'I don't believe in favouritism'

'If we are unable to move out of catering to people's tantrums or their unreasonable demands or people treating other people badly or being okay with differential treatment, it will affect the storytelling and the creativity.'

The best actors are the ones who make their versatility shine on screen.

Shahana Goswami is one such fine performer who puts on an impressive show each time with her varied choices.

Be it her emotionally worn-out wife in Rock On!! (2008), or distraught young Muslim woman in Firaaq (2009), or the jovial urban girl in Tu Hai Mera Sunday (2016), or the headstrong corporate boss in Bombay Begums (2021), or the other half of a financially struggling couple in Zwigato (2023) -- the actress can transform herself seamlessly.

In her latest outing Neeyat, Shahana plays into the film's lighter and more comedic tone, which is in stark contrast to her intense roles.

In an industry that can easily typecast actors, Shahana's constant endeavour is to find characters that she has not played before.

But the process has its own challenges, as the actress tells Mayur Sanap/Rediff.com, "Even today, large parts of casting choices are made out of who has more followers and who's popular, and not who's right for the part."

What got you excited about Neeyat?

The fact that it's a thriller, but its tonality has this subtle kind of humour.

It also has fascinating characters.

Lisa (her character name in the film) was very different from the roles I have played before.

I was excited to play something that normally, people wouldn't think of me for, in terms of how overly glamorous she is or a slightly bimbo and a gold digger sort of person. It was fun to play such a character.

Was it a breather from all the hard-pressed roles you have been doing lately?

(Laughs) In a sense, yes.

But it was also very challenging because, here, I was constantly reacting to grief, or shock, or sudden twists and turns. Doing it repeatedly was emotionally taxing.

My character knows certain things.

She is hiding certain things.

Also, pretending about certain things.

Creating those layers was as challenging as it was fun.

The other big challenges were the clothes and the weather.

I was wearing this very tight-fitting dress with high heels.

There's a lot of running around and running out of the castle into the cold wind that too without taking a jacket. We were freezing because it was really cold.

But that's what I like about acting.

It looks very fun and casual, but you would never guess what kind of hard work goes into making it.

What was the vibe on the set like?

What do you think it would be like, let me ask you!

It must be super fun, with so many awesome people coming together.

(Laughs) It was exactly like that.

We had such a blast, both in terms of playing the scenes and also just being with people who are great human beings and wonderful actors.

With a huge ensemble cast like this, there can be a fear of ego clashes or personality clashes. This was one of those weird anomalies where everybody was genuine to everybody.

It was like a party on set.

Of late, you have mostly been doing projects with women directors, be it Mira Nair (A Suitable Boy), Alankrita Shrivastava (Bombay Begums), Nandita Das (Zwigato), Tanuja Chandra (Hush Hush), and now, Neeyat with Anu Menon. Is this a conscious choice on your part?

No. I worked with both male and female directors in my career, maybe more so with female directors but that just happens to be a coincidence.

I believe in equality and equal opportunities.

I don't believe in favouritism.

Being a woman myself, I would never want anybody to give me a job because I'm a woman. I would like to get a job because of my capability.

Similarly, if I'm reading something as an artist, I wouldn't say yes to a project just because it's a female director.

Is there a better sense of comfort when you are working with a woman director? Does it make it any easier for you to perform?

See, the sense of comfort comes purely from what rapport you share with the other person. And I have had a great sense of comfort with all my directors.

I think I also instinctively choose a project based on the director, because to me, that relationship is the primary thing.

I will not work with a director unless I feel some sense of connection or respect.

I recently worked with Kanu Behl on a film that will come out soon. We had a lot of difficult scenes like intimate scenes and he's the one who brought that sense of comfort.

Your character in Neeyat has a lot of comedic shades. Would you like to do a full-blown comedy role for a change?

Oh yes!

I don't find comedy to be hard at all because my personality is comical.

I have always been like that since I was a kid.

I was called nautanki.

I have always been known for my jokes, pranks, and just for being entertaining and super silly.

People say doing comedy is a hard thing, but I'm so in tune with comedy that I think it comes naturally to me.

This lighter side of my personality has not been explored yet.

I would love to do a good comedy, whether it's a situational comedy or even an out-and-out comedy.

It's been 17 years for you in the film industry, yet we see you less often on screen. Is it difficult to find the right opportunities for talent like yours?

The way we choose things is a very subjective thing.

On the one hand, when I go through whatever I've experienced on my journey, I feel like I got it very soon.

I was a nobody who came from nowhere.

I moved to Bombay at 18 to do college and theatre simultaneously, to eventually maybe join NSD.

And suddenly, in my second year, I ended up accidentally meeting somebody who was helping with casting for a film. She ended up suggesting my name to Naseeruddin Shah. Then one after the other things started happening.

I got recognition from tiny little parts that I did, and they translated into me doing more work.

At that time, there weren't any casting directors. Then slowly the casting process started happening and that helped me further.

I feel like I've been really lucky and have got way more than what I could have imagined.

But during some periods in your career, you do have to pave the way for the kind of things you want to do.

Whenever you switch gears, you have to say no to certain things because people are still in the inertia of offering you roles they've already seen you in.

We have to say no to things that are within that same cookie-cutter jar to be able to make way for the bigger things to come.

Now I will not do anything unless I'm deeply excited by it because this is something that has been a dream since I was a kid and I'm living that dream.

I'm not going to make choices that make me feel jaded about this passion.

If there was one thing you could change about the industry, what would it be?

Hierarchy.

Whether that is a hierarchy between stars and actors, prioritising certain people over others, creating a hierarchy within the shooting system, from spot boys to assistants, to actors, and to the director.

The minute you introduce a sense of hierarchy, it becomes counterproductive to something which is a creative team effort.

If we are unable to move out of catering to people's tantrums or their unreasonable demands or people treating other people badly or being okay with differential treatment, it will affect the storytelling and the creativity.

It does shift every now and then.

But it also keeps falling back into the comfortable pattern because it's such a strong habit.

Even today, large parts of casting choices are made out of who has more followers and who's popular, and not who's right for the part.

The irony is that today's audiences don't care about the popularity part because that doesn't sustain them to watch a whole series or even a film anymore.

Earlier, they did because they didn't have much choice. Now, the audience consumes content from all over the world.

It is important to create authenticity, and for that, this hierarchical approach must go away.

Will there be a season two of Bombay Begums? I really enjoyed watching that show.

Unfortunately, I don't think Bombay Begums is happening. I really thought that it was a great show and hoped it will go on for the second season.

My next film is Despatch with Manoj Bajpayee, and Kanu Behl is the director. Mine is a much smaller role in the film, but I am excited about it because it's a very exciting character.

I have done a short film with Rima Das, which is part of an anthology of shorts that should come out sometime this year.

I'll just be starting a new project in August. It is an independent international film and I am very excited about it.