Actor and model Shefali Jariwala died on Friday night (June 27). She was 42. While the post-mortem report is still awaited, initial police findings and medical examination suggest a potential cardiac arrest, possibly triggered by a combination of fasting and unsupervised anti-ageing medication.
In an exclusive interview with NDTV's Shiv Aroor, Gul Panag opened up about Shefali's death and said, "The news of her death was shocking. I'm 46 and she was 42. It's deeply unsettling. I knew her vaguely, I met her at 2-3 places. At any point, I wouldn't say I knew her. I didn't know she was a huge presence on social media because I don't consume so much of it."
Gul also voiced a broader concern that goes beyond one individual's choices, touching on the culture that pushes many, especially public figures, into dangerous extremes in the name of beauty and youth.
"Absolutely. I think we are chasing quick fixes. When I say we, I mean it as a society-of which the media industry tends to be a microcosm. We are chasing quick fixes over resilience. We are trying to find ways to address deep-rooted anxiety that comes from the fear of irrelevance, fear of being forgotten, fear of imperfection, and fear of invisibility," Gul told NDTV.
Gul believes that this relentless fear is exactly what fuels the multi-billion-dollar anti-ageing industry. "The anti-ageing industry has weaponised those fears and brought them to you as multiple solutions to choose from," she added.
She also highlighted the stark difference in how closely food and drugs are monitored, versus cosmetic and dermatological enhancements.
She shared, "Today, there is more regulation in terms of what you can put inside your mouth and consume compared to what you can put on your face. It's a completely unregulated grey area, at the intersection of tech, aesthetics, pharma, and wellbeing."
Perhaps most alarmingly, Gul pointed out that medical procedures are increasingly being carried out by non-medical professionals, leading to dangerous outcomes.
"You have medical procedures, medical advice, and medical-grade interventions being practised by non-medical professionals. These are all huge concerns. Then why are we doing this? Because at some level, youth has become what it's all about," said Gul.
For her, ageing is not the enemy, it's a natural evolution. She said, "I'm certainly not the same person I was 10 years ago. Ageing is evolution. So you can either choose to embrace that evolution or try to fight it by preserving it in a time capsule."
"Today, everybody is looking like the same airbrushed version of each other-because of this constant feeding of information that epitomises eternal youth, which is an oxymoron," she concluded.
Shefali Jariwala's History Of Anti-Ageing Treatment
Shefali Jariwala died on June 27 at 42. A source told NDTV that Shefali had been consuming anti-ageing medicines regularly for the last seven to eight years. Police and forensic science experts who searched her home found glutathione vials, a drug often used for skin fairness and detoxification, along with Vitamin C injections, acidity pills and other over-the-counter anti-ageing supplements.
Glutathione is often marketed as a skin-brightening and detoxifying agent. It's naturally produced by the body. However, the craze for youthful skin has led many to opt for high-dose intravenous (IV) infusions of glutathione, often without proper medical supervision.
Officials said these unsupervised treatments, especially while fasting, can be risky and potentially cause serious complications such as heart failure.
Shefali Jariwala rose to fame in 2002 with the music video Kaanta Laga, which became a pop culture phenomenon. She later appeared in the 2004 film Mujhse Shaadi Karogi alongside Salman Khan and Akshay Kumar. She was also seen in reality shows like Nach Baliye (Seasons 5 and 7) and Bigg Boss 13.