Actor Shefali Shah marked her foray into the web space with the short film Juice (2017). Ever since, she has headlined clutter-breaking content on the web, including the International Emmy winning Delhi Crime, anthology film Ajeeb Daastaans, short film Happy Birthday Mummy Ji (both 2021) and recently released Human, which was based on human drug trials. Over time, she has carved a niche for herself, crushing stereotypes related to the sexist and ageist nature of the entertainment industry.

Shah credits web series Delhi Crime — which saw her as DCP Vartika Chaturvedi — for giving her a new lease of life as an actor, which many refer to as Shefali Shah 2.0. “I credit my career today to the OTT boom. In films, they didn’t know what to do with me, because in cinema, you either can play the heroine or her mother. But on OTT, I got full-fledged characters. I’ve to admit that Delhi Crime became the turning point in my career as somebody took a chance with me and put me in the lead,” the 49-year-old elaborates.

With no box-office pressure in the digital medium, the actor, who will be seen in Delhi Crime 2, feels that filmmakers have become more experimental, not only in terms of content but casting, too. She says, “I’ve been experiencing it since last year. Every other project I’ve done in the past year, I’m either the lead or the parallel lead.”

The past few months saw actors Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Kirti Kulhari talking about taking a break from web series. Ask Shah if the fatigue has set in for her as well, and she says, “Web series are exhausting, but that’s the fun of it. I thrive on work that completely consumes and drains me. Last year, I shot for Human and Delhi Crime 2, both very intense. But I loved it.”

With a multitude of new releases every week on OTT, across languages and genres, does she feel its novelty has waned? “The more, the merrier! Amazing stuff is coming out of India and other countries. There’s something for everyone. I don’t think OTT is ever going to dwindle away.”