EE: The softer side of Zainab Masood

[SpursFan1902]

I like her because at least you always know where you stand with her. Would I want to live next door to her?...Uh, well, yeah, cause I love Indian food...but I agree that she can be abrasive. I will be interested to see where she goes.

[11antoniacourt]

[SpursFan1902]

I think she has been rather civil with the Miller clan all over her spotless house. She hasn't even killed anyone... yet!! Kudos, Zainab!

[SpursFan1902]

Ok, who didn't see this one coming? It had to be the son. Zainab is grouchy, bossy and sometimes downright mean, but she is not a cheat, not in that way at least. This should give their story line a boost. Anyone taking bets on if Jane and Mas act on their flirtations because Mas thinks Z is cheating on him, only to find out afterward that he was wrong? Jane has done it before...

[Skylace]

I'm with you Spurs, I saw it coming as well and am quite excited. I am hoping the affair doesn't happen with Mas and Jane, but it wouldn't shock me.

[SpursFan1902]

I don't want the Jane/Mas thing either, but it does smack of the EE formula. Can you imagine getting back into (or rather TRYING to get back into) Z's good graces? That could take a lifetime of groveling.

[pirtybirdy]

Zyed is really cute, how did that happen? Tamwar is sooooo unattractive, I kind of wish that EE would give him a makeover or something. Shabnam I think is an attractive woman, I'm not sure why they made Tamwar....well....more than nerdy. Kind of doesn't make sense. Anyway, I'm glad they are finally throwing this family into a meaty storyline, though I'm not sure how or where it's heading. Regarding Phil drinking again, this is boring and they've done this already a few times. It's stupid. Also, Shirley and Phil together gives me the heebeejeebees.

[SpursFan1902]

I have to agree, Pirty. Phil drunk is not pretty (I wasn't able to watch the first couple of go-rounds with Phil and the bottle). I am not sure if it is just Phil out of control, which he really never is, or if I don't like how Steve McFadden plays the drunk parts, but it just doesn't ring true.

I like Tamwar. Every family needs it's nerd. He is a sweet character, and as the youngest, he may have turned out that way if the older two were mucking about and causing trouble. I can see him trying to make Mum and Dad proud and not causing them any worry if the older two were.

[SpursFan1902]

************POSSIBLE SPOILER IF YOU ARE NOT UP TO DATE************










I just watched Thursdays epi and Zyed is SO playing Zainab! He calles Tamwar looking for money just recently and now he is so flush he has a flash car and penthouse suite in London? From his description of his work history, he is unemployed, since Christmas (oh, they throw me some work now and then...), no pics of the family...The first thing I thought when I saw the flat was "It looks like no one lives there.." Betcha the neither the flat or the car are his. He is just trying to scam the money out of Z and it looks like he has done it. You are right, Pirty, he is nice to look at but he looks like trouble. He had me sucked in when he brought whatever it was that Z told him not to forget when he left the house for the last time and with his puppydog eyes and teasing her, but as soon as they walked into the flat, I decided he was lying....Maybe the writers will prove me wrong and I hope so for Z, but I don't think so...

[pirtybirdy]

I'm definitely thinking he's up to no good and will probably hump over his family again. I also agree that it's probably someone else's flat and car. I think we'll find out soon what is going on. I like Tamwar too, he comes out with some funny one liners, but he's really fugly to look at. I just found it odd he turned out very different than the other siblings, but he will probably be the hero later in the end and save the family from financial ruin by his brother or something like that. Just a guess on my part...lol!

[faceless]

Nina Wadia: My kinky fans want me to be a dominatrix
Jon Wise
people.co.uk
9th May 2009

As bossy EastEnder Zainab Masood she appeals to men who like a woman in control. But star Nina Wadia, 40, is amazed at the mail she gets from kinky fans worldwide wanting her to act as dominatrix for them. Nina, who has played feisty catering company chief Zainab for nearly two years, said:

"I get a number of letters from Germany and America. A lot of them are from people who want me to dress in a certain way - you can imagine the kind of thing we're talking about here - and visit them with a view to playing the dominatrix. Most of the letters are harmless enough - if more than a little bit kinky!

"I've only received one which gave me cause for concern and I took that to the EastEnders office to deal with." Mum-of-two Nina said: "There's a guy called Steve The Pipe Cleaner who is keen for me to visit him in his home and clean his very large pipe at some point. I've politely declined and also said no to visiting these people who want me to dominate them. I suspect some are just having a laugh and at least it shows they are tuning in to EastEnders. I've had letters from guys in the US military and from war veterans. Maybe those getting in touch include women. Some people sign their names Jo and Pat so it's possible Zainab is having an effect on girls as well as on guys."

Nina, who was in hit TV comedy series Goodness Gracious Me, revealed that she also gets letters from viewers wanting to know if Zainab will get into bed with her son Syed in a shock soap storyline. She laughed: "There's been a rumour going round about this but, as far as I know, it's just a rumour. It started in the EastEnders Green Room. We got bored one day and started talking about the possibility of the two of them getting together. The rumour just seemed to grow from there."

In real life Mumbai-born Nina lives in west London with composer husband Raiomond Merza, her five-year-old daughter and two-yearold son. She met Raiomond in Canada and within five minutes he told her they would marry. "It was very romantic," she said. "I'm fortunate to have the best husband in the world."

Family-minded Nina's one regret is that her parents did not live to see her achieve such fame. She said: "They died young - mum was only 62 and dad 71. I miss them so much but don't rule out the possibility that they are still watching over me. I went into hospital for an operation in March and firmly believe they were there with me in my room. Their presence was so real while I was under anaesthetic - I was talking to them, touching my mum, she was touching me, we were having a laugh. It was wonderful. And I'm sure my father is there at my home. I have a swingseat in the conservatory and it occasionally swings without anybody being close. It wouldn't surprise me if dad is keeping an eye on us."

Nina also believes her mum got in touch with her moments after she died. The star recalled: "She was in hospital with kidney disease and one morning I sat bolt upright in bed and told my husband, 'My mum has just said goodbye to me'. When we got to the hospital we discovered she had died at around the time I felt her presence in our bedroom." Nina believes her parents would have been proud of the way she and Nitin Sanatra, who plays Zainab's husband Mas, have proved a hit in EastEnders.

She has also has a movie role in I Can't Think Straight about a lesbian love affair between two beautiful young women. She said: "My character delights in spitting into a drink her employer has ordered and spends most of the film waiting for this snooty lady to take a sip. I got the part because I did a very good spit at the audition. Some of those auditioning didn't bother to impress with their spitting abilities." But Nina probably won't do more film work while she concentrates on her BBC1 soap role. She said: "I'm grateful that the scriptwriters have made Zainab funny as well as hard-edged. I would get depressed if she just nasty and blunt. Playing that kind of character might get me some interesting mail but probably wouldn't put a smile on my face."

I Can't Think Straight is out on DVD now

Goodness Gracious Me
Nina first shot to fame in BBC's Goodness Gracious Me in 1998. She played different characters including "Mrs I can make it at home for nothing" and was one half of The Competitive Mothers.

Loose Women
Straight-talking Nina has been a panel member 28 times since 2005. She has had guest slots in other TV hits including Holby City.

Bend It Like Beckham
Movie credits include the 2002 Brit hit Bend It Like Beckham. Nina played a wedding guest in the comedy, which helped launch the careers of Keira Knightley and ER beauty Parminder Nagra.

Perfect World
As chocoholic secretary Maggie in the 2000 TV comedy Perfect World, Nina was constantly on the verge of quitting her job working for lazy and obnoxious boss Bob Slay, played by Paul Kaye.

[faceless]

I refuse to be Pauline Fowler
East Enders star Nina on her battles with writers to stop themturning her into a downtrodden mum
By STEVE HENDRY
sundaymail.co.uk

Nina Wadia has a lot to thank EastEnders for - but when Walford's powers-that-be made her character pregnant she almost burst into tears. Having two young kids of her own, the last thing the 41-year-old actress wanted was the life of a new mother at work as well as at home. But as you would expect from someone who managed to win EastEnders a comedy award at last year's soap awards, she's grinning and bearing it.

She said: "I hated the fact that they made me pregnant in EastEnders. I loved going to work and not having to be around babies or children. It was like going on holiday. When they told me I was going to be a mother in EastEnders I was seriously close to tears. It's going to change my soap life. But the writers must like me because they are going to make Nitin Ganatra, who plays my screen husband Masood, a stay-at-home dad. Ha, ha. That was the first thing I came up with. Wouldn't it be great if... and theywere like that's a great idea" Nina is already working with the twins who will play her on-screen son and the way she coos about them being "gorgeous" and "lovely" indicates being a mum on screen isn't half as bad as she first feared.

Giving birth for the cameras, however, proved something of an ordeal. Despite having been through the process for real with her six-year-old daughter and two-year-old son, she took advice on giving birth for the TV.

She said: "I spoke to Cheryl Fergison who plays Heather because she played out a birth scene recently. She advised me to pace myself or I could hyperventilate and she was right. I thought I was going to pass out at one stage. It's not an easy birth, it's very traumatic. I was very impressed with the writing.In my real life neither of my labours went smoothly so it did bring back memories I didn't particularly want.

"It's one of the amazing things about nature that you forget the pain you went through. You get fooled by your husband saying, 'We don't want an only child do we? It will be even easier next time because you'll be more stretchy'. But for the first time in my career I get to play the pregnancy and labour stuff, having experienced it for real. It may be a bit too realistic for people. It won't be pretty labour."

The lead up to the birth is a comedy of errors with serious undertones for Nina's character, Zainab. She finds herself locked in a room with Christian Clarke (John Partridge), the gay brother of Jane Beale (Laurie Brett), who she fears is trying to seduce her son Syed (Marc Elliott). The duo are forced to put their differences aside as Christian passeson instructions from a midwife. Nina said: "One would think Christian being in the room would help but it doesn't. I believe Zainab will grow and see the error of her ways but thus far no improvement, especially not when you see 'fight sequence withChristian' on your timetable. Ha.

"They go to another level first. They are equally nasty and equally nice so you tend to shift sympathies, which is very important. Zainab wants to protect her son because she thinks he's in danger, not because she's a homophobe. She was fine with Christian. She worked with him and had a joke with him. It's from the point where she thought, 'hang on a minute, it's fine for you to belike that but not within my family'."

Nina has worked hard to make Zainab something different for Albert Square. A familiar face from films such as Bend It Like Beckham and shows including the award-winning Goodness Gracious Me and All About Me, she has a rich comic background which she hasused for the benefit of everyone in Walford. Her performance helped win the Comedy Award and Best Comedy Partnership with co-star Nitin at last year's British Soap Awards, something which caused much merriment, not least in famously grim Albert Square itself.

Nina said: "EastEnders getting a comedy award? Barbara Windsor thought it was hilarious. It meant the world to me. I think I got very lucky there. I think that's what makes this character so popular, it's a bit of comic relief. I try to find moments in anything. She's very blunt, very forthright, she speaks her mind, which is where the comedy comes from. Believe me, I do fight for her. Sometimes when she is on a downer after a fight with Masood, the writers tend to take her down the Pauline Fowler route to be quite depressive. I don't ever want to do that to this character.

She won't survive if they do that to her. I wouldn't want to watch her. I love playing her because in the supermarket I get told by women that when I come on TV their husbands throw things at it. That's brilliant. At the same time, as an actor I get to do drama which I have never been given the opportunity to do before on this scale. That's so refreshing for me in our labour scenes. We made it quite comical initially then when things take a bit of a nasty turn, we see them change. It's a real rollercoaster ride for the pregnancy. I'm hoping everyone comes away laughing then 10seconds later crying."

Nina, who grew up in Mumbai and Hong Kong before heading to Britain aged 18 to go to drama school, is exhausted right now. She's got babies at home, a baby at work and she and her composer husband Raiomond Mirza are also working on another baby... theirfirst film. The couple have turned producers and are making their first movie with a cast including Scots star Martin Compston and Sean Pertwee.

She said: "It's taken so long to learn how to do it. My husband is a composer and he had a few jobs writing music for movies. That's where it all started. A script came our way and we've just taken a deep breath and thought, 'right we're going to dothis'. We've had a production company for four years and made our first short but this is a completely different league.

"It's a very heavy, dramatic piece, proper low-budget feature. It says something when actors like Martin read it and call back the same day. It shows they recognise a good script when it comes along. It's manic. Not only is it busy at work but my husband is out from 6pm to 6am on the film then we swap over the kids. We want to get the whole thing wrapped up in three and half weeks."

It may be for the movie - but somehow you get the feeling for Zainab it's only just beginning.

[eefanincan]

Great read --- thanks face.

[Twirley]

It's good that Nina has some control over how her character is portrayed...and I'm so glad they're aren't going to make her as depressing as Pauline Fowler was at times. Zainab is a strong woman but from a different culture that sees things in a different light.

Looking forward to the Zainab/Christian birth scene.