"A lot of the time Parsis are portrayed as loud, over the top… I guess Netflix wanted to show how we bawas perceive these stereotypes,” said 27-year-old actor and musician Zervaan Bunshah about his latest four-minute promotional video "Things we should stop telling Parsis” for streaming giant Netflix. Released on Jamshedi Navroz, March 21, 2021, the film is about a Parsi protagonist (Bunshah) in an office environment who puts up with jibes, comments and good-natured ragging about community stereotypes of dhansak and "unusual” surnames.
"When our language is made fun of, our insecurities flare up,” as does mild anger, in the case of Cyrus, the protagonist, when he is asked why his surname is not Openerwala or any variation thereof.
When a colleague of the protagonist asks him if the entire community shares one Netflix account, Cyrus responds with, "We can accommodate your entire family too.” (Reportedly, Neflix is considering cracking down on password sharing. BBC News reported on March 12 that "users have reported seeing a screen saying, ‘If you don’t live with the owner of this account, you need your own account to keep watching.’”)
Zervaan Bunshah: passionately pursuing the arts
Calling himself an "escape artist,” Bunshah stated that he "does not enjoy reality…I got the role by accident…An agency saw my work and reached out…It is not that they said, ‘Hum ko Bunshah hi chaahiyé (We want Bunshah only).’”
He has dabbled in music, theater and a spot of modeling ("helps pay the rent”), Bunshah stated. "I have a hyper personality disorder, in my mind I am always in a hurry… I am constantly seeking validation… it feeds my soul.”
The Dadar resident’s profile states that he has been "pursuing the arts professionally for the past two years and passionately all my life.” Bunshah counts his role in a National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA) production of Agatha Christie’s The mirror crack’d as the high point of his repertoire. Despite the brief role, he stated that he was privileged to work with a Tony-nominated director. "The experience told me how much more I needed to learn.” Previous assignments include brief roles in three Hindi stage plays and an appearance in Ace Productions’ My Fair Lady. Bunshah credits social worker and Dadar Parsi Colony matriarch Mithoo Jesia for providing him his first exposure to the stage in an early version of the docudrama Amar Jyoti Zarthushtra "when he was just a child.” "This boy can speak…I want him,’” she reportedly said.
An alumnus of Bombay Scottish School and Guru Nanak College, what is next on the cards for Bunshah? "I am reading for a play. I do not want to bluff like other aspirants and tell you about a stream of opportunities… I am waiting,” he stated disarmingly. Sister Delraaz is his mentor and guide, acknowledged Zervaan. "She allows me to fly and then reins me in when necessary,” he said of the voiceover artist cum songstress cum amateur painter. The siblings have acted together in a minuscule role for a promotional film for Vodafone Idea (Vi). Father Jamshed is an orthopedic surgeon, while mother Pooran is "the family’s emotional guide and financial planner.” Farrokh Jijina