Scent of a woman

SHEFALI SHAH HAS BEEN LAUDED FOR HAPPY BIRTHDAY MUMMY JI, A SHORT FILM SHE’S DIRECTED AND ACTED IN. SHE CHATS ABOUT FINDING HER OWN VOICE AND OTHER MATTERS WITH MAYUKH MAJUMDAR

- MAYUKH MAJUMDAR

The first time I watched Juice was sometime in 2017 when my mother walked into my room and showed me a video that her female friends from school were circulating on WhatsApp groups. I don’t think the word ‘woke’ had embedded itself into public discourse as it has now but Juice was one of those short films that really wakes you up. It resonated deeply with my mother - a homemaker - and her friends. Cut to 2021, the star of Juice, Shefali Shah, has come out with another slice of magic called Happy Birthday Mummy Ji (HBMJ). As of writing this article, this Shefali Shah directorial has more than 16 lakh views and over 18,000 likes on YouTube. Some say that true art is supposed to disturb you and some say that art is that which gives you hope. HBMJ does both.

A varied number of comments were left under the video on YouTube. “I am an Agarwal married into a Jain family. I am (non) vegetarian but not allowed to eat onion or garlic. Just like Shefali in this story, my day will come too,” wrote a viewer. “Almost every female in India can relate to this,” wrote another.

In her previous interviews, Shefali Shah has spoken about how she was typecast into mom roles very early on in her career. But even within that limited space, the actress managed to stand out - she was a mother in Dil Dhadakne Do, Delhi Crime, Juice, Once Again, Ankahi and in HBMJ. Each character of hers is different and addresses different aspects of being a woman who also happens to be a mother.