Shefali Shah | Fotocorp
Whether it is her performance in the films and TV shows of the 1990s, like Hasratein, or in more recent ones like Juice and Once Again, Shefali Shah lights up the screen. In her latest Netflix series, Delhi Crime, she plays Vartika Chaturvedi, the Deputy Commissioner of Police investigating the Delhi gang rape case of 2012.
What was your reaction when the script of Delhi Crime was narrated to you?
When Richie [Mehta, the creator] narrated it to me for the first time, I was shocked. I had not known about the investigation.... It was almost an eye-opener. ‘Sad’ would be an understatement to describe what had happened.
Your portrayal of Vartika Chaturvedi is intense and very real. What were the difficulties?
Difficult would be a wrong word to use. It has been extremely consuming—emotionally, physically, mentally.... Besides, Richie had done extensive research. There was a blueprint laid out for me. He did not want just an actress, but rather, a collaborator, which I think was very kind of him to say. I had two huge support systems—the blueprint and DCP Chhaya Sharma (on whom the character is based). Even if I had silly questions, I would message her. The technical details were there, but I did not know how she reacted each moment.
Portraying Vartika would have meant looking at the police through a sympathetic and balanced lens. Was that easy?
As far as Vartika is concerned, she did not need sympathy. What [the cops] did then was never to become heroes. She wanted to do it for herself. And so did we with the show.
Delhi Crime, Once Again and Juice seem to have breathed new life into your career.
I am honoured, especially to be a part of this project.... With this, there has been a curve professionally, not [in terms of] what it will do for my career; rather, it has been a curve for my learning.
I don’t have a lot of films on my resume. But what I have are extremely special and important films, whether it is Monsoon Wedding; Satya; Gandhi, My Father or The Last Lear. If whatever I do does not match up to that, or go higher, then it is really not worth my time. I need something that completely blows me.
You have done some really memorable characters in the initial stage of your career. Hasratein still is one of my favourite TV shows. But in the middle, there was slowness. What do you have to say about the middle part of your career?
There is nothing to say about it. There was no middle of the career.
Was it because you were not getting offers?
I was getting offers. I chose not to do them. Those offers did not give me enough to chew on. It would be unfair, more to the role and the maker, than to me. I just would not be there. Earlier, probably, it bothered me. But as you are talking about the middle phase, honestly, I came to terms with it. The kind of work that I want to do will come once in a year, or once in two years, but it is worth the wait.