19 December 2025 Punjab Khabarnama Bureau : The Hindi film industry has often been criticised for its gender bias in its working. While actor Ranveer Singh’s (40) recent release Dhurandhar has worked wonders at the box office, it also faced criticism for his pairing opposite a much-younger, 20-year-old actor Sara Arjun. Actor Shefali Shah, who played mother to actor Akshay Kumar, who was older to her, in Waqt: The Race Against Time (2005), agrees to industry’s different gender norms 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 says, adding, “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.”
Not just with the age bias, but even in the ongoing debate of fixed working hours for female actors, Shefali Shah believes gender has played a huge role: “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.”
Adding to her input, the actor last seen in Delhi Crime 3 says, “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.”
Summary:
Veteran actress Shefali Shah has highlighted the ageism and sexism prevalent in Bollywood, pointing out the double standards where male actors can play leading roles at any age, while female actors are often expected to remain between 18–25. Her candid remarks have sparked discussions about gender equality and fairness in the film industry.