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It's not as though I expected Leela Patel to open her door in a sari proffering a chicken korma. But it's amazing how completely different the woman who plays Shanti's mum Shobna in Shortland Street and curry-shop owner Tara in new Kiwi movie Apron Strings, looks and comes across offscreen. It's not so much the jeans, the bright make-up, the more youthful appearance or the complete lack of an Indian accent - it's more that, in stark contrast to her two recent roles, she's bright, bubbly, and bursting with optimism.
In director Sima Urale's lauded debut feature Apron Strings - the parallel story of two families and two cultures living in Otahuhu, Auckland - Patel plays guarded, old-fashioned curry-house proprietor Tara, who still deeply resents sister Anita for getting pregnant, bringing shame on the family, and condemning her to lonely spinsterhood two decades earlier.
Patel - who portrays Tara so powerfully it's hard to believe this is one of her first major roles - can strongly relate to the character, and not just because they're both 45 and born-and-bred New Zealanders. Coincidentally, Patel also has a sister named Anita who married a white New Zealander: "It didn't hurt me so much, but it hurt the family."
Born the sixth of eight children to immigrant parents (add auntie and grandmother and that's 12 people in a four-bedroom Auckland home), Patel thinks of herself first as a New Zealander and as an Indian second. "I couldn't be further from a FOB! [Fresh Off the Boat]". So to play Shortland Street's Shobna, who arrives from India for daughter Shanti's wedding and resolves to stay in New Zealand minus her straying husband, she had to perfect an Indian accent.
Playing the part of a neglected wife wasn't a large leap for Patel. "Basically, it was once my reality." At 28, after eight years of marriage and with two small children, Patel divorced her husband - partly because her husband and Indian community disapproved of her singing-group association with Fijian-Indians.
Since her divorce, as well as juggling childcare work with single motherhood and caring for her grandmother, Patel has made a name for herself as a singer. As well as appearing at Indian community events and festivals, in bands and stage shows, she was crowned "Indian Idol" in the inaugural, 2004 Auckland song-quest.
"I love singing but the drive to act has always been there too. I'm a little drama queen at heart," she laughs.
After completing weekend acting courses at Unitec, Patel picked up a few bit parts in film and TV but no major roles. She nearly falls over laughing remembering a review which praised her acting in Martin Campbell's 2000 feature film Vertical Limit: "I don't know why, because all I'm doing is playing a dead woman! I remember thinking oh God, all I'll ever get to do is play dead women and migrants from India', but over the past year everything's happened at once."
Although a major feature-film part seemed pie in the sky, she auditioned for Apron Strings and was shortlisted. At the end of her second audition, desperate to impress, Patel offered to cry: "I started thinking of all the heartache in my life, then away I went bawling." When she looked up, everyone else was in tears, and the part was hers. "I went from crying to over the moon!"
Then, shortly after Apron Strings wrapped, Patel got an unexpected call from Shortland Street offering her the part of Shobna, no audition required. (She'd previously auditioned for the role of Auntie Rani, but the soap decided to save her up to play Shobna.) "I couldn't believe it: being in Shortland Street one day was a dream."
A fan of the soap since its infancy, and an extra in 2002, she's been laughing aloud watching her episodes with son Ravi, 20, and daughter Reena, 18. Though she left our screens last week, Patel hopes "seeing they didn't kill me off" that she might return one day for a reprise. "Maybe they should hook me up with one of those doctors," she laughs, cheekily confessing a bit of a crush on Renato Bartolomei, who plays Dr Craig Valentine.
Patel's delight at being part of both productions bubbles out of her. Two albums with pride of place on her coffee table, emblazoned Apron Strings and Shortland Street, are chocker with photos of cast and crew, clippings, notes from the actors, thank you letters, and even a takeaway menu from Tara's fictional curry shop.
While currently Patel's working hard on her nascent kids-party-entertainment business More Than Magic, given her recent triumphs she's not about to give up on her acting dream. "You never know what might happen next! I'm very positive, and I think that has a lot to do with success."
- Apron Strings is released nationwide on Thursday.
