‘ Actress can't age, she has a shelflife': Shefali Shah speaks on age bias; Questions Bollywood’s casting NORMS

Shefali Shah has spoken openly about ageism in Bollywood and the unfair rules women face in the film industry.

In a recent interview with Hindustan Times, the actress questioned why male actors can work at any age, while actresses are expected to fit into a narrow age bracket. Calling it “sad,” Shefali said that the industry still follows old thinking where the hero can be any age, but the heroine must be young.

“It should not be the norm, but sadly, our industry is about ‘hero, heroine, villain’ and hero has to be whatever number of years actually, but heroine has to only be between 18 to 25,” she said. “She can’t age. She has a shelf life.”

Acting beyond age

Shefali explained that acting is about playing different people and emotions, not about real age. She shared how she once played a character much older than her actual age because she believed in the power of performance. “As an actor the point of being an actor is to act out different people and portray different shades of a person,” she said. Shefali added that sadly, the industry does not always think this way.

'Dhurandhar' and current debate

Her comments come at a time when age-gap casting is being widely discussed. Recently, Ranveer Singh, who is 40, faced criticism for romancing 20-year-old Sara Arjun in Dhurandhar. Many people online questioned why such pairings are normalised.

'Rangeela' and a bold exit

In another interview, Shefali Shah also spoke about her early days in Bollywood. She made her debut in 1995 with Ram Gopal Varma’s 'Rangeela', starring Aamir Khan, Urmila Matondkar, and Jackie Shroff. However, after shooting for just four days, she chose to walk out of the film.

“Honestly, the role turned out to be very different from what I was told,” she said. “After four days of shooting, I realised that this is not what I want to do.” She also revealed that she has still not watched 'Rangeela'.







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