‘Played mother in ‘Raees’ but he’s my senior...’ Sheeba Chaddha on typecasting

Before she was cast as Shah Rukh Khan’s mother on screen, Sheeba Chaddha was just another College student who admired the superstar from afar. Both of them studied at Delhi’s Hans Raj College, although SRK was eight years her senior. But one fun twist in her career is that she ended up playing Shah Rukh Khan’s mother in films, despite him being her senior in college.

“I played his mother in ‘Zero’ and ‘Raees’. But he is my senior from college. I’m realising only now that I forgot to remind him that he is my senior from Hans Raj,” Sheeba said during a chat with Siddharth Kannan.

Her first brush with cinema came in 1998 with Mani Ratnam’s ‘Dil Se’, starring Shah Rukh Khan and Manisha Koirala. While her role in the film was barely noticeable, it marked the start of a long journey in the industry. Looking back at Dil Se, Sheeba confessed she can’t even recall what exactly her part was.

“I almost have no role in Dil Se. It was so small that I have forgotten what the role was,” she said with a laugh.

But what she does remember vividly is being on set in Dalhousie and having a front-row seat to Shah Rukh Khan in action. She also got a very unexpected opportunity.

“Manisha Koirala wasn’t there when I went to shoot. In fact, one day, Manisha was not on the set due to some other work and they had to take a very important shot amid the snow. There was a scene of them walking. For this, Mani Ratnam personally came to me and asked me if I was okay to wear Manisha’s costume and walk as her body double.”

Playing SRK’s mother, twice

Years after ‘Dil Se’, Sheeba got to share the screen with King Khan more directly, though interestingly, she played his mother both times. Despite having no shared scenes in Raees, she was pleasantly surprised when SRK gave her a shoutout during a media interaction.

“When I shot for Raees, he was in Delhi for some interview where he has gone and said there is this actress in Raees who is playing my mother. Watch out for her, she is wonderful. All this, despite not having a single scene with him. Bahut hi alag hi type ke aadmi hai woh,” she shared, clearly moved by the gesture.

A gentleman on set

Sheeba also recalled a sweet moment from the sets of Zero. In the film, Shah Rukh plays a character with dwarfism and there was a particular emotional scene involving a hug.

“I remember, we had a hugging scene. It was more like, he was getting beaten up and I had to save him. He was playing a dwarf in that film. He just came to me before the scene and asked, ‘It is okay if I touch you?’ I was like, ‘Yeah theek hai chalo chalo.’ He is very lovely. He knew my name even before I came on set. And that feeling is different.”

On being typecast as mother

With over two decades of acting experience, Sheeba has played many mother roles, often to actors who are not much younger than her.

“Half the times I am playing mothers to sons who are just 10–12 years younger than me. Television does that a lot. There, even a 30-year-old is playing mothers to older guys,” she said.

Though it initially took her by surprise, she’s come to terms with it.

“In the beginning, I was in shock but I made my peace with it, told myself it is just work, do it and move on and I follow that. If you will rebel, then you will be left with no work.”