Shefali Shah recalls an ‘epic’ fan encounter where she was told ‘she looks nice on TV’: ‘I’m not a mannequin’

Shefali Shah, who had hits like Delhi Crime Season 2 and Darlings in 2022, recently took to Instagram to share her experience where a fan suggested that she looked quite different in real life but Shefali couldn’t decide if it was meant to be a compliment. The actor shared that the air hostess complimented her work but the way she did it, made her think if she saw “appreciation, compassion, or sympathy” in the air hostess’ eyes.

Shefali shared that the air hostess mentioned that the flight crew could not even recognise her and wrote in the caption, “She left me smiling to return yet again. This time to say- ‘me and the other crew didn’t even recognise you. You look so different than you do on screen, but love your work.’ smiled and left. The ‘But’ planted a seed of doubt. Don’t know if what I saw in her eyes was appreciation, compassion, or sympathy. She almost seemed sorry for me. Not saying but meaning ‘Must be so deceiving and disappointing to look like someone and be appreciated for it but then in life waking up with your real self.'” She added that the fan “wasn’t mean at all. She just seemed genuinely concerned at my genetics and awed by my make-up and hair artists magical expertise.”

The actor thought if this was meant to be a compliment that her characters looked so different from her. “…maybe she meant I looked different as a character than Shefali does. Now that is a compliment. I want to look like a character, become the role I play. That’s my job, and that gives me immense pride,” she wrote.

 

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Shefali Shah then recalled an incident where someone just blatantly told her that she looked better on TV. “Some people have been judgemental and even reprimanding like I broke their trust for looking like myself. Like I’d cheated. A product bought online. Ordered something else, got something else. The most epic one was years ago when one person said ‘T.V pe toh achi lagti hai (She looks nice on TV)’. I wasn’t angry, I was just amused at this ridiculous lack of decency. I wanted to give a smart one back.”

She concluded her post by writing, “To just make it clear I don’t wake up perfect. I’m not a mannequin, nor a painting. I am REAL, as real as one can be.”