The Hindi film industry has long faced criticism for its gender bias, particularly when it comes to age norms and working conditions for women. Actor Shefali Shah recently spoke about these ongoing issues, highlighting how female actors continue to face ageism and unequal standards compared to their male counterparts.

Shefali Shah speaks out on Bollywood's gender norms and ageism: "Sadly, our industry is about 'hero, heroine, villain'"

Shefali Shah speaks out on Bollywood’s gender norms and ageism: “Sadly, our industry is about ‘hero, heroine, villain’”

While Ranveer Singh’s recent release Dhurandhar performed exceptionally well at the box office, it also drew criticism for casting him opposite Sara Arjun, who is significantly younger. Reflecting on such casting practices, Shefali Shah agreed that the industry followed different rules for men and women.

“It should not be the norm, but sadly, our industry is about ‘hero, heroine, villain’ and hero has to be whatever number of years actually, but heroine has to only be between 18 to 25. That is very important. She can’t age. She has a shelf life,” she said in an interview with Hindustan Times.

Shefali also recalled her own experience of playing a character older than her real age in Waqt: The Race Against Time (2005), where she portrayed Akshay Kumar’s mother despite being younger than him in real life. “There I went and played a character which was much older than me and I did it because, as an actor the point of being an actor is to act out different people and portray different shades of a person. Age was just a part of it, but sadly, it doesn’t work like that,” she added.

Beyond ageism, the actor also addressed the ongoing debate around fixed working hours for female actors and said gender bias played a significant role in how the issue was perceived. “I know for a fact that there are a lot of male actors who choose to take those two to three months in summer off when their kids get their vacation time. They say we will not work for these many months which is great, as they know how to do the work and family balance. But nobody ever talks about that. Suddenly it has become a big deal because a woman said that I want to have certain work hours,” she said.

Sharing her perspective further, the Delhi Crime 3 actor emphasised that such decisions should be viewed as personal choices rather than controversies. “It’s an individual’s choice. It’s an individual’s request and requirement. Somebody may not agree with it, and nobody’s putting a gun to anybody’s head that you have to cast me and you have to do this. So why is it even a conversation? If a man would have said this, it wouldn’t even have come out,” she concluded.

Through her remarks, Shefali Shah once again highlighted the need for more balanced conversations around gender, age, and work culture in the Hindi film industry.

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