Shefali Shah wants people who say ‘we want to work with you’ to stick to their word: ‘Don’t just tell me I am good’

Actor Shefali Shah has worked for around 27 years in the film industry and also boasts of a powerful presence in the OTT space. Despite having such a long career, she says that the appreciation she often gets for her performances doesn’t always translate into work. She has mentioned that the people who express a desire to work with her don’t actually follow-up with an offer. Also read: Shefali Shah recalls feeling ‘terrible’ after being replaced by ‘a bigger star’ in project: ‘Aare bata toh dete’

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

On being asked about the one thing she would like 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 popular 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?”

Shefali is finally getting what she deserves and claims to have worked the most in the last year than she has ever before. She was recently seen as Dr Gauri Nath in Human which released on Disney+ Hotstar in January this year. She will now be seen along with Vidya Balan in web series Jalsa and in Ayushmann Khurrana-starrer Doctor G. She also has