Shefali Shah, who played Akshay Kumar’s mom in Waqt, says: ‘Don’t want to play mother to 40-year-olds anymore’

Actor Shefali Shah is one of the few female actors who is playing lead roles in films and shows in her 40s. But the journey here hasn’t been all smooth for the actor. She often played a mother to actors her age or even older than her, till a few years ago. In a recent interview, Shefali said that while she didn’t have any objection to other actors if they wanted to do the same, she wouldn’t do it again. (Also read: Shefali Shah opens up on playing Akshay Kumar’s mother in Waqt in her 20s; ‘I didn’t see the big deal’)

In the 2005 film Waqt: The Race Against Time, Shefali played mother to Akshay Kumar, who is five years older than her. At the time, Shefali was 32 while Akshay was 37. She also played mother to Priyanka Chopra and Ranveer Singh, both of whom are just a few years younger than her.

Speaking to the Times of India, she said, “If the actors are choosing to play these roles, who are we to comment? Nobody is putting a gun to anyone’s head and forcing them to act with XYZ whatever the age gap. I have never had a problem playing a mother or a supporting role as long as it’s a full-fledged character. My issue is why define a character merely on the basis of his or her relationship with the leads? In the past, I have played mother to a person much older than me. But at this point, I want to say, listen, I don’t want to look younger than my age. I do have children who are 18 and 19, so I am comfortable playing a character like that. But I don’t want to play a mother to 25, 30, or 40-year-olds anymore.”

The actor also said that the industry is seeing a change in that supporting characters are more fleshed out nowadays, which wasn’t the case earlier. “The change is ongoing. Earlier, when we got narrations, there was a hero and a heroine and, in some way, we were all related to them. You could be a mother, chachi (aunt), sister or friend. They didn’t have individual full-fledged characters. Also, it was all very age-related. Today, that is changing. With OTT coming in, some of the best shows have been led by women, internationally. These female characters are complex, deep and nuanced. And most importantly, these are age-appropriate roles,” she said.

In a recent conversation with Pinkvilla, Shefali had defended taking up the Waqt role, “I believe that as an actor, the joy of being an actor is that you play roles that you are not. It could be caste, creed, colour, sex, and age falls into the same bracket. So I didn’t see what was the big deal. I mean that was the exciting part, being somebody I am not,” she had said.

Shefali will be seen next in the film Jalsa, which also stars Vidya Balan. The story revolves around the killing of a young girl and a news channel investigating it. While Shefali Shah plays the mother of the victim who refuses to give up on her daughter, Vidya plays a journalist who is looking into the story. Directed by Suresh Triveni, Jalsa will premiere on Amazon Prime on March 18.