'Shelf life': Shefali Shah highlights ageism in Bollywood
What's the story
Bollywood actor Shefali Shah has spoken out against the gender bias and ageism that pervades the Hindi film industry. In a recent interview with Hindustan Times, she highlighted how female actors are often subjected to different working conditions and age norms than their male counterparts. "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," said Shah.
Industry norms
'She has a shelf life'
Shah further elaborated on the industry's age bias, saying, "That is very important. She can't age. She has a shelf life." The actor also spoke about her own experience of playing an older character in Waqt: The Race Against Time (2005), where she played Akshay Kumar's mother despite being younger than him in real life. "There I went and played a character which was much older than me," she recalled.
Gender bias
'Nobody ever talks about that'
Shah also addressed the issue of fixed working hours for female actors, saying gender bias affected how this was viewed. "I know for a fact that there are a lot of male actors who choose to take those two to three months in summer off when their kids get their vacation time," she said. "They say we will not work for these many months which is great, as they know how to do the work and family balance."
Personal choices
'If a man would have said this...'
Shah added that such decisions should be seen as individual choices, not controversies. "It's an individual's choice. It's an individual's request and requirement." "Somebody may not agree with it... So why is it even a conversation? If a man would have said this, it wouldn't even have come out," she concluded. Meanwhile, Shah can currently be seen in Delhi Crime Season 3 on Netflix.