After a gap of 13 years, the 90s actress Shilpa Shirodkar is making a comeback on the small screen. She spoke to Iknoor Kaur about how the industry has evolved in the past decade
She started her career in 1989 with the film Bhrashtachar and went on to do others like Hum, Khuda Gawah, Aankhen and Mrityudand in the 90s. Shilpa Shirodkar’s bio boasts of over 40 films, done in a span of only 10 years after which she left the showbiz to be a homemaker. Shilpa decided to make a comeback after 13 years on small screen. She will be seen as a house maid in Zee TV’s forthcoming show, Ek Muthi Aasman, based on the condition of domestic help in India.
Slated to go on air around mid-August, the show claims to give audience a reality check. Through the show they want to focus on day-to-day lives of domestic workers, touching upon their hopes and aspirations.
Shilpa chose to return to acting on television as she feels it is a perfect platform. “It doesn’t matter if it is TV or films. I am an actor and I just want to be there to please the audience. It is very important that an emotional attachment is there so that people look forward to seeing you. I know I will connect with audience through this show because I am playing a character that every household in India has. My character is a house maid called Kamala bai who is loved and respected by the family she works for and has aspirations for her daughter. She is sensitive and has strong will power. The show is on the trials she faces. How she doesn’t get to take care of her own family because she is so busy looking after the family she is working for. I have seen maids in my mother’s house who have been there for years and have collected every penny so that their daughters don’t become maids,” she said adding that it was not difficult for her to relate to the character. “I have been out of the country with my husband for very long, where there is no system of having domestic help. So,my husband and I did everything — from washing clothes to cleaning the house, car. Now that I am back in India, I realise what it is to have help in the house because I have actually seen life with and without them.”
Coming back to the industry after a gap of so many years has been a bright change for the actress. She says that the way the industry has evolved for better in all these years. “It has become more professional and disciplined. It will be interesting and challenging to work now. I always tell everyone that if we had shows like these in our times, I would’ve been in the industry. But at that time channels were less and the scene wasn’t like this. The first change I noticed was that there is a monitor with the camera. I’m used to the director being behind the camera and not next to it. We can see the shot now and re-shoot it, which is a boon. The way people act today is different. The dialogues are natural. One doesn’t need to be melodramatic,” she shared.
On her family’s reaction to her return in the glam world, she said, “I am going to get a bigger cultural shock than my family. I am so used to being a homemaker that I don’t know how to leave it now. I hope I get the love from people like I did before.”
Shilpa also stressed on the point that she didn’t miss Bollywood at all because of the way her lifestyle was. “I had no plans of coming back and I didn’t even try. This script just fell into my lap and I feel blessed to get this chance,” she said. Shilpa doesn’t have anything apart from the show in the pipeline. However, she said that eventually she will do a film.