also into modeling. Shaheen impressed Kakkar with her cooking so much that he persuaded her to enlist ‘Cooper’s Dhansak’ on the menu at Tea Centre at Churchgate for Sunday lunch. Shaheen also keeps busy giving Marathi tuitions, her usage of the language being impeccable as she was guided by her friend’s mother in Kolhapur, who taught Marathi in a school there.
Cooper was "a topper and is a teacher’s delight. He has been awarded certificates for general proficiency by his school,” reports the Federation of Parsi Zoroastrian Anjumans of India newsletter of 2003. The BPP Review of the same year showed Cooper receiving the "Jamshed and Shirin Guzder Award for his prowess in the field of Performing Arts and Fine Arts.”  He claims to have no rivalry with Tozaar, "we brothers look out for each other. He is mature and we have no competition. He is levelheaded,” Azhaan states.

Cooper thinks for himself before he decides.  He says he is not happy to wear the kusti without the sudreh ­— he sees no point in it. He generally wears his sudreh-kusti but not under sheer clothing. "God is not in the agiary (only), you have faith in your heart.” He classifies himself a liberal and is happy to "listen to what people say. They say many things but that does not make a difference. Everyone has their own wishes... If you have a clear conscience, nothing else matters… saw sabi né pagé paro to (bowing to 100 holy pictures) makes no sense.” On marriage he says, "I don’t really think I’ll marry a non-Parsi” but is not certain, yet. He adds reflectively, "Compatibility is what counts.”