Nearly three decades into a career that began when Hindi entertainment still revolved around appointment viewing, Delnaaz Irani is still finding room to move—across theatre, film, television and streaming. Her explanation is direct: staying relevant is a balance of “80 per cent adaptability and 20 per cent gratitude for good timing.”
The case for showing up
Irani’s advice to actors is as much about psychology as career planning. A rejection, she says, is “a casting mismatch,” not a measure of an actor’s worth. The practical corollary is to stop waiting for one perfect role. She nudges performers toward theatre, short films or making their own digital work, and toward treating every set as a place where reputation is built.
Saying no to Sweetu and to the “ageing” part
For an actor strongly associated with Sweetu in Kal Ho Naa Ho and Kavita in Yes Boss, range was never assumed. Irani says she spent years receiving scripts that felt like variations of those bubbly characters, and that breaking the pattern meant refusing steady work—an experience she describes as frightening because it can look difficult or arrogant. She asked casting directors for serious auditions and says actors cannot blame the industry for typecasting if they keep accepting the same template.
The same boundary applies to age. She says writers tend to push actors past a certain age into generic parental or grandmother parts. Irani steps back when a role exists mainly to age her on screen rather than deepen the story. Her reasoning: accepting a shallow older stereotype lets the industry attach that label.
What she wants actors to remember
- Don’t take rejection personally; it is not a verdict on your worth.
- Stay visible through theatre, short films or digital projects.
- Keep reinventing skills and protect your reputation on set.
- Refuse roles that only repeat a stereotype or count your years.
OTT’s slow clock versus television’s deadline
Her recent OTT work in Chumbak, with creators Aatish Kapadia and JD Majethia, has sharpened the distinction between formats. In daily television, she says, the work is a race against the telecast deadline. On a streaming set, bound scripts arrive with the full character arc, leaving room to rehearse and refine before the first camera rolls. OTT, she says, “satisfies the artiste in me who craves detail”; television keeps her connected to the grassroots audience that has sustained her.
For an industry that often reads age and comedy as limits, Irani’s record is a useful reminder: a long career belongs to the actor who keeps making herself available to change.
Source: The Times of India
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