Shilpa Shirodkar returns with a TV serial

The ’90s heroine Shilpa Shirodkar is all set to make a comeback to acting after a gap of 13 years. The actress will be making her TV debut in a yet-to-be-titled serial produced by Deeya and Tony Singh for Zee. The serial will revolve around the hopes and aspirations of domestic help Kamalabai played by Shilpa. The actress says, “The script was awesome. And having lived abroad I know how difficult life is without a domestic help. Having domestic help gives you the opportunity to do so much more, which is why I have a lot of respect for them. My character Kamalabai strives hard to bring up her children and see that they don’t do what she is doing. It’s about her struggle and experiences.”

Ask her what prompted her to opt for TV instead of films and she says she would love to do films too. “However, I cannot pick from what I left behind. Movies will happen, but right now I want to work hard and excel in my serial,” says the actress, who sizzled in films like Hum, Khuda Gawah and Gopi Kishen. Her last film was Gaja Gamini after which she tied the knot with businessman Aparesh and settled abroad. “I have been travelling to Holland, New Zealand and London where I stayed for seven years.

I have been a full-time wife and mother and had a blast. The best part of it was I didn’t have to manage a diary (laughs).” She came back to India a couple of years ago when her daughter Anushka was seven. “It took a while for her to adjust because it’s culturally very different. I had to be with her during that time, which is why I did not take up any work. Now she has adapted well and my in-laws are a good support system,” says the actress who has started shooting mock scenes as the rest of the cast is yet to be finalised.

Considering the kind of films that are being made today, would she have preferred to be a heroine now? “I am extremely proud of my work in the ’90s. I worked with great actors like Ashok Kumar, Dilipsaab, Amitabh Bachchan to newcomers like Saif (Ali Khan) who had entered films then. People know me because of that. Yes, movies have evolved today but unlike heroines of our time who had a shelf life of at least 15 years, today you see a lot of young girls coming in, doing a film and disappearing. There is no reliability or stability,” points out Shilpa.