Shahana Goswami on working with Vidya Balan in 'Neeyat'

The sparkling, uber talented Shahana Goswami has impressed us with terrific performances in films like Rock On, Firaaq, Zwigato and Midnight’s Children. She is playing a crucial role in the new murder mystery Neeyat. Here she talks about working with Vidya Balan in Neeyat and goes down memory lane looking at her journey in Bollywood and international cinema.

What’s the most special memory of Neeyat?

The most beautiful thing about Neeyat is the ensemble cast. Suspense films are largely character driven and for those characters to come alive you need people who can really become those characters. To play out big, complicated scenes with fourteen characters but since each actor is so brilliant in their craft, everybody was so on point that we could really work against time.

As an actor, is it different to shoot a murder mystery?

Yes, it is different. Also because you know the suspense as the person playing the character. But you have to play the part without knowing what’s going to happen. That layering of actual innocence, pretended innocence, you (actor) know who is the killer but your character has no clue. I had a great time shooting Neeyat. To play with these nuances is what makes such films intriguing.

You’ve had a truly unconventional beginning in films. You were launched in Naseeruddin Shah’s directorial debut Yun Hota to Kya Hota (2006). You were an outsider with no connections in the film industry. How did it all begin?

Now as I look I realise it has been 17 years since I’ve been acting. I started when I was nineteen. I am thirty seven now. Yun Hota To Kya Hota, my debut film, was also my first audition and fortunately I got the film. Things just kept snowballing from there. It’s true that I also had dreams when I was in Delhi wishing how cool it would be if I could become an actor. It always felt like a distant dream. And within a year of coming to Mumbai and acting with people like Ratna Pathak Shah, Konkona Sen, Paresh Rawal and Naseer directing you, it was a lot to process. Subsequently I managed to work with everybody I wanted to work with. So much of my bucket list has already been ticked off. I have been so lucky. This wonderful collection of human beings and talents that I’ve managed to collaborate with. I feel really lucky to be doing what I do.

I have worked with great people not just from India but internationally with talents I truly admire. I feel if I look at my journey as someone else’s journey, I would say, 'Wow, what a journey!' (Laughs)

Most of your films have been close to offbeat cinema. Do you have a problem with mainstream, masala films?

Masala films have some problem with me (laughs)! People in the industry tag you as an ‘intelligent’ or ‘serious’ actor without realising that I have also grown up watching the mainstream movies - dancing to Sooraj Hua Madhdham, flicking my hair, singing and performing on all those chartbusters. I have had crushes on Aamir Khan and grown up loving Madhuri Dixit and Kajol. That had been my fantasy - to be a Bollywood Heroine (laughs). I’ve learnt dancing but no one thinks about me for those roles. I am still hoping that it will happen.

You’ve also done International projects. How was that experience different?

The kind of international projects I did are different from the international big budget projects that Alia (Bhatt) and Deepika (Padukone) are doing right now. They were small, independent films. So the difference for me was more in terms of the film festivals those films travelled. That was lovely because there you interacted with people on an even ground, nobody knows you and you are interacting purely on cinema. You get to share films with other audiences who come for the art and craft of cinema. I’ve met so many Indian filmmakers as well as filmmakers from the subcontinent in these festivals and seen their films because most of them don’t get a theatrical release here (in India). In terms of working experience, the greatest difference was there was no hierarchical system on sets of these international films. There’s division of labour but there is no hierarchy within that labour. So everybody is playing their part and everybody is equally important. There’s no major class divide which is a part of our industry. ‘A crew’ and ‘B crew’ kind of division doesn’t happen there.

You’ve worked in some Bengali films in Bangladesh. Why not our Bengali film industry?

(Laughs) Though I am a Bengali but no one offered me a film from West Bengal. The Bangladeshi filmmakers offered me work.

Since last three years including the Covid phase, you’ve done four shows. Has OTT been a game-changer?

I only focus on growth but I think we still have a long way to go. I am not criticizing the OTT, but initially, people had time to create better. Now producers and OTT platforms demand that you have to give the film or series quickly. It’s not feasible for creating quality. If you don’t give enough time to develop the idea and writing, you’ll not get that quality. It has becoming like daily soaps on TV. But there is hope because like democracy, the good thing about these kind of situations is ultimately what pleases or engages will last.

Do you want to do anything other than films?

I want to write. Not really a script, but something else. I would love something to do with food, a cafe. I am very much into the esoteric, spiritual, so something to do with spiritual-wellness space. And a travel show. I would be the perfect candidate to immerse in a new culture and learn a new language.

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