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This is an archive article published on November 7, 2014
Boho Chic: ‘Queen’ scorcher, Lisa Haydon on ‘The Shaukeens’
The Queen scorcher, Lisa Haydon, on The Shaukeens and her journey from modelling to acting in movies
“When I met the director, Abhishek Sharma, it didn’t feel like he was approaching me as a model-actor, but like an actor for a role. It is a nice feeling,” she says adding, “Like you are on a level-playing field.”
The film industry is not always kind to model-turned-actors. The roles they get usually require them to be just eye candy. Even if they get a decent role, their looks overshadow their talent. Some spend their entire careers trying to prove they are more than just a pretty face. Lisa Haydon feels lucky to have broken that perception in her third film, ‘Queen’, which released early this year. Cast in a well-written but small role — her character Vijay Laxmi, a free-spirited single mother who lives life on her own terms, was integral to the film’s subtle feminist statement.
‘Queen’ turned into a game changer for Lisa Haydon. Now filmmakers approach her differently. Talking about her latest film, ‘The Shaukeens’ that releases today, Lisa Haydon says, “When I met the director, Abhishek Sharma, it didn’t feel like he was approaching me as a model-actor, but like an actor for a role. It is a nice feeling,” she says adding, “Like you are on a level-playing field.”
In ‘The Shaukeens’, Lisa Haydon plays Aahana, a naive girl with an attention deficit issue who lets three sleazy old men hang out with her. That is anything but Lisa Haydon in real life — the Malayali-Australian girl has always grabbed eyeballs for her undeniable attractiveness. “I want every film I do to showcase a different side of my personality. We have so many sides to ourselves, I don’t want it to be bracketed,” she says.
Brought up in the US and Australia, Lisa Haydon never had acting, or even modelling in mind. When she moved to India at the age of 18, her well-connected south Mumbai neighbour and restaurateur AD Singh, suggested she try out modelling. And one thing led to another.
Her strong accent — it will take time to become fluent in Hindi, she admits — and the Bohemian influences of her formative years can be a handicap for a Hindi film actor. But the actor has understood that in this changing environment of Bollywood, she can turn it into an advantage.
“It’s cool to be original, to have a different point of view,” says the 28-year-old. It’s this individuality that lent an edginess to her character in Queen. “I am not going to conform to Bollywood norms. I would rather bring uniqueness to the films I do,” she adds.
This takes further roots in her upbringing, in a free-thinking, open family captained by her “hippie spirited” Australian mother. This makes you wonder if she may just drift away from films to pursue other interests. But Lisa Haydon seems to have her eyes set for a long haul.
“I am loving acting so much that I don’t want to stop. Few things match the joy of being on a film set and I am enjoying it,” she says.
When asked if she learns the craft of acting by watching films, Lisa Haydon, who hasn’t had any formal training in acting, says, “I don’t. Sometimes it takes me three sittings to finish one movie. I believe working in films is the best learning experience.” Maybe it is the same live-in-the-moment attitude she swears by.
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