Shefali Shah: “Appreciation never translated to work or the work I wanted to do”

Actress Shefali Shah has worked for around 27 years in the film industry and also boasts of a strong presence in the OTT space. Regardless of having such a long career, she says that the appreciation she regularly gets for her performances doesn’t always translate into work. She has referenced that individuals who express a desire to work with her don’t actually follow-up with an offer.

“Appreciation never translated to work or the work I wanted to do,” she says. Shefali as of late saw the release of her web series, Human, and has a lot of projects in pipeline.

On being asked about the one thing she might want to change about the industry, Shefali told Anupama Chopra of Film Companion, “The ability for people, particularly in cinema fraternity, to stick to their word. They will say, ‘you are very good’. It does not translate to…nothing. So don’t just tell me that I am good. ‘Oh god we want to work you,’ really? ‘I want to work with you too’ and then nothing happens. Then I see you at the next party and say the exactly same thing to you. It’s really boring.”

Further commenting on the filmmakers’ preference of roping in well known stars for their projects, she added, “Preference of star is very annoying now. Finally we have woken up and understood that finally we need to be an actor now. And I am glad we had OTT breaking that for us, I am glad it broke it for me. But still there’s this thing ‘But star hona chahiye na (but we need a star)!’ Then what happens to talent?”