Bahrain’s newest sensation, Suzanne Ahmed Haji, has bagged a role in Bollywood’s upcoming movie ‘Sultan’. The hype can’t get any bigger than this, as she will be starring as a megastar’s daughter in the movie, and Weekender, in an exclusive interview, managed to get insights on how did this fairytale actually come into existence.
Since she can remember, Suzanne Ahmed Haji was always drawn to the charismatic world of Bollywood; one of the largest centers of film production in the world. But like her mother, she had a special liking to one of the biggest stars of the Indian Film Industry.
His name is Salman Khan and is considered as an international heartthrob, having millions of fans from around the world. But Suzanne wasn’t just any fan. The little girl adored the actor from the bottom of her heart and would express her longingness to meet him. For a long time, her mother ‘Madiha Arai’ had managed to pull off a diversion where she would take little Suzanne to Madame Tussauds in London, where the little fan would have snapshots taken with the wax figurine of the muscled star. But that didn’t go for long, “Mommy, why doesn’t he blink, when I poke his eye?” Suzanne would ask and the visits eventually ended.
Suzanne, a gorgeous girl with perfect locks and beautiful, piercing, blue/grey eyes, always had a strong pull to the glamour world. The camera loved her and the third word in her dictionary after she started speaking was in fact ‘lipstick’. “I knew beauty and glamour will be her passion. Before she was one year old I started photo shooting her and teaching her how to pose for the camera”, Madiha told the Weekender. Having done commercials and modeling shoots in Bahrain and Dubai, the little fashionista was bound for stardom, but it would come through an actor in a country far away from hers, wasn’t expected by anyone.
Suzi Khan gets million views
During a movie night with her family, Suzanne found herself shedding tears to Salman Khan’s ‘Bajrangi Bhaijaan’. Her outburst of uncontrollable emotions led her mom to make a video, where the little 6year old is expressing “I want Salman Khan because I love him.” In no time, the video went viral. “I posted it on YouTube and immediately it went viral. The director of the movie “Kabir Khan” retweeted this video which got the world watching it,” her mother said. “And when Salman Khan also tweeted back saying“I love you too”, the media went into frenzy, wanting to know more about Suzanne and named her “Suzi Khan” associating this young fan to Salman Khan in a special way.”
After this, her persistence and urge to meet Salman Khan got even stronger and Madiha decided to go to India and try their luck to meet him. “Upon reaching India, I was eventually disappointed because whoever I got in touch with, told me it was impossible to meet the star. But I managed to get Salman’s assistant’s number and I gave it a shot.” Convincing the assistant didn’t come easy, and after sending Suzi’s images and videos, he promised he will show them to Salman Khan and will see what he says.
The first meeting at the farmhouse
And as fate would have it, within a few hours, he called back and asked them to come to Salman’s ranch, a 3hour drive from Mumbai. Salman wanted to meet them. “The next day we drove all the way to his hidden farmhouse, hoping to get a few minutes with him but never in my wildest dreams had I imagined that instead of 3minutes, we would end up spending 3days with him.” It was as if two soul mates had just crossed paths. Suzi and Salman hugged and cried and the superstar couldn’t contain his excitement. He spent three days with Suzaanne, even taking her to one of his shoots in Mumbai. The bond was ineffable as the little Bahraini girl was being reported as the mystery fan who had taken over Salman’s heart. Going for rides, swimming, feeding animals at his farmhouse and even sharing food from the same plate, the actor was absolutely mesmerized by little Suzanne and on the very first day, he promised her mother he will be taking her in a movie with him.
“I didn’t really think of it at that time, but around 3 weeks ago, I got a call from Yash Raj Films and we flew to India for a three day shoot.” Brushing on the shooting experience, Madiha shared the crew and especially Salman had been really helpful, especially when it came to Suzi learning her hindi dialogues. “We will be going back soon for the promotions and it has truly been an overwhelming experience for us.”And why wouldn’t it be. You only get to hear or witness such things in the movies. But little Suzanne and her mother have proven that will and passion can take you to places and people, who you wouldn’t have ever imagined to meet and bond with so inspirationally.
Sultan is slated to release on Eid. For more on Suzi’s adventures, follow her on Facebook: suzikhanofficial, Instagram: suzikhanofficial
In a Glimpse:
Name: Suzanne Ahmed Haji
Age: 6
Nationality: Bahraini
Profession: Student / Model / Actor
Likes: Make up and Swimming
Favorite Animal: Cat
Favorite character: Barbie
Favorite food: French fries
