Shahana Goswami appears… well, just as Shahana Goswami. I meet the actress at her Mumbai home one Sunday noon, over video call, of course. And there she is, a prominent face of Indie cinema — wearing a casual, sleeveless something, with a tendency to hold her chin or scratch her brow while speaking, and brushing her hair back every now and then, even checking her hands to see if some strands have come off!
Not many may be aware that the actress is a trained Odissi dancer, a student of the renowned Kiran Segal. That, and everything else while growing up, was perhaps her prep for going into films.
“There was a lot of interest in the arts in my family,” says the 39-year-old, adding, “My mother learnt dance from Amala Shankar, both my father and mother did theatre, my extended family members too were in some form of music, dance or theatre…”
But none in her family took to any of the arts professionally. So even for her, there was no acting school but a degree in English literature. Says Goswami, “I grew up watching all kinds of films — although I got to know the greats of world cinema much later. I was obsessed with Bollywood, even the older films of the 1970s and 80s… I remember watching Mausam on TV and I thought it was spectacular; I can’t imagine a film like that being made today,” she goes on. And like so many youngsters, Bollywood numbers made her “want to dance in front of the mirror”.
But when did she start thinking seriously about cinema? “When I was 15 or 16,” is her reply. While in school, she participated in a summer workshop organised by the National School of Drama. “They told me, ‘You should be doing this professionally’. And I thought, ‘Oh, it’s not just something stupid in my head; somebody else too thinks I have something to offer’.”
In Mumbai, while pursuing her college degree, Goswami joined Jaimini Pathak’s theatre group. One day, a friend popped by to say they were looking for the lead for a film Pooja Bhatt was directing; urged her to audition. Goswami didn’t want to go. Was it some inhibition about doing masala films, I ask. “No, no,” she protests, “I was all up for masala films. But I knew that those days, if it was the lead… they were looking for modelly girls, not real girls.”
Then came Naseeruddin Shah’s Yun Hota Toh Kya Hota and “things kept rolling”.“I find the camera easy — it’s not an audience; theatre is much more intimidating,” she says.
Today, Goswami is the proud owner of nearly 30 roles across Indie and Bollywood films and web series. Audiences have seen her as the strong-headed Debbie Mascarenhas in Rock On!!, as Muneera whose face becomes the stage for conflict in Firaaq, as the sensual and “disrespectful” Meenakshi in A Suitable Boy, as Fatima who goes through crisis after crisis in Bombay Begums. And recently, as Sridevi in Four Years Later, in which she lives several versions of herself.
But are we ever going to see Santosh? In the 2024 eponymous film, Goswami plays a newly-widowed police woman (in pic), negotiating her way through a male-dominated workplace even as she investigates the murder of a Dalit girl. Directed by British-Indian filmmaker Sandhya Suri, it was the UK’s international feature film submission to the Oscars 2025.
However, Santosh was denied theatrical release in India, reportedly for its portrayal of “police brutality, caste discrimination, and misogyny”.
Did she imagine it would meet such a fate? “I didn’t think there was anything controversial in it, anything that’s not been seen before or known otherwise,” replies the actor. “But that’s the thing with these committees; it depends on the whims of the individuals there at that time.”
Goswami’s casual manner has by now given way to knitted brows, and she is speaking more animatedly. She says, “The system has been created to be manipulated. When it comes to power, that is the way… and that is what Santosh is about. Essentially, it’s a certification board. You are not supposed to give cuts; you are not an editor.”
The conversation turns to the recently held National Film Awards. Goswami slows down, as if thinking through each phrase before voicing it. “Most things that used to be prestigious have for a while not been. Everything has now become a reality show. These are popular choices, awarding people who are already celebrated… not that that cannot be a reason to award a person or a film but there’s so much talent across the board, so many films in so many languages… Anyway, I don’t take awards seriously because I always think there’s some agenda or the other, be it the Oscars or Cannes.”
It’s time to lighten the mood. Karan Johar comes to the rescue. Goswami has often expressed her love for the role of Rani in Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani. Would she have danced on a lit-up stage or in the rain? “Absolutely. It would require a different kind of training and rigour but it’s not something alien to me — I anyway dance on a dance floor for six hours continuously.”
What other films would she like to do? She replies, “I would love to romance Shah Rukh on screen.” She looks upwards and a smile spreads over her face.
And then she says, “I feel he’s able to create that and I’m able to create that. I think it would be incredible.”
