Actor Shefali Shah is the queen of OTT Space now thanks to her brilliant performances in projects like ‘Darlings’, ‘Human’, and most recently ‘Delhi Crime Season 2’. The Netflix show is the first Indian television series that has won an International Emmy Award for Best Drama Series in 2020 for season 1, which was written and directed by Richie Mehta.
The first installment of the Netflix original was based on the gruesome Nirbhaya rape case which took place in Delhi in 2012 while the second season, which was out in August, was about the criminal group Chaddi Baniyan.
Shefali’s performance as Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Vartika Chaturvedi was loved and appreciated by both critics and fans alike and for the actor, this role has become a part of her. “ ‘Delhi Crime’ took everything out of me, it consumed me, it drained me out and it emptied me out. Honestly, the character of Vartika will never leave me and she is extremely personal to me.”
The actor says that it’s not like she always carries the pressure of the scene back but that she is completely engrossed while doing a project. “I am obsessed with it so I don’t really detach from a role or script until I finish it and Vartika is someone I just never detach from, I don’t want to because she is part of me now.”
With an acting career spanning over two decades, Shefali has established herself as a well-known name in the Indian film and OTT industry. The actor, whose breakthrough performance arrived in the 90s with 'Hasratein' and 'Satya', says that her family does discuss her role when her films or shows are out but those conversations are very short-lived.
“When my family sees my show or films when it's released, there is a conversation about it but it's short-lived,” adds the actor who is the wife of filmmaker Vipul Shah. She adds that they don’t discuss the same thing for a month.
“We won't and even I wouldn’t want to because I move from a project very soon. Yes, the love and appreciation are overwhelming and humbling but you have done something and you move on to the next or you have to start figuring out what you want to do next rather than just harping on some laurels you have won so it’s not a conversation that goes on,” she says.
Now that she has finished another successful edition of ‘Delhi Crime’, Shefali says that she is currently enjoying her ‘Me Time’.
“Well earlier it could have been a lot of things, for example, meeting friends or stepping out or having friends over but now it's just being at home, lying down, and doing nothing which comes very rarely to me because my brain doesn't stop functioning. For the last couple of days, I have actually been sleeping a lot,” she sums up.
