Shefali Shah Reveals Producers ‘Hard-Negotiate’ With Actors: ‘Nobody Ever Has The Budget’ | Exclusive

Last Updated:November 13, 2025, 10:09 IST

Shefali Shah says that Delhi Crime changed the entire trajectory of her career and her positioning, which put her in a position to ask for what’s rightfully hers.

Shefali Shah starrer Delhi Crime 3 will release on Netflix today.

Shefali Shah has often opened up on the lull she witnessed in her career. Early on, the film industry typecast her and put her in age-inappropriate roles. In Waqt, she played Akshay Kumar’s mother when she was all of 28. Soon, offers of playing mothers started flowing in, so much so that she had to refuse a bunch of film offers for several years. But everything changed in 2019 when the first season of Delhi Crime released. The industry once again took note of her and her performance won immense acclaim.

Now, speaking exclusively to News18 Showsha, Shefali states that despite starting her career with a bang, for a long time she didn’t see the highs she had anticipated. “My first film was Satya. I had a seven-minute role in it but it left a very deep impact. So, I learnt very early on that it’s not about the length but the strength. But sadly, in the kind of cinema that used to be made, there was no space for anyone apart from the hero, the heroine and the villain. Another other character was a supporting character,” she tells us.

Before Delhi Crime had released, Shefali had lost the hope of getting do a meaty role – the reason being the ageist nature of Bollywood. “I wasn’t 18 or 20 or even 30. Anyway, roles for women actors were hard to come by, so for a woman like me who’s in her 40s, I had thought that there would be absolutely no roles for me. But then Delhi Crime happened and because of that, stuff changed. I started getting offered parts which were leads and parallel leads,” she recalls.

While doors opened for her, navigating the film industry, according to Shefali, is still no cakewalk. Money continues to be a complex topic. But she chooses to look at the silver lining and expresses that she’s happy to be in a space today where she can ask for a seat at the table without having to overthink it. “After that, I got Jalsa, Darlings and Human. The moment that positioning changes, you’re also in a position to ask for what’s rightfully yours. Till then, it’s like you tend to let things go,” she says.

The Dil Dhadakne Do and Three Of Us actor further continues, “Having said that, it’s not like today, people don’t hard-negotiate. I’ve never met a producer who came to me and told me that they’re paying me extra money. They haven’t even ever told me that they’ve money. Nobody ever has the budget or money. But I can at least ask for basics and for the things I rightfully deserve. So, all that has changed.”

But she’s quick to add that respect isn’t something that she never got even when offers were far and few. And today, along with it comes interesting scripts. “The other way to look at it is that the respect that I receive changed. But it would be unfair for me to say that because I always got the love and respect even though it wasn’t translating into work. So, Delhi Crime completely shifted the trajectory of my career,” Shefali remarks.

Titas Chowdhury

Titas Chowdhury is a Special Correspondent at News18 Showsha. She writes about cinema, music and gender in cinema. Interviewing actors and filmmakers, writing about latest trends in showbiz and bringing breakin…Read More

Titas Chowdhury is a Special Correspondent at News18 Showsha. She writes about cinema, music and gender in cinema. Interviewing actors and filmmakers, writing about latest trends in showbiz and bringing breakin… Read More

First Published:

November 13, 2025, 10:09 IST

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