Dilshad wants John Abraham

It’s a very happy Dilshad Vadsaria who speaks to BT on the phone from LA. And she has good reason to be in such a jubilant mood. The Pakistani-Indian actor — who made a foray into Hollywood with relatively unknown films like Rapture and Within the Ivory Tower five years before she was recognized for her role on the TV show Greek — is now hitting the big screen again with Oscar nominee Jesse Eisenberg and standup comic Aziz Ansari.
“It was wonderful to work with Jesse and Aziz,” says Dilshad, adding that they had a lot of behind-the-scenes fun.“There were impersonations that Aziz was very good at. He had Jesse and I laughing quite a bit with his impersonations of the other actors (on the sets),” she laughs.
Dilshad, who has also done work on shows like CSI: Miami, NCIS and Bones, says she’s proud that American film and television shows are becoming colour blind when it comes to casting, which is why she hasn’t always played characters that have been defined by their ethnicity. “I also think it’s because I’ve never approached my work that way, so I don’t think that’s what I get back. When I walk in for a role, I’m so focused on my characters and how I feel the material is going, and that kind of speaks for itself,” she says. Which is probably how she was cast as Rebecca Logan in Greek, a character that was supposed be a southern girl and the daughter of a senator. “I auditioned for a different role on the show, but I found out much later that when I walked in, the show runner said to someone else, ‘We found our Rebecca today,’” says Dilshad.
Now that she’s had a taste of TV and film, which medium does she prefer? “I don’t have a preference. Maybe I should say film. I like the aspect of focusing so much on a character for five months or however long the film is shot for. But there are really amazing shows on TV that are pushing the envelope. How can I sit there and say, ‘No thank you?’” she asks.
Dilshad, who admits that she’s a big fan of Bollywood, says she isn’t averse to doing a B-town film and has a list of people she’d like to work with. “I’d like to work with John Abraham — he’s a cutie pie. It would also be awesome to work with directors Ashutosh Gowariker and Zoya Akhtar,” she signs off.