Romance on her mind
What continues to draw her to cinema is its ability to embrace the quiet intimacy of human emotion. She recalls Santosh, directed by Sandhya Suri, where the titular character isn't a damsel in distress but a strong, morally ambiguous woman navigating a broken system. Similarly, in Four Years Later, Sri Devi is a woman open to dating apps, arranged marriage, and finding herself anew, sometimes all at once.
'She prioritises love and marriage, yes, but also realises there's more to her life. That realisation comes not from crisis but from introspection. That's what makes her journey real.'
Shahana has never shied away from playing complex, assertive women, characters who live, breathe, falter, and fight. Whether it was Debbie Mascarenhas, the resilient wife in Rock On!!, or Muneera in Firaaq, or Amina in Midnight's Children, her filmography reads like a testament to women with agency.
More recently, she played an ambitious corporate executive in Bombay Begums, the manipulative Meenakshi in A Suitable Boy, and a stoic woman constable stepping into her deceased husband's role in Santosh, each role peeling back different layers of the female experience.
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