MUMBAI : Talented actress Shefali Shah spoke in brief about her 20 years of journey in the industry and more in a conversation to one of the leading platforms.
You've done so much work in your 20 years journey up till now, by doing this woman centric movies and web shows, how would you redefine yourself as an actor now? “As everyone knows I don't have a very long resume but a very strong resume. And I've been extremely proud to be associated with the kind of films I wanted to do, and have done. Either you're 18-22 and you're the heroine and after that they don't know what to do with you. Initially it used to bother me, but then I realised that I would rather wait and do something that really excites me. Delhi crime became a turning point for me, because I always have been appreciated and loved but it never translated into work. With Delhi crime, it all changed because somebody put me out there, in the lead, and in my age bracket. It's evolved and last year was the busiest.”
In your initial stage, in your twenties, you took up roles where you played the role of a mother. Why did you take that, and what was your thought process behind it and would you take that back? “I believe the joy of being an actor is that you play roles that you're not. It could be cast, creed colour, sex and age. So, to be somebody that I'm not was exciting. I did waqt because I wanted to work with Amitabh Bachchan and Vipul. The script was great. Before that was Hasratein, and there wasn't so much thinking that went into it. So, when I began, there wasn't any planning. When we were doing Delhi crime, we didn't have any buyers but we were doing it. Similarly, the short film "Juice" was something that I loved doing. I'm very comfortable at my age, I don't want to be a youngster. I think that it's a waste of time to dwell on the past. If I had to change certain things I would, but it's not possible now.”
You were offered Kapoor and Sons as well as Neerja, these two were blockbuster films, why did you turn them down? “Both the films were really good and the script was also very well written. But I had just done Dil Dhadakne Do, and I didn't want to be put into another bracket of playing a mother to people who are a couple of years younger than me.”
(Also read: Shefali Shah on female actors breaking stereotypes with challenging roles)
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