Refused stuff in H’wood as I wasn’t ready to shift sbase: Shilpa Shetty

During her 14 year-long sabbatical from Hindi films, actor Shilpa Shetty Kundra says she was approached to star in a major Hollywood project, which she turned down because she was unwilling to change gears “so drastically”.
Shilpa’s last full-fledged Bollywood film was in 2007, with filmmaker Anurag Basu’s Life in a Metro and the Dharmendra-starrer Apne. The same year, she also emerged as the winner of the British reality TV series Celebrity Big Brother season five, which made her a global figure. Though her Hindi film appearances became few and far between — with cameos in films like Om Shanti Om and Dostana — the actor said she kept getting “really good parts”, including an offer from Hollywood.
Shilpa, who has been more active on television as a judge on dance reality shows like Nach Baliye and presently Super Dancer, said refusing the project from Los Angeles wasn’t a particularly hard decision as settling down in the US was not her “cup of tea”.
“My son was extremely upset with me because I was offered some major stuff even in Hollywood, but I said no to it. To just shift base from Mumbai and settle in Los Angeles is really not my cup of tea,” the 46-year-old actor told PTI in an interview.
Shilpa is married to businessman Raj Kundra and they have two children, son Viaan (nine) and daughter Samisha (one). Though the actor views it as a “great opportunity lost”, she is content working in the Hindi film industry for now, and would switch to the other side if she gets an opportunity after her kids are of a certain age.
“I’m clear about what I want. I love doing work here. It’s a great opportunity lost, but I’m so happy with whatever I have. I’d be so unhappy to just leave my family and shift gears so drastically. “It’s too much to give and I don’t think I was ready for that. Maybe once my kids are 15, then I would (consider) if I still look this way!” she added.
Shilpa is set to return to the silver screen with her latest comedy feature, Hungama 2. Directed by Priyadarshan, the film is scheduled to be released on Disney+ Hotstar on July 23. (PTI)