Theatre diva, Shernaz Patel, makes her celluloid debut as Rani Mukerji's mother in Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Black and is all set to wow viewers with her new avatar, comments MEHER MARFATIA.

Two films in 20 years…with bushels of bravura stage performances between…possibly make hers the best known female face of Indo-English theatre. Shernaz Patel's cherubic features, freshly warming the mid-'80s small screen in India's first telefilm, Mahesh Bhatt's critically acclaimed Janam, have settled to angular attractiveness. Adding depth to an actress stamped 'accomplished', right from debut reviews of The Diary of Anne Frank and Antigone.

Now, the 41-year-old drama diva readies to weave mega marquee magic, in Sanjay Leela Bhansali's evocative Black. Cine buffs will be wowed by Patel, pivotally playing mother to Ayesha Kapoor, a blind-mute and Rani Mukerji's young avatar, in this inspiring true life family saga sensitively chronicled on celluloid.

Of Bhansali, she raves, "It's difficult to describe how amazing he is as a director, understanding every aspect of film-making. Hugely a perfectionist, he has an actor's instinct with the directorial eye. Take the tiniest detail - like a person just moving across the room - should an actor be going through the motions, doing all the obvious tricks correctly, he straightaway sees through such rubbish and moves you to deliver well beyond. I'm totally floored by this."

Sharing poignant scenes with Amitabh Bachchan, in a brilliant turn as Mukerji's teacher, must daunt the most seasoned actor. "Deciding to get over the initial awe factor, which would have stood in the way and affected my performance, I've had an equal relationship. We both believe in rehearsing endlessly. Completely supportive, he made me feel welcome. Not that it needs any proving, but this film ultimately establishes Mr Bachchan as the greatest Indian actor alive. I'm fortunate to have shot on a very creatively charged set."

Open to more movies? "Sure, even typical potboiler stuff. Films mean wider exposure, much better money. Less familiar territory, they pose a challenge I find quite exciting."

Theatre remains an abiding love. Currently cast as kooky Fuzzy, from the old college gang, who still can't get herself to stutter the word 'sex' without squirming, in something like the 120th show of Class of '84, the formally untrained actress delves into endless research to fit firmly under the skin of an assigned character: "I practise looking for that certain rhythm, locate the character's heartbeat. Then, out there, I'm spontaneous."

A formidable gene pool might easier explain the inherent poise behind galvanising moments in Love Letters, Molly Sweeney, Going Solo, Arms and the Man and Breathe In, Breathe Out. Cutting her teeth on the green room bustle of showtime weekends with performer parents, the daughter of Gujarati theatre veterans, Ruby and Burjor Patel, has seen drama as a natural progression…. (A Parsi dowager once unforgettably claimed, 'Our Ruby can give that Goldie a run for her money', on watching the former irrepressibly relive the Cactus Flower role of Hollywood's Hawn.)

Three years ago, Glasgow's Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, offered Patel tremendous experimental scope in The Sightless and The Three Lives of Lucie Cabrol. Co-founder of Rage Productions with Rajit Kapur and Rahul da Cunha - the latter, her favourite stage director besides Vijaya Mehta and Naseeruddin Shah - she fine-tunes Mumbai's celebrated Writers Bloc festival of original plays, an event planned regularly and renewed on a larger scale, "because we owe a moral responsibility to nurture and keep audiences". Conducting periodic workshops that introduce aspiring actors to her craft and joy, she confesses, "You have to be a bit silly to do theatre. It's voice-overs that pay my bills."

A space where she so simply belongs, her own theatre could be a dream Patel is closer to realising than she thinks. Meanwhile, though to the stage born, she may soon hear more calls clamouring 'Camera, Lights, Action!'