Rani seeks out Shefali for praise 
By Subhash K. Jha, August 17, 2007 - 09:32 IST
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Though colleagues in the industry are known to praise one another's work it's still very rare for one actress to openly praise another. But after seeing Gandhi My Father Rani Mukherjee sought out Shefali Shah's number to congratulate her for her performance as Kasturba. Says Shefali, "It's not as though Rani and I are friends or anything. She called me out of the blue and said, 'You're the first person I'm calling after seeing the film.' I felt so happy. Not because she is Rani Mukherjee. But because here was an actress reaching to another."
Says Rani, "I just had to do it! When I saw the film I realized Shefali was overwhelming. Even though Gandhi My Father is a father-son story Shefali is exquisite. I just had to tell her that." And to think we always thought actresses found it hard to appreciate one another!
"Not at all”, says Shefali. “In fact during the shooting of Rituparno Ghosh's The Last Lear my co-stars Prity Zinta, Divya Dutta and I got along like a house on fire. On the last night in Kolkata we partied and giggled ourselves silly. Preity is so hassle-free. No hidden agendas behind her niceness. Divya was also a joy. It's very difficult working with people who are full of themselves."
Fulsome praise from all quarters has made Shefali cautious. "I don't want to over-rate myself. When I look back at what I've done in Gandhi My Father I feel, 'Hell, I've fallen short'. The thing is, since I'm a spontaneous actress. I don't know what I'm doing when the camera goes on. It's only later that I realize, 'Oh. So this is what I've done.' Now I need to very careful about what I do."
For the record Shefali is not doing her husband Vipul Shah's next Katrina Kaif-Akshay Kumar starrer. "I'll wait a year. But I won't do anything that will disappoint people like Rani who like my work." Vipul Shah thinks Shefali looks different in every film. "Yes, he does," she smiles. "It's great if I can be different people in different films. The biggest compliment I can get for playing Kasturba is that nobody recognizes me as Shefali."
Incidentally another actress who showed open appreciation for a colleague was Preity Zinta who singled out Kangana Ranaut for praise after watching her performance in Gangster.
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"Running around trees will not get me an Oscar" - Shefali
