The festive season has brought a professional high for Shefali Shah, as just before Diwali, the actor announced the arrival of her show Delhi Crime season 3 for next month. She calls it a “divine intervention” and says, “It feels like this Diwali’s patakha. I’ve been asked continuously when is the next season dropping, and it took a lot from me to keep my mouth shut and be secretive. But it’s out now and I believe it’s going to be an extended Diwali celebration that will keep going on and on.”
Diwali just brings out fun, nostalgia and excitement in Shefali Shah. “During Diwali, I get this child-like excitement. And forget festivals, at any point, I am more childlike than my kids. They are still very mature, big boys,” she laughs, adding, “It’s my favourite festival, something I look forward to every year.”
For Shefali, every ritual and process of the festival is special. “It’s about the Puja, everyone coming together, decorating the house, which I love doing, and finally on the Diwali night all our closest core circle being together. The food, the dressing up, the festival is about all of that put together,” she says.
Recalling her childhood memories of Diwali, Shefali shares, “As a child, it was a very big deal for us. We would get new curtains during Diwali and would wake up early in the morning at 5am to the smell of patakhas in the air. The night before Diwali, my mother used to make rangoli of Lakshmi ji, and I would get very possessive about it. I would get upset if somebody would spoil it. I would sit up all night while she was making the rangoli and help her. The whole feeling of Diwali is kind of embedded in me as the aura during that time is different.”
With Diwali being the festival of light, Shefali asserts that the brightest light of her life will always be the people she loves–her husband, producer Vipul Amrutlal Shah, her kids and her pups. “But it’s also a slight level of acceptance and kindness towards yourself because finally at the end of the day, you are the only one standing by yourself. As generously as we accept others in love, very rarely do we extend the same kind of love and generosity towards ourselves, which I have tried to do in my own way. I have indulged myself this time and I have come out pretty strong,” she insists.
The actor’s favourite Diwali tradition is gifts, but more than receiving, it’s about giving for her. “I give a lot of gifts and I personally go and select them. I don’t just give an order to somebody and ask them to make it, because I feel that if you’re giving something as a gift, it has to be personal,” she says, adding that she went to Crawford market in Mumbai this year to get all the materials in her gifts. “I went in all the garmi, dhool and mitti, made my selections, got them home, packed it and sent it with a note. I love giving gifts, but I don’t really receive gifts. Maybe I should tell people around that it’s time that they start giving me gifts,” she ends with a laugh.
