Shazahn Padamsee is an Indian film, stage actress and model. She is the daughter of noted actors Alyque Padamsee and Sharon Prabhakar, she made her first film appearance in the 2009 Hindi film Rocket Singh: Salesman of the Year. After her début film, she went on to appear in two non-Hindi Indian films, gaining credit from critics for her performance, before featuring in Madhur Bhandarkar's Dil Toh Baccha Hai Ji in a prominent role.
Recently she posed for the cover Maxim India June 2013. Shazahn's first release of 2011 was the romantic comedy Dil Toh Baccha Hai Ji directed by Madhur Bhandarkar. The film portrayed her as June Pinto, an intern in an office whom an older divorced man, played by Ajay Devgn falls for. The film, which also featured Emraan Hashmi, Omi Vaidya, Shruti Haasan and Shraddha Das in other parallel roles, saw Shazahn indulge in heavy promotional work along with her co-stars. Shazahn's performance gaining mixed responses from critics with a reviewer citing that "looks like a doll and gets the character right" whilst another labelled hers as "the film's worst performance" the film went on to become a commercial success at the box office. Shazahn's most recent release was Sajid Khan's Housefull 2, which featured her alongside an ensemble cast including Akshay Kumar, John Abraham, Zarine Khan, Asin and Jacqueline Fernandez. The film opened to mixed reviews with her role being described as "merely eye candy", but Housefull 2 went on to becoming the tenth film in history to cross INR100 crore (US$18 million) and became one of the biggest commercial successes of 2012.
After appearances in several stage performances including her father's play Unspoken Dialogues, Shazahn appeared in several national advertisements, whilst auditioning for roles in Hindi films. After a film with Vivek Vaswani failed to materialize, she successfully auditioned for the part in Yash Raj Studio's Rocket Singh: Salesman of the Year opposite Ranbir Kapoor.
Shazhan played Sherena in the film, the first customer who treats the titular character with respect during his job as a salesman. Although she played the leading female role, her screen-time was minimal leading to critics claiming that her role had little scope.The film opened to positive reviews, but the lack of publicity became a reason for it becoming a failure commercially at the box office.
Shazhan second and third films were released on the same day, both being films in Tamil and Telugu respectively. In Kanimozhi, Shazahn played the role of Anu, a girl in the neighbourhood who the lead actor, played by Jai is nervous to express his feelings to. She had been approached after the director had looked through an online portfolio, and only signed after consent from her father. Upon release, the film gained mixed reviews with Shazahn's portrayal of her character being criticised.
Critics claimed that she "looked pretty and was photographed well" but she could have "expressed more energy and expression" into her role, labelling her as a Barbie doll. However her Telugu film Orange garnered more positive reviews and Shazahn's portrayal of her role was better received by critics. .
Shazahn's character of Rooba, originally named after a song in the film, appeared in a flashback sequence as the girlfriend of the protagonist played by Ram Charan Teja. A critic from NDTV said her performance was "a delight to watch" and that "Padamsee looks set for a long innings down South", whilst similar claims the critics from Sify and The Hindu claims that she "shines in her role" and that she "brings freshness to the screen"
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