'Happy film-makers are rediscovering me'

'Whatever you see of me on celluloid will be with the idea of wanting to push the envelope.'

Shilpa Shetty plays the first female cop in Rohit Shetty's copverse, and she's loving every moment of it.

The 48-year-old actor has done a lot of prep to play Gujarat ATS Chief Tara Shetty in the Web series, Indian Police Force.

Shilpa tells Subhash K Jha, "It was great fun to be associated with Rohit Shetty. He has a different style and so you will see a different presentation of Shilpa Shetty, yet again."

What was your prep like for Rohit Shetty's Indian Police Force?

Everything happened so fast with Indian Police Force!

I was actually leaving for an outdoor shoot for Sukhi, but I had to make sure that in between my Chandigarh schedule, I had to come back.

I had to prep my mind to do diverse characters. That was the hardest part, actually.

But I think my training from the '90s came to great use.

I am a director's actor and Rohit is a fantastic director.

When it comes to this milieu, getting into his cop as the first female cop, I had it all laid out for me. A lot of prep done for me in terms of how I needed to play this character.

Obviously, I added my own nuances and colour to my character, Tara.

Did you bond well with your director and co-stars?

I think it was rather easy because working on a film is different from a Web series.

You know what you have to do in every episode and you deliver accordingly.

It was great fun to be associated with Rohit Shetty. He has a different style and so you will see a different presentation of Shilpa Shetty, yet again.

As for interacting with my co-stars, it's been nothing but a pleasure to work with Vivek Oberoi, whom I've known personally.

We have had many long conversations and that continued on set as well. He's such a phenomenal actor.

I love the ease with which he does what he does. That comes from experience and his inherent talent.

Sid (Malhotra) is really calm and composed. I think it's a quality that these new age actors possess.

I admire the way Sid approaches his work.

And he's so extremely handsome that he makes everything look so good. He makes me look good too.

So it was an absolute pleasure to work with him.

He's an absolute gentleman and a very hard working actor.

I believe your role was originally written for a male actor?

I just think the role was really well etched out, well written and I have to give Rohit the credit of treating the character with absolute honesty and giving the character all that it required without a gender bias.

What are your future plans? Do you intend to do more work this year?

Well, I don't plan the future, the future is already predestined.

I'm treading the path with extreme gratitude in my heart.

I can only assure you that now on, whatever you see of me on celluloid will be with the idea of wanting to push the envelope, changing the perspective of me as an actor and going deeper into discovering what more I have in store.

I'm so happy that film-makers are actually rediscovering me and a new facet to my talent.

What is your take on the kind of films that are working at the box office?

Well, the films that do well are actually the ones that are able to surprise you or appease you in terms of content. And they also are a reflection of the fabric of our society.

So somewhere maybe they recognise through content that oh, this is something that exists, maybe it's a revelation through a film-maker's perspective or maybe a new take on how an actor plays a certain character. There has to be some newness to that content.

The madness is still the same, the method is different.

It's amazing to see film-makers take those risks because you have streaming platforms that take away from the onus of box office numbers.

So people are more open to still making interesting content even if it does not cater to theatre audiences because people are devouring all kinds of content on OTT.

I really feel very happy as an artist to come across so many different kinds of films and characters or choices that we didn't have back in the day.

Does your husband share parental responsibilities with you?

Raj and I spend quality time with our kids.

I don't work on Sundays.

I've come from the mindset of being brought up by extremely busy, working parents, who actually spent lesser time than we have with our kids and we've turned out great.

This also inculcates the sense of work ethics and respect for the fact that my children see mom going to work and they grow up understanding the value of work.

Yes, so that's how I deal with it.

We take long holidays with them.

I enjoy my life and I'm blessed that work is still coming my way and I have beautiful children who encourage me to work and are proud of me.