Shefali Shah opens up about her controversial Waqt casting, playing Akshay Kumar’s mother: ‘It was my choice’

The casting of Shefali Shah as Akshay Kumar’s mother in Waqt has drawn the ire of netizens for years now. Shefali playing a mother to someone who is almost her age has often been quoted as an example of the film industry failing its women casting them in stereotypical roles. Now, the actor has spoken up about the casting and said it was her decision to play the role.
In a chat with Bollywood Bubble during the promotions of Jalsa, Shefali was asked about playing a mother on-screen. Here, she said, “I did Waqt because I wanted to do it. In fact, Vipul had said don’t do it.” Shefali’s husband Vipul Amrutlal Shah directed the 2005 film. She continued, “He said do not do it and I was like, I loved the script, I loved the part and Amit ji suggested, ‘why don’t you ask Shefali?’ He (Vipul) said ‘len, I don’t think this is a good idea’. I was like ‘Yay! I’ll be working with two of my favourite men.’ I was very excited working with Vipul and Amit ji so it was my choice.”

Owning up to the decision that she made for herself, Shefali said, “There is no point of doing a retrospect because I did what was right for me at that point in time. Today, I might look at it differently but why waste time and energy trying to analyse what I did years ago.”
Shefali added that she has no problem playing a mother on screen as she is herself a mother in real life. “I just don’t want to play a mother to somebody who is much older than me,” she said.
Shefali Shah starrer Jalsa released on Amazon Prime Video on Friday. The film also stars Vidya Balan.