Shilpa Shetty on Nikamma: ‘The most difficult part was playing someone who doesn’t smile at all’

Shilpa Shetty , one of the most popular stars of the 1990s and 2000s, is returning to the big screen after a gap of 15 years with action-comedy  Nikamma  co-starring Abhimanyu Dassani and Shirley Setia . Shetty, who debuted opposite Shah Rukh Khan in thriller Baazigar and followed up with many commercial hits like Main Khiladi Tu Anari, Indian, Garv: Pride & Honour, Dhadkan as well as coming-of-age films such as Life In A… Metro and Phir Milenge, may have been away from celluloid but she has been regular on the sets as a panelist on various reality TV shows. Shetty had her last full-fledged role in the 2007-release Apne. The actress is excited to play a woman with super power in her upcoming release which is a remake of the 2017 Telugu film Middle Class Abbayi starring Nani. And someone who refused many films on grounds of being non–massy, is super thrilled to join action king Rohit Shetty’s cop universe in his debut web series Indian Police Force. Firstpost chats up with the actress:

You have often said that Nikamma should have been your comeback film but it was  Hungama 2 that came out first albeit on a digital platform…

Nikamma should have been my first release because that is how it was intended to be and I think God always has a better plan. I am happy because people are going to see this as my first theatrical release. This film is the reason I said ‘yes’ to coming back to the movies and you will see why when you will watch it.  Whatever is the fate of the movie and I am saying this because even the biggest of films and the biggest of actors are not doing well in this weird phase. Honestly, we have a kind of lost perspective on movie making and cinema and audiences. Earlier we could say that this might work but not in the current phase. But the response I have got for the trailer…they have kept me hidden, not much about my character is divulged through the trailer but you will understand why when you will see the movie.

You are said to play a woman with super power in the film, can you please elaborate upon your character?

I can safely say that the role that I have played no other heroine has played so far. There are many nuances to my character Avni, I come in many different avatars. As a character, it has been the most wholesome and amazing process for me as an actor. I can’t reveal much. The first half is amazing for me and even as content the film is nice, clean and happy. The dynamics of bhabhi-devar angle has never been explored in the past in Indian cinema other than in Sooraj Barjatya’s films but even in those films that is just one part. Here the whole dynamics is based on this relation. It is like old wine in a new bottle because it is presented in a very modern way. It is not that bhabhi is just looking after the household, she is also handling her brother-in-law (played by Abhimanyu Dassani) and teaching him how to come out of nikammapan (inefficiency). I am not playing a superwoman, or am I? I am actually playing a woman who has great power. She has got a great range. She is also someone who is respected, she is family-oriented and she has a good heart though she appears very tough. But the most difficult part was playing someone who doesn’t smile at all. For me to control and contain that was the hardest part.

It looks like your screen brother-in-law in the film comes out of nikammapan with your help but ever in your life, you have felt you’re inefficient and bounced out of it?

Yes, I am quite a nikammi when it comes to doing household work at home (laughs). There are so many verticals that I am busy with that when I am at home I tell people to get things done for me. I get tired taking my kid in my arms. And I am talking just from the point of being a mom, forget homemaker. My sister says you are such a nikammi because I am always telling her to do things for me. Even when I have to buy something online I tell her to do it. But there is one episode in my life where I felt like an absolute nikammi and that is when my mom saw my prelims report. I had scored some 48 per cent which is disgraceful. But that happened because I was concentrating a lot on extra-curricular activities. I was a volleyball player and I was selected for the Bombay zone. I was going to get selected at the State level. At that time my only aim in life was to be a volleyball coach.

You had earlier said that the big gap in your films is because you refused many projects despite those films being heroine-oriented but devoid of commercial value since you were a “massy” heroine.  And now you are doing Rohit Shetty’s Amazon Prime cop series Indian Police Force…

Yes…and it doesn’t get massier than that since it is a Rohit Shetty show. It is a web series and if I had to do something for the web world it could not have been a bigger launch for me. I just feel that I have always been a massy heroine but I also believe that I am here to entertain. So if there is some kind of content that people will like to watch and maybe some director I want to work with I will do it for that reason. I will go with my gut instinct. Priyan Sir (Priyadarshan) was someone I really wanted to work with even as Hungama 2 wasn’t an ideal comeback for me but I could never say ‘No’ to Ratan ji (Ratan Jain, producer). We are probably a bit old fashioned. People may have found me good in Hungama 2 but then what is the use, luckily the film was released on an OTT platform. But I loved being part of the film because I have a lot of respect for Priyan Sir who is an absolute maverick.

Your launch happened with Shah Rukh Khan (Baazigar) and you went on to work with Saif Ali Khan, Akshay Kumar and many other heroes who were also relatively new. What difference do you find in their approach as compared to the newcomers now? You have done Hungama 2  with Meezaan Jafri and Nikamma with Abhimanyu Dassani and Shirley Setia …

I feel the new age actors and the entire way they are groomed is very different from us and where we came from. Audiences have also changed, the acting style has changed, the way we emote has changed, and love stories have changed on screen as well as off-screen. Earlier we used to write letters and then there used to be phone calls, we gave and got blank calls. But look at the songs now, we have songs like Char vodka, bar jaana, hookah bar…romance has really changed.

Next year you will complete three decades in the film industry. Is there anything that you feel needs to be accomplished?

Of course, there is a lot to be accomplished. If I think that I have accomplished it all this would really be the end of it and you guys won’t be here to interview me. Honestly, I feel like a newcomer even now. Yesterday when I was sitting and watching Nikamma, before the movie began I kept gulping, I was so nervous. I have not seen myself on the big screen for 14 -15 years and that is a long time. But yes, I was still working. I am working now more than ever. I hope I have done justice to my character. I hope I am not going to let down my audiences. But at the end of it all when I finished watching I told myself, let whatever happens I have done a good job (laughs-out-loud).

How was it on the first day on the sets of Nikamma since you were returning after so many years?

That day I really felt like a nikammi because I was shooting with Abhimanyu (laughs). I had watched him in Mard Ko Dard Nahi Hota and I thought he was brilliant. He really shined like a star. I felt he only looked like a newcomer. I was really nervous because though I was doing television, brands…I was still emoting, acting but you are Shilpa Shetty, you are not playing any character. There you can do anything that you want, who is going to say that you are doing something wrong. But here Avni is a character and you just play it to the best of your understanding. Putting life into a character which is on paper is the most thrilling thing for an actor and you are constantly thinking about that character. Thankfully Sabbir (Khan) is so wonderful to work with as a director. All the actors that he has worked with have given them such an amazing platform whether it is Tiger Shroff or Kriti Sanon. I made the best decision to start off with him. But the first day jitters will always be there when you are giving your first shot for any project.

Read all the  Latest News _,_  Trending News _,_  Cricket News _,_  Bollywood News _,_  India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook _,_  Twitter  and  Instagram _._