Shams Patel, the 13-year-old boy who won the National Award for Best Child Artiste, cannot see his award-winning film Thanks Maa because it has an ‘A’ certificate.“Will you please talk to the Censor Board,” he pleads as the film’s release date approaches. “I won’t be able to see it for the next five years. If it’s given a ‘U/A’ certificate, I can see it accompanied by my parents. But I want to go with my friends.
He comes from a business family and because he’s a very average student, his parents were delighted that Shams took to acting. Then came the National Award. “I got the role because the director Irrfan Kamal is my Mama,” revealed Shams. “He asked me to audition. I had no acting experience. My interests are football and cricket. After I got the role I attended acting worshops under Abhay Joshi.
The film is about a street kid named Municipality on the run from reformity who saves a two-day-old baby from becoming prey to dogs and then sets out trying to find its parents. “50 slum kids came for the workshops and I observed and copied them. It was all a new experience for me. I came away from the film a different person.” Now he’s back to school and concentrating on his studies. He loves Bollywood and is a big fan of Salman Khan. There’s nothing better he’d like to do than meet his idol. Except, perhaps, see Thanks Maa.
