Chatterbox who morphs with ease

Nazriya is an intuitive actor with technical knowledge of camera angles. It could come from her long experience in front of the camera since a young age. She is somebody who morphs with ease into the character she plays and is very moldable. As a director, I have got very good results from her in Salala Mobiles. Off screen, she is this very bubbly and vivacious girl who is good company on the sets. I find that stress levels are down when she is around. The only sentence  I repeatedly tell her is to ‘stop chattering’! She can talk non-stop but once I say ‘Action’, she immediately becomes the character, shrugging off her real persona and changing into the reel one. With equal ease, she goes back to her real self one the word ‘Cut’ is called.

Another aspect of Nazriya that impresses me is her voice control; she can do different voice variations and she has also dubbed in this film. Another plus point in her favour is that she has a very strong story sense. If you narrate a story to her, she has the ability to imagine and act accordingly. She can also judge her co-stars body language and perform in accordance.

Nazriya is also a very photogenic star who looks ravishing in front of the camera and the camera is in love with her. I had cast her for an ad film earlier with Nagarjuna; many were apprehensive about the pairing but it worked wonders and the ad was much appreciated. She is also an artiste who enjoys tremendous fan following at such a young age, which shows her popularity with the audience.

As told to Priya Sreekumar

The story so far

• Nazriya Nazim started as a child artiste with  the film Palanku, directed by Blessy, in which she played Mammootty’s daughter
• She went on to anchor the TV show Munch Star Singer and put in appearances  in films like Oru Naal Varum and Pramani and a music album Yuvh opposite Nivin Pauly
• In 2013, Nazriya made her debut as a heroine in Maad Dad and began her successful journey. The bilingual Neram, opposite Nivin Pauly, was a huge hit and she became a sought after name in Kollywood with another hit film Raja Rani
• The dark cloud in her dream run came after filing a case (and later withdrawing it) against director of the Dhanush starrer Naiyaandi, in which she accused the director of using a body double to shoot a revealing shot
• She has upcoming films in both Tamil and Malayalam and is easily one of the most promising youngsters on the block