The first thing that strikes about Shaylaee Krishen, the Kashmiri girl in her early 20s who has just made her big debut with the web series The Last Hour, is her name. No, she is not Shaili, as most are used to pronouncing her name as. She is Shaylee, which means, ‘Princess of fields’. One look at the pretty young woman and you are bound to believe that she could well be a princess no less from the mountains. However, reality is something else since as a 5 year old, she found herself in Kashmiri refugee camps where her parents were struggling to make ends meet.
“Yes, even though all of it seems far back on time, it was still a very interesting journey for me when I found myself in the refugee camps,” says Shaylee, “No 5 year old can claim to know the meaning of death but I saw it all up, close and personal. My childhood made me very strong. I have seen so much that it has made me fearless.”
In the middle of this all, she felt a strong passion for films.
“To be a part of the film industry was a dream. I didn’t carry any filmy background. Leave that aside, in fact the whole concept of entertainment couldn’t really be thought of in Kashmir. We didn’t have theaters in there and from there to now the film industry, it was like asking for moon. Still, I wanted to give it a try and guess I have been fortunate to reach here,” says Shaylee, who is being seen in a de-glam avtar in the web series The Last Hour which is led by Sanjay Kapoor and is currently streaming on Amazon Prime.
Released earlier this month, the show has been finding good popularity coming her way. As for Shaylee though, she is living a dream.
“Since many of us are new faces in the show, that was a fear that how would audiences receive it. Moreover, the series is so different as it belongs to the supernatural genre,” says Shaylee, “Moreover, I used to ask my director that we don’t have sex or abuses in the show so how would we do? After all, when we were making the show, Four More Shots had released at the same time.”
Things have changed though for Shaylee over the last few days.
“I must have received 50000-60000 messages on social media and my phones. People are addressing me as Pari. Even though this is a dark role and the girl that you see on screen is not me, I am fine even if people relate to me as the character in there,” she smiles, “Typically girls make their debut with their best looks and attire. Here, I had dark circles. The character is so overpowering that nobody is bothered about how am I looking. No wonder, the get surprised when they see the real me.”
Well, it is quite apparent that the newbie is basking in the glory of her new found popularity. With three of her films getting ready for release in months to come, guess there is a lot more of Shaylee Krishen that would be seen before the year comes to a close.