The eyes chico they never lie — it’s shefali shah’s era and we are just living it

The eyes chico they never lie — it’s shefali shah’s era and we are just living it

In a world of male character actors in OTT, be it Manoj Bajpayee, Pankaj Tripathi or Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Shefali Shah has quietly blazed her way to the top.

Switch on your OTT channels, and you’ll see Shefali Shah playing either a cop, a home chef, a mother, or a domestic worker. What stands out in all of the roles is the way Shefali’s eyes catch you unawares and draw you in, no matter which role she is playing. If reams have been written about Irrfan Khan’s eyes, then Shefali’s deserve accolades too.

In the world of male character actors who have firmly occupied their place in OTT, be it Manoj Bajpayee, Pankaj Tripathi or Nawazuddin Siddiqui, there is Shah who quietly blazed her way to the top of charts and hearts with her recent performances. Whether as Shamsunissa of Darlings, Rukhsana of Jalsa or DCP Vartika Chaturvedi of Delhi Crime, there’s no stopping the actor now. But what makes Shah stand out? It is both the kind of roles she has chosen and how she has undone the concept of critically acclaimed and commercially successful movies being mutually exclusive.

7-minute powerhouse

Indian weddings, especially in Hindi-speaking regions, often follow a certain trajectory—the song and dance session starts with the latest party hits and slowly makes its way to the ’90s. One song from the ’90s that inevitably gets played is Sapne Mein Milti Hai from Ram Gopal Varma’s Satya (1998). Asha Bhosle’s memorable voice is made even more memorable by a young Shefali Shah.

Shah had all of 7 minutes in the film, a lot of which was in the song. Shah played Pyaari Mhatre, wife of Bhiku Mhatre (Manoj Bajpayee), who also had his breakthrough moment through OTT. Shah almost overshadowed Urmila Matondkar, who played the female lead in the critically acclaimed film.

That is the power of a Shefali Shah—the Mumbai-born defies the screen time of a role. Even before OTTs finally saw the exemplary talent in her, she could make you forget everyone else on the screen.

Almost a decade later, came another powerful performance by Shah as Rhea Verma in Golden Lion-winner Mira Nair’s film Monsoon Wedding (2000). Shah played the role of a child sexual abuse survivor, and the revelation of her experience impacts the family dynamics and relationships in the film. Once again, in an ensemble cast with talents such as Vijay Raaz, Lillete Dubey, Tillotama Shome and Naseeruddin Shah, she clutches at your heart and makes you feel both pain and rage at her family welcoming and showering paeans on her abuser, played by the other golden man of character actors, Rajat Kapoor.

In Zoya Akhtar’s Dil Dhadakne Do (2015), Shah showed that she still maintained her prowess in ensemble movies with big names. As she suffers her husband Kamal Mehra (Anil Kapoor)’s indiscretions, there is a quiet power that simmers underneath her dialogues. It is a silent force.