Perizaad Zorabian: Amitabh Bachchan, Shabana Azmi’s co-star Perizaad Zorabian left films to get married, now runs a Rs 120 crore poultry business | Hindi Movie News

while Perizaad Dizzy he has been away from the cinema for many years, he is still a face that people have not forgotten. One look at her and one remembers the work she has done in films like ‘Joggers Park’ and ‘Ek Ajnabee’ starring Amitabh Bachchan. He was at the peak of his career when he decided to get married and stopped making films. In a recent interview, Perizad revealed that she dropped a film with Anil Kapoor and Nikhil Advani’s ‘Salaam-e-Ishq’ when she got married. Today, instead of chasing scripts, Perizaad spends his time building a business empire. The company he once joined during a period of financial struggle has grown into a thriving company with an annual turnover of around Rs 120 crore. Ironically, acting was never part of the plan.Born into an Iranian family in Mumbai, Perizaad grew up idolizing her father and dreaming of becoming an entrepreneur. Long before I knew what the word really meant, I knew I wanted to follow in their footsteps. I was 8 years old and I didn’t even know how to pronounce entrepreneur correctly, but I knew that this is what I wanted to be,” he said in an interview with Suketu Shah.After completing his studies in India, he moved to New York to pursue an MBA. While there, he learned about the Lee Strasberg Theater & Film Institute through a friend. Intrigued by acting, she enrolled and spent a year learning the trade after finishing business school.Even then, he returned to India with every intention of joining the family business. At a family gathering, a modeling coordinator noticed her and offered her a Fair & Lovely ad. One ad led to another, and before long, filmmakers began to take notice. Soon, she was cast as the lead in Nagesh Kukunoor’s ‘Bollywood Calling’ alongside. Om Puri. At that time, Kukunoor was among the most exciting independent filmmakers in the country, having already built a loyal audience through films like ‘Hyderabad Blues’ and ‘Rockford’.Perizaad agreed to do the film, took a month off and completed the shoot. But when the film’s release was delayed, she simply went back to work.“I was totally hands-on at Zorabian,” he later recalled. Then came the turning point. When Pritish Nandy Communications acquired ‘Bollywood Calling’ and put Perizaad front and center in its promotions, everything changed almost overnight. “My life changed after that,” he admitted. The timing couldn’t have been better. English-language Indian cinema was still a relatively unexplored space. Only a handful of films were made and an equally small group of actors associated with them. Perizaad suddenly found himself in demand.One project led to another. ‘Morning Raga’, ‘Joggers Park’ and ‘Mumbai Matinee’ followed, establishing her as one of the most recognizable faces in the niche segment. However, he never mistook this visibility for Bollywood fame. “She wasn’t a Bollywood star. She wouldn’t get the kind of attention that a Karisma Kapoor would get,” he said.Although her acting career flourished, another life awaited her outside the film sets. He continued to divide his time between movies and the family business until his father finally asked him to choose a path. This time, he chose acting. The decision came with his father’s blessing.Over the following years, Perizaad built an eclectic body of work. She shared space with Amitabh Bachchan in ‘Ek Ajnabee’, appeared in the TV show ‘Hum Pardesi Ho Gaye’, acted extensively in theater and even traveled to China for three months to star in ‘Bandung Sonata’, where she played former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.Perizaad was 33 when she married businessman Boman Irani. Before their wedding, he expressed a preference for her 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 can he say that?’ and my sister-in-law said to me, ‘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 Perizaad told his family: “He didn’t say you can’t travel. He said, “I’ll wait for you, but I’d rather you didn’t travel.” After that, I didn’t do another film.” The decision wasn’t just about marriage. She was also thinking about motherhood. Her priorities had started to shift. “The biological clock was ticking,” she said, explaining why she chose to focus on starting a family.Looking back, she acknowledged that having children helped her make peace with leaving movies behind. “I knew the only way to be okay with this was to get pregnant, so I chose to have a family.” At that time, Subhash Ghai wanted her for ‘Black and White’ opposite Anil Kapoor. Nikhil Advani offered her a role in ‘Salaam-e-Ishq’ opposite Sohail Khan. She turned them all down. Her mother remained fiercely protective of her independence.“My mom said to my husband, ‘She’s a butterfly. Don’t clip its wings because it will wither and die.” Fortunately, Perizaad never felt trapped by the decision she made. Marriage brought new experiences, not fewer opportunities. She continued acting in theater, worked on television projects and embraced motherhood. One memory remains particularly close to his heart. “I had given birth to two children and weighed 48 kilos in shorts and in front of 1,100 people to a standing ovation,” she recalled.While his film career faded into the background, another success story was quietly taking shape. When Perizaad became actively involved in the family business, the company was struggling and heavily in debt. Over the years, he helped transform it from a traditional wholesale poultry operation to a modern food company with interests spanning retail, ready-to-cook and fast-casual. The company currently employs around 700 people and generates an annual revenue of approximately Rs 120 crore.Despite spending years in the poultry business, he remains extremely particular about what he eats. Perizaad has often said that he eats chicken every day, but avoids ordering it when dining out.