Shweta Tiwari CONFIRMS She's Doing a Karan Johar Project: ‘I Play a Don-Like Character…’ | Exclusive

Earlier this year, Shweta Tiwari was seen in Rohit Shetty’s Indian Police Force. Up next, she’ll be playing an intelligence officer under Ajay Devgn’s Sangram Bhalerao in Singham Again. But that’s not it. The Kasautii Zindagii Kay star is now collaborating with Karan Johar too. Interestingly, Karan in the recent past has worked with popular television actors including Lakshya in Kill and Kshitee Jog, Arjun Bijlani, Bharti Singh, Haarsh Limbachiyaa, Shraddha Arya, Sriti Jha and Arjit Taneja in Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani.

In an exclusive chat with News18 Showsha, Shweta spills the beans on her next with the filmmaker’s production house and says, “I’m doing Dharma Productions’ upcoming web series. In that, I play a don-like character who wears a saree and smokes cigarettes (laughs). It was a very challenging role and that’s why I wanted to do it.”

Though she remains tight-lipped about other details, she tells us she’s ready for smaller roles in this new chapter of her career. “I’ve always told myself – ‘do what you like.’ I’ve been a lead face in television but when I’m stepping out and foraying into something else, I want to explore different parts. I know that I’ve to accept smaller roles if I want to work with a certain director or an actor. I want to make my debut in different avenues every five years,” she shares.

For the unversed, even during her television career, she has tried her hands at films. But it wasn’t a smooth sailing ride as she faced discrimination ‘many times in multiple places’. Recalling an episode, Shweta says, “There’s this very famous director who I don’t want to name. This one time he called me for a role in his film. He told me the character perfectly suited me and that he really wanted me to do it. And then he said, ‘But the problem is, you’re a TV actor. Kaise bechunga main? Kaise bolunga main producers ko ki yeh TV waali actress hai?’”

She continues, “I told him that if that’s the case, why did you call me in the first place? He only called me to narrate the story and to say it to me that I’m just a TV actor! I don’t know why he even asked me to meet him. I said to him, ‘Okay, fine.’ And left. In my mind, I kept thinking ki, abhi aap ko yaad aaya ki main TV karti hoon, phone karte waqt yaad nahi tha?”

These days, however, Shweta has been turning down projects due to less pay but is willing to make an exception on one condition. “I’m very content in my life today. Be it personal life or work, I’m very much at peace with everything. Jo mann ko bhaata hai, woh hi karti hoon. If the project is very good, then I don’t look at money, I just do it. There’s this greed to do good work even today. Sometimes when I see that producers don’t have the budget to afford me, I even offer to work for free,” she states.