Masaba Gupta loves a challenge. Having chosen to become an actor after she concluded that the craft was a challenging one, she went on to create her eponymous show, Masaba Masaba, and followed it up with stints in shows like Modern Love: Mumbai. 

Up next for her is Marvel’s Wastelanders: Black Widow, in which she’s lent her voice to surveillance officer Lisa Cartwright. In an interview with mid-day, she says her research involved studying how security surveillance officers work. However, it was in Shefali Shah that she eventually found inspiration. “I was looking for someone who was diligent and strict. For some reason, Shefali Shah was on my mind throughout this recording, especially her act in Delhi Crime. I kept oscillating between Rasika [Dugal] and Shefali, because my character, Lisa, is [like] that. She’s fierce, but at the same time, she’s also hesitant [about displaying] all her power and might. Sometimes, she steps back. So, I thought of both of these women,” says the actor, who aspires to play a Marathi cop.