Will Shalini Pandey do an Arjun Reddy today? The Dabba Cartel actor says, ‘I might have different…’
Shalini Pandey talks about love for Dabba Cartel, working with Shabana Azmi, women-led crime dramas and whether she will choose a film like Arjun Reddy today
Actor Shalini Pandey is currently revelling in the love she is receiving for Dabba Cartel, and she thanks her mum for making this opportunity possible for her. “My mum has kind of manifested Shabana (Azmi) ma’am in my life. I remember when I got into the film industry, she would keep saying that she wishes I get to work with Mr. Amitabh Bachchan and Mrs. Shabana Azmi,” Shalini Pandey says.
The 31-year-old adds that getting to navigate the crime world on screen with a bunch of women in a normally male-dominated space has been “liberating”. “Women in so many small towns and rural areas are trying to free themselves from all the moral aspects of the society and it is liberating. I'm not justifying what they're doing, but all of these women are coming with their motives because they're stuck in a situation. To just see these women taking charge and not being the victims of what they are thrown into, it is absolutely liberating.”
Having played such a strong woman in Dabba Cartel, ask Shalini if she would have picked her debut film Arjun Reddy today, where her character was panned for being weak, and she says, “I had a lot of conviction at that time as well and now that I think of it, I might have added a little more to it because I was pretty naive then. Would I completely say no to it? No as I was playing a character. Of course, at this time, I would have played it with much more conviction and much more understanding. But I also feel for that time, it was for the best that I did it with that rawness because the character needed that. Having said that, if I had to pick it today, I would pick it, but I would do it differently and maybe have different conversations with my director to be honest.”
