Shefali Shah: Fire and Water

Consumed by the desire to put in everything into her role, Shefali Shah believes she has evolved as an actress working with Rituparno Ghosh in The Last Lear.

A t2 chat...

What do you play in The Last Lear?

I play Vandana and according to me she is a complete woman. She is a romantic who falls in love with Harry (Amitabh Bachchan), a far older theatre artiste, and without even batting an eyelid she comes to stay with him, stepping out of her marriage. She is very complex and contradictory. It is these little intricacies that have drawn me towards Vandana. She has got a lot of fire but she is also water. She is wild and timid at the same time. She loves Harry with an intensity and passion that cannot be fathomed.

So it’s not a straight husband-wife relationship as you had with Bachchan in Waqt...

No. Vandana and Harry are in a strange, unnamed relationship. They have never tried to give a name to their relationship. Vandana is about 28-30 years old, while Harry is far too old. But they have never thought about all these things. Forget giving a name to the relationship, they have never been able to gauge each other for that matter.

How different was it working with Bachchan in Lear after Waqt?

Well, these are two different films and two different roles. It’s always a great experience to work with Mr Bachchan. But I was so creatively involved with my role in Last Lear that nothing else mattered. Besides I don’t believe in this whole concept of trying to be better with a role each time. It’s all about playing the character. You have to deliver your best on the sets irrespective of who your co-star is. Of course, having Mr Bachchan as a co-star enhances your performance but then it’s entirely your job how you handle your character.

I am the kind of actor who even after several rehearsals doesn’t know what I will do once I am in front of the camera. I may rehearse a scene very differently but once I am there I forget everything and perform the way maybe I have never rehearsed. There’s a different me. I am so oblivious to everything else.

What did you like most about your role?

I think I have the most brilliant role in the film. Of course Mr Bachchan plays the central character. But if there’s anyone who can shake his ground it’s this woman. It’s easily my best role ever. I have never played any other character that has so many shades and is such a strong woman. But would you believe that we (Ritu and I) sat on Vandana just for a day. And on that day we discussed her likes and dislikes, fears and anxiety, her passion and intensity.

With Ritu it was a two-way process. He never asked me to play the character his way. After discussing and sharing his views about Vandana, Ritu asked me how I conceived Vandana and I just slipped into her shoes. And Ritu didn’t say a word. I enacted Vandana the way I wanted to. On the third day of the shoot, I actually went up to him to ask if I was doing it right. And he told me that I was bang on.

Two of your English films (15 Park Avenue and The Last Lear) have been with Bengali directors. How has the experience been?

Aparnaji (Sen) is an actor herself, so she would enact every scene before we would deliver. But Ritu is a non-interfering director as long as he gets what he wants. That’s why I say I have given my best performance ever in Lear. I have been able to break the pattern of my work. I have evolved as an actor. There’s a growth within me. See, I am a very instinctive and impulsive person. I just flowed into Vandana.

How was it working in Calcutta?

I loved it. I was there for 25 days and I was consumed by this film. We would start shooting in the morning and pack up in the evening. I would stay put on the sets. It was a beautiful set and there was a cosy sofa in one corner. Divya (Dutta), me and Preity (Zinta) would sit on it and I would sleep and wake up at night. It was a great shoot and I was so creatively charged that there was nothing else I could do. No shopping or travelling.

What film are you shooting now?

Nothing, but I would start shooting for a film by the end of this year with a new director called Barnali Shukla. It’s about a man and a woman who come from different places and spend a day together and that changes their lives forever.