Shahana's breakout performance was "Rock On!" as a frustrated wife of a musician, a role that she reprised recently in the sequel but the film was not successful.
The actor is in the limelight again with the positive word-of-mouth for her latest release, "Tu Hai Mera Sunday".
In an interview with PTI, Shahana says her absence from Bollywood was not out of choice.
"I have not been offered those kinds of roles that I would want to do. Having said that, there is some good work being done in India. I want to do more work here.
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The 31-year-old actor, who has worked in movies such as "Ru Ba Ru", "Firaaq", "Ra.One" and "Heroine", says she carefully chooses her films because she believes people forget to experience life when they get into a race.
"When your pace gets faster, the need to do better, ambition and competition increases. You may forget to live that one important moment of your life. Sometimes we don't even have time to understand what we are feeling in the moment."
She plays the role of Kavya Ranganathan, a modern woman who hardly gets time to live her life between her job and caring for her father with Alzheimer's.
"But her character's life turns a new leaf when she meets Arjun (played by Barun Sobti). That's when she gets an opportunity to find time for herself. They build a friendship, which blooms into romance.
"This is something which I feel is a definition of modern love for me. It's refreshing, equal and gender neutral," she says.
"I'm happy this movie is coming after a long time. Time also gives people a break from the cliches. This film will revive the memory of me, since I haven't had a Hindi release in the past five years.
"I hope it also makes people take note of the fact that I have always tried to portray different roles in my career. I don't want to do only dramatic roles. There's a lighter side to me. At the end of the day, I'm an actor and I'm hungry for different roles," she says.