Shefali Shah with Anurag Sinha in Black and White

After working with Aparna Sen (15 Park Avenue) and Rituparno Ghosh (The Last Lear), Shefali Shah now gets to play a Bengali in a Hindi film. Black and White also marks Shefali’s first Subhash Ghai film. Reason enough for a t2 tete-a-tete

How did you bag a Subhash Ghai film?

It was Anilji (Kapoor) who suggested my name to Subhashji. Thereafter I met him and he was also looking forward to working with me. It’s a great role and I had to say yes. Also, Anil Kapoor is paired opposite me. I had made a conscious decision of playing characters of my age. So, overall it was a great opportunity.

It must have been a strain playing older women in Waqt and Gandhi My Father?

See, both Waqt and Gandhi My Father will remain landmark films in my career, but now I want to play younger women, you know women closer to my age. I won’t stay 34 forever, so why not play a 34-year-old when I am 34! That’s why I am consciously doing films this year where I get to play my age.

You are playing a Bengali in Black and White. Has that got something to do with you having worked with Bengali directors and knowing a little Bengali?

(Laughs) No, I don’t think so. I believe the character was always meant to be Bengali even before I was cast. And we don’t really get to see her as a Bengali girl because when the film starts she is already Mrs Roma Mathur. But yes, in the way she dresses, Roma is very Bengali. Also, I have worn my mother’s shankha pola for the role. There is that slice of Bengaliness for sure.

Besides being Bengali, what is Roma Mathur like?

Well she is a very passionate person and her way of expressing herself is always extreme. Either she is immensely angry or she is showering immense love. There’s nothing in between. She is this fiery, feisty lady who would stand up against any problem. By nature, she is a complete opposite to her quiet and calm husband, who is an Urdu professor, played by Anilji.

What is the kind of relationship you have with Anil in the film?

It’s really very interesting. At least I haven’t seen such a husband-wife relation ship in a Hindi film. You know, they are constantly taking digs at each other. She is always firing him, making fun of him and he is reciprocating accordingly. They are also deeply in love. Their love is not the lovey-dovey kind but more of a support system for each other.

Is it really a very un-Subhash Ghai film?

It’s absolutely different. Subhash Ghai is known for his larger-than-life entertaining cinema and Black and White is anything but that. It is a very realistic, truthful cinema... very hard-hitting. There is also an amount of fantasy in there.

Did you get to see any flashes of the Subhash Ghai all of us know?

We have all heard how closely associated Subhashji is with the music of his films. How minutely the showman in him looks into the songs and their picturisation. So while he was filming these two lines of the track Peer manava with me, he made me do a 100 things. Just for those two lines. And what has come out is like a dialogue exchange within a song. Quite incredible!

Would you have preferred to be part of a typical Subhash Ghai film?

No, in fact, I consider myself very lucky that I have been part of a film which marks a change in him as a director. It’s really fortunate to have been part of such a movement, such a change.

Was Anil Kapoor a helpful co-star?

Even if he didn’t work with me, I would have told you that Anil Kapoor is one of the finest actors we have in the country. And when you have someone like him acting with you, you automatically give your best. As far as help goes, I needed to lose weight for the film and Anilji not only sent me his personal trainer but also allowed me to work out in his gym.

Finally, what is your gut feeling about The Last Lear?

I consider it my best performance till now. That should say it.