Rani seeks out Shefali for praise

Mumbai, Aug 18 (IANS) After seeing "Gandhi My Father" Rani Mukerji was so impressed with Shefali Shah's performance as Kasturba that she sought out her contact number to congratulate her.

"I just had to do it. When I saw the film I realised Shefali was overwhelming. Even though 'Gandhi My Father' is a father-son story, Shefali is exquisite. I just had to tell her that," Rani told IANS.

Shefali is quite touched by Rani's gesture.

"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 Mukerji. But because here was one actress reaching out to another," said Shefali.

It is generally believed that actresses find it hard to appreciate one another.

"Not at all!' said Shefali. "In fact, during the shooting of Rituparno Ghosh's 'The Last Lear' my co-stars Preity 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."

However, fulsome praise from all quarters has made Shefali cautious.

"I don't want to overrate 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 realise, 'Oh, so this is what I've done.' Now I need to be very careful about what I do."

Shefali said she would not act in 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."

Shefali said her husband thinks she looks different in every film.

"It's great if I can be different people in different films. The biggest compliment I can get for playing Kasturba is that nobody recognises me as Shefali," she added.

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Gandhi My Father