Shefali Shah says ‘boycott Bollywood’ trend won’t last long: ‘Films are a culture like cricket, it can’t die’

The chorus for boycotting Bollywood films has been growing louder over the past few months. In the recent times, several films such as Laal Singh Chaddha, Darlings, Raksha Bandhan, and Liger have faced calls for boycott. And the hashtag ‘boycott Bollywood’ trends regularly on Twitter. But actor Shefali Shah feels it’s just a momentary trend and not something that will last. Also read: Did Aamir Khan’s Laal Singh Chaddha fail due to boycott call or bad content

Many have said that as films’ business gets affected and more Bollywood films fail at the box office, Bollywood may find it hard to get out of this rut. Many have claimed that the boycott calls are responsible for the below average performance of Hindi films. However, others have said the issue has been blown out of proportion and the calls have no effect on the films’

Reacting to this in a recent interview with India Today, Shefali Shah said, “It’s a trend. I don’t think it’s long-lasting,” she said. When asked about the notion that Bollywood is ‘dying’, the actor said, “I don’t think it’s possible. Films are a culture like cricket. It can’t die…it can’t. People have their point of view, they have their opinions, but there is also a lot of love and appreciation that we get. I think we should just take it in our stride and just say ‘we tried’ and we move on.”

Shefali was last seen in Darlings, which also starred Alia Bhatt, Vijay Varma, and Roshan Mathew. The film, directed by Jasmeet K Reen, was released on Netflix on August 5 and received rave reviews, with critics praising Shefali’s performance. The actor will now be seen reprising her role as Delhi Police DCP Vartika Chaturvedi in the second season of the true crime drama Delhi Crime. The series begins streaming on Netflix from August 26.