MUMBAI: Imagine a 10-minute role fetching you the coveted Filmfare Best Actress Critics award! The actor who has achieved this feat for Satya and who has also to her credit biggies like Waqt -The Race Against Time opposite Amitabh Bachchan, is none other than Shefali Shah.

And now she adds another milestone in her career by getting into the most sought after role of Kasturba in Anil Kapoor’s first production venture, Gandhi, My Father. Undergoing various age transitions (the story is set in the 1906-1948 era) while playing Hiralal’s (Akshaye Khanna) mother ain’t an easy task. However Shefali has enacted the role with conviction. So is she the new mother on the block? “No way! I am definitely not the new mother on the block, I’m not the next Nirupa Roy,” Shah refutes.

“I did Waqt because it was a special role. The opportunity to work with Amitji and Vipul (her husband) was a treat. Gandhi, My Father was not just about playing a mother. It begins with her being a young woman and then there is an entire transition. Believe me, any actress would have blindly accepted this role, it’s a role to die for. I don’t fear being typecasted as a mother. If anything, people will only appreciate that ‘she is young and yet she can do this’,” she states. Shah quickly adds, “I am playing my age in all the films that I am doing now. So directors only approach the good actress in me who can play varied characters.” 

Point noted as Shah’s forthcoming movies include Rituparno Ghosh’s The Last Lear, Mukta Arts’ Black and White and Rakyesh Mehra’s Dellhi 6.

It is learnt that when director Feroz Abbas Khan was toying with the idea of making Gandhi, My Father and as not sure about it’s cast, crew and production, even then he was certain that only Shefali will essay the role of Ba.