Little luminaries

Makdee's little Chunni/Munni (above) Shweta Prasad, now 21, is a star in Telugu cinema

Taare Zameen Par bestowed instant stardom on Darsheel Safary. He was only 11 years old. A small-time producer approached him with a new role only to be told that the child actor would charge Rs 1.25 crore. The film had to be shelved because its entire production budget was no more than Rs 1.5 crore and Darsheel had become too big for it.

It is quite possible that Darsheel now actually gets paid that kind of money, maybe more, for every film he does. But the two films that he has featured in since the super success of Taare Zameen Par – Priyadarshan’s Bumm Bumm Bole and Satyajit Bhatkal’s action adventure Zokkomon – haven’t exactly set the boxoffice on fire.

Yet, the gifted Darsheel is going places. And so, it would seem, is the achingly beautiful Ziah Vastani, who played his kid sister in the ill-fated Bumm Bumm Bole.

Ziah has since been seen in the Imran Khan-Deepika Padukone starrer Break Ke Baad. Darsheel, on his part, is playing a significant role in Deepa Mehta’s upcoming adaptation of Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children.

A star system is definitely taking shape among Bollywood’s new child stars.

Names like Zain Khan, the teenage lead actor of Chain Kulli Ki Main Kulli and Hari Puttar, who also featured in big Bollywood productions like Krrish, Parineeta and Chance Pe Dance, and Dwij Yadav, the star of Nanhe Jaisalmer seen more recently in the Subhash Ghai-produced Cycle Kick, adding weight to the trend.

Among the more talented child actors to work in Bollywood in recent years was Shweta Prasad, who played the dual role of twin sisters in Vishal Bhardwaj’s Makdee and won a National Award for her effort.

She also played the hero’s strong-willed sister in Nagesh Kukunoor’s Iqbal. Nearly a decade on, Shweta, now 21, is a star in Telugu cinema.

The thumb rule for these little luminaries is simple: start small and aim big. — SC