She’s a brilliant actor and has proved her mettle over and over again. Delhi Crime was, however, the icing on the cake when the world finally discovered Shefali Shah as being the fine actor she is. Here, Shefali Shah talks to Sumita Chakraborty about her new project ‘Human’, her journey with its twist ‘n’ turns and her take on ‘insiders versus outsiders’.

Could you tell us about your OTT project Human?
‘Human’ is about the underbelly of the medical world. It’s about medical trials, and how the big pharma companies coax poor uneducated people with a little bit of money to undergo these track trials and also how poor people just for a little bit of money are ready to put their life at risk without knowing the repercussions of it. So that’s what ‘Human’ is about and it has three center characters i.e; Dr. Gauri Nath, Dr. Saira Sabharwal and there is Mangu who gets caught up in the web of the track trials. So that is what ‘Human’ is all about.

Could you share anecdotes while shooting for it?
I don’t really remember any anecdote as such. But I remember shooting my last sequence which was kind of scary. I was lying in the sand and the dogs were hovering around. Of course, these were trained dogs that are given to us for shooting. But it’s not like they were my dogs that they were absolutely comfortable and easy with me – and they wanted the dogs to come to me and sniff at me and be around me while I was lying in the sand. So the trainers told me to put beaten egg all over me so that the dogs would come close to me – and that didn’t work out very well so they put one of their favorite toy’s in the sand, right under my head and there were these ferocious dogs hovering all over me and not just me but everyone on the sets was very terrified because it would have taken just one little mistake or one dog getting aggressive, to change things.  I would have been the one who would have gotten completely impacted because I was completely exposed to these dogs and I have to lie there still so I remember that stink, how my team and everyone who was behind the monitor were scared and terrified and waiting for it to get over because we didn’t know how these dogs were going to react.

You’re a brilliant actor. Do you feel you’ve got your due from the industry?
Thank you for saying that I am a brilliant actor, Thank you very much… but I think that finally I am getting the kind of work I want to do and finally I’m doing the kind of work I always aspired to do. It was not exactly easy. It was a very long wait but I think it was worth it, I have always been lucky –  blessed with love and respect. There was lots of appreciation but that didn’t exactly translate to work. But since the last two years, since Delhi Crime things have changed and there are people who look at me as a central cast, leads or parallel leads. So there are amazing scripts, amazing roles, wonderful directors. And finally, I could say I’m getting my due…  But I am a greedy actor and I want more.   

You’ve worked for Films, theatre, TV and now digital… Is there any marked difference working on these diverse platforms?
Whether, it’s a film or a play, or a short film or a show, an equal amount of effort goes into it but I must admit that when you are doing a series for an OTT platform, it’s a much longer content, so you can remember a two-hour film but remembering 10 hours of filming is very difficult and then you have to remember the trajectory of the person throughout the show. What she has gone through emotionally, physically, mentally…what has been her interaction with various people so every time I have a scene from episode 9 to shoot I would have to go back right to scratch from the first scene of the script till the 9th to see what has the journey been throughout, to reach the point which we are shooting in the 9th episode. 

Could you tell us about your projects?
 So last year I did six projects, I never worked so much in my entire life put together. I started with ‘Human’, then I went on to shooting for ‘Darlings’ which is directed by Jasmit Kaur – it has Alia, Roshan Mathew, Vijay Verma, and then I went on to do ‘Doctor G’, which is a very sweet and sensitive script. It’s an also amazing cast, it has Ayushmaan, Rakulpreet and so many other talented actors. Then I went to do ‘Jalsa’ which is directed by Suresh Triveni and it’s with Vidya and then I finished ‘Telegram 2’ and then I went on to do ‘3 of us’ which is directed by Adna Sharun who has made ‘Kila’ and won the National Award for it and that’s with Jaydeep Ahlawat and Swanand Kirkire. 

There is a lot of debate on insiders versus outsiders. What’s your take on it?
Honestly, I don’t have a take about this debate about insiders and outsiders. I don’t even see what is the point of having this conversation. For example, if somebody owned some kind of business or a book store, it would be a natural thing to hand it over to their children so I don’t see why this should be a conversation at all about insiders or kids being from the industry getting better opportunities. I mean that’s what people do in various fields. They hand over their businesses; they hand over their lineages to their children. So really I don’t see the point of this conversation. And it doesn’t mean that they don’t have to work – they will have to work equally hard as outsiders do. 

Who are your favourite co stars and why?
Honestly, I worked with such amazing people – all of them have been fantastic on every project. I have worked with Amit Ji – what an honour, I have gone on to work with Priyanka or Ranveer then I have the opportunity to work with Alia and Kriti, Swanand Kirkire and Jaydeep Ahlawat, Atul Kumar, Ram, Naseer Bhai in Monsoon Weddings. They are such amazing actors. So I have been really been lucky that I worked with these brilliant, ridiculously talented, and incredible actors, and who are wonderful people.