‘Shefali is not the older woman’

Vipul Shah spent close to three years looking for an appropriate script to launch his wife Shefali as a heroine. Shefali, regarded one of the most powerful character actors in Bollywood, will be seen as the solo female lead for the first time opposite Rahul Bose in the forthcoming film Zara Jeeke Dikha.

Shefali was last seen playing Amitabh Bachchan's wife in The Last Lear and her last Vipul Shah film was Waqt where she played Akshay Kumar's mother. So, does he think that he is giving his wife the much needed 'break'?

"Look I can never brand somebody as a character actor. I feel that Shefali was one of the lead actors in The Last Lear because of the role that she portrayed. In that sense, Irrfan Khan, Naseer bhai are all character actors. I don't see any such category," he says, adding: "The film is being directed by debutant Barnali Shah who's actor Sourabh Shukla's wife. She is a very close friend of my wife and I think she is doing a fantastic job."

The leading filmmaker vehemently denies that this film is about an extra-marital relationship where Shefali is playing the older woman to Rahul "This will be an out-an-out commercial film for the whole family. Whoever told you that it is about an extra-marital relationship with an older lady is absolutely wrong. Though I can't reveal the plot of the movie, I can only say that Shefali and Rahul are not married in the film. They are playing their respective ages," he adds.

Why the sudden decision to deviate from high-budget productions (like Singh is Kinng or the under-production London Dreams) and go into a low-budget production?

"First of all, it is not a low-budget film though it might not be at par with the other films that I have made in terms of money. The production costs depend on the script. London Dreams requires that kind of money because of its storyline. This film doesn't," he answers.