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She can replace lines of script with a single raised eyebrow. Her subtlety shines through in Riz Ahmed's sharp new dark comedy, Bait. She plays his mother there, and in a retelling of Hamlet released in the US this month. She is set to add layers to a character viewed as a one-note villain, in the upcoming big-budget release Ramayana. In an interview, Chadha discusses acting, uncertainty, motherhood and love

- Arshia [e-mail]

When she looks at her son, played by Riz Ahmed, in the new Amazon series Bait, there are flashes of confusion in her eyes.

Could the boy she loves be this devious; this self-servingly ambitious; and, at other time, this stupid?

The confusion he feels, as a Pakistani-Briton auditioning to play James Bond, is mirrored in her fear at what this may mean for him. Soon enough, the fear and confusion are overridden by glee: her son really is the star she privately hoped he might be.

This is the first time she uses words to tell us what she feels. "Main kehti thi na (Didn't I say it)? Super James Bond, mera Shaju."

Sheeba Chadha, 53, has always spelt out entire scripts with her expressive face.

Her subtlety has served as a stamp of excellence on projects such as Dum Laga Ke Hai-sha (2015; she plays an overbearing aunt who inserts herself into the couple's life), Pagglait (2021; a grieving mother now living with her dead son’s wife), and Talaash (2012; a sex worker entangled in a police investigation).

"That's very humbling to hear, but a lot of pressure," she says, laughing. "So often, we actors don’t have the outcome in our control."

That certainly isn’t true of this year.

In addition to Bait, which explores Muslimhood in present-day London through a cast, plot and screenplay that are scintillating, Chadha plays Gertrude, mother of Hamlet, in a film adaptation of the Shakespearean play released in the US this month; Riz Ahmed plays her son again, this time in the role of the conflicted titular prince.