Father’s Day special| Jannat Zubair’s dad is her guide to social media and dealing with trolls, she says

Jannat Zubair owes everything to her dad- Zubair Ahmad Rahmani. It wasn’t her dream to become an actor, but rather her dad’s. “It was my childhood dream, but then I decided that she will become an actor. Nobody told me to do it, it was me who wanted to make her one,” he shares.

But hailing from a family which had no connections to showbiz, Jannat says there were challenges initially which her father helped her overcome.

“For somebody who has no background and had never been in front of the camera, I had no idea about the technicality of shoots or auditions. So many people act comfortable in front of the camera, but I wasn’t. Daddy helped me overcome all my nervousness. I remember going to auditions for the longest time, and not being able to do anything. I would memorise all my lines, and the moment I was in front of the camera, I would forget them. It took me time, and was the biggest challenge,” says the 21-year-old.

Rahmani had constructed a setup similar to that in an audition, and made Jannat practice so that it looks the same to her when she goes on set. Cut to today, she has managed to carve out a career with shows such as Phulwa and Bharat Ka Veer Putra- Maharana Pratap.

“I am a very proud and happy father, Jannat’s name in itself means heaven,” gushes Rahmani.

But with the fame- and 46 million followers on Instagram- also comes it’s share of negativity and trolling. How does Jannat deal with it, all the this young age? “I discuss everything with my dad and mom. I haven’t faced it too frequently, but it got intense during the Covid lockdowns. I got comments which were so nasty and not just about me but my family too. I asked my dad ‘what’s wrong, I am minding my own business!’ and he said there is nothing you can do about it,” she tells us.

Her father chimes in, “Har insaan Shah Rukh Khan ka fan nahi hota, same for Amitabh Bachchan, toh hamara kaise ho sakta hai?”

Since the two share such a close bond, is there anything they would want to change about each other? Jannat says, “Daddy overthinks a lot, I would want to change that about him,” and he adds, “Beta overthink aapki bhalai ke liye hi karte hain. But there is nothing I would want to change about Jannat.”