By Jilawatan

Bollywood actress Vidya Balan says the audience will see her in a ‘bolder avatar’ in the upcoming movie ‘Dirty Picture’.

‘It doesn’t get bolder than this,’ said Vidya.

The movie is based on the life of Silk Smitha, one of the most popular sex sirens of the mid eighties in the South Indian film industry. She was known for her bold roles and skimpy outfits.

The shooting of the film is set to start soon.

Riding high on the success of her last film ‘No One Killed Jessica’, Vidya feels playing Silk Smitha on screen is very interesting as there are no similarities between the two women.

‘I have to work hard to portray the character of Silk Smitha because there is no similarity between us. It is really interesting that you play a character, which is totally different from you. I am very excited,’ Vidya told reporters Wednesday on the sidelines of the launch of a book penned by film producer Pritish Nandy.

‘Dirty Picture’ will also have Nasseeruddin Shah sharing screen space opposite Vidya. The two had been paired opposite each other in ‘Ishqiya’.

By Jilawatan

Vidya Balan, who has three Filmfare Awards in her kitty, said that she cherishes her first Filmfare the most, which she got in 2006 for her performance in Parineeta. She confessed at a recent news conference that she was very nervous when she climbed the stage to get the award.

Buzz up!
“I couldn’t see anything and there were stars in my eyes. I was nervous and there was stage fear,” she confessed. Asked how important is awards to an actress, Vidya said, “You always dream of awards. But the biggest award is people’s appreciation. I don’t think of box office collection but do my best.”

It may be recalled that Vidya has won Filmfare Best Female Debut Award and Filmfare Face of the Year in 2006 for her role in Parineeta and Filmfare Best Actress Award for Paa in 2010.

She has been nominated to the 56th Idea Filmfare Awards 2010 for the Best Actress category for her role in Ishqiya. The Idea Filmfare Awards function will be held at the Yash Raj Films Studio tonight. Will Vidya win the award again? Wait and watch!

By Jilawatan

‘Ishqiya’ seductress Vidya Balan have managed to keep controversies at bay, but recently when her ‘kiss’ photos with Rani Mukerji were splashed in tabloids, she couldn’t hide her shyness.

During the promotion of ‘No One Killed Jessica’, when Rani Mukerji ‘mock-kissed’ Vidya Balan, heads turned.

Talking about the incident to a daily, Vidya said, “Rani and I were fed up of answering questions about whether we had catfights. The truth is that we didn’t have any. Someone asked us if we had kissed and made up, so in the heat of the moment we did a mock kiss. I don’t need that kind of publicity, and neither does the film.”

Vidya plays model Jessica Lal’s younger sister Sabrina in ‘No One Killed Jessica’. In the film, she teams up with Rani, who essays the role of a reporter, to fight for her sister Jessica’s justice.

Balan was pleased about the fact that the Jessica case verdict came out while the film was still being shot. According to her, hearing that news was reassuring.

Vidya maintains that even though the film borrows a lot from the actual case, it is not a docudrama. Vidya said, “It’s a dramatised version of the actual event.”

In fact, she met two people who called the ‘No One Killed Jessica’ thappad (slap) help line to offer solutions to their problems.

“We had an astounding response. Five thousand people called up on an average every day — to complain about eve teasing, harassment and other issues,” she said.

By Jilawatan

2010 saw some big budget movies with stars in them tanking in the box office, while there were some indie ventures, which tweaked the sensibilities of not only the actors and producers of the film but the critics and audiences alike. Two stars that retained the sensibilities this year in a way by being attached to such films were Aamir Khan and Vidya Balan. Here is a list of three such indie-films that made their mark in 2010.
‘Peepli Live’: Though Aamir Khan produced the film which is India’s official entry to Oscars, but it is Anusha Rizvis film. In a very subtle and unique way the director mocks the broadcast journalism and serious issue like farmer suicide and the politics that the government plays with it.
‘Ishqiya’: Vidya Balan takes on the role of a widow in this Abhishek Chaubey’s directorial venture under the tutelage of Vishal Bhardwaj. The film had an unconventional script and this indie-venture wowed the audience and critics alike as people were able to relate to the small town experiences in India.

‘LSD’: Produced by Ekta Kapoor the queen of saas-bahu sagas of Indian television, this Dibakar Banerjee film had its share of controversies prior and after its release. The director’s take on the voyeurism on Indian television where it has become a prime time show allured the audience to the theatres while the critics had to sit up and take notice of it too.

By Jilawatan

Whenever you see Vidya Balan perform, you tend to believe that she does nothing by the book. Five years on, Vidya’s star has risen yet further, and it is a mark of how untouched she is – how real, if you like – that nothing has changed. Whatever it was, those formative experiences served her well in her chosen career as an actress. Those murky corners where pain, discord and ambiguity are rife have always attracted Vidya, and it’s really the truth if I may exaggerate, that Balan is swallowed by Bollywood and it will be an understatement if I again stress on the fact that Vidya’s portrayal of diverse and distinguished roles is a testament of quality, excelling in range, power and versatility.

Her forthcoming role of Sabrina Lal from No One Killed Jessica is just a few of the many more we will be a witness to in the days to come and in the near future. And as we come to an end of this exhilarating chat with one of India’s finest, I ponder and deliver – ‘What would possibly go wrong if Cleopatra had actually met Vidya Balan?’ I mean, ever wondered how Cleopatra would’ve looked if she was draped in a Sabyasachi’s saree? Our correspondent brings you part two of the exclusive chat with India’s very own – symbol of sexy and simplicity.

“When you talk about Jessica Lal, you talk about Sabrina”

Cinema is all about stirring emotions. For me, that happened in No One Killed Jessica. It was also about an emotional journey of Sabrina who was the face of the case, besides the media. When you talk about Jessica Lal, you talk about Sabrina because it was her bravery that got her sister justice.

“Raj Kumar Gupta saw me in my costume on day one and said, ‘That’s my Sabrina’”

I asked my director why he offered me the role of Sabrina and not the media person played by Rani Mukherjee. It’s an important question for me. He informed me that he needed an emotional graph of a woman and that I was the only one who could pull it off. This is one film that I’ve spoken very less about but yet I want to go on and on about it. The first day I did my costume trial and when my director saw me, he said, “That’s my Sabrina”.

“The promos never favoured Rani Mukherjee”

The promos never favoured Rani Mukherjee. The story is about these two people, played by me and Rani. The purpose of both these women were the same – to give justice, but their approaches were very different. Sabrina is about quiet strength and she looks very timid. Sabrina is almost like a wall flower. The promo can’t have too many silent moments. It has to have frenzy.

“Sabyasachi said that from a sexually aggressive character I’ve turned into an asexual unattractive one”

Sabyasachi went with Rani Mukherjee to London to shop for her clothes for No one Killed Jessica. He is such a designer that he doesn’t see films as a showcase for his clothes. Sabyasachi clothes characters. What took me by surprise is the fact that he came from London and said, “I got your clothes too”. So when I asked him why he didn’t take me along with him to London, he said, “I wanted clothes which were larger and not your size”. He gave me tees that were over sized and completely asexual. He told me, “From the sexually aggressive Krishna in Ishqiya, comes an asexual lady who ain’t pretty”. That was how real Sabyasachi wanted me to be in the film.

“I have pushed my schizophrenia to an unbelievable limit”

Words like ‘commercial cinema’ and ‘art house cinema’ are redundant in today’s time. Categories don’t exist anymore because I feel that a good film will always work. It could be anything. The scale of a film may differ but a good film that recovers its money is a hit. It could be a five crore, fifty crore or a hundred crore hit. Personally, every film I’ve acted in has given me something different to do and I have pushed my schizophrenia to an unbelievable limit (laughs).

“Zeenat Aman is a kind of sexy that is graceful sexy”

With the kind of clothes Zeenat Aman wore, she carried it with so much elegance. You never looked at Zeenat Aman and said ‘cheap’. She was an epitome of ‘sexy’. She is the kind of sexy that is ‘graceful sexy’. Even when you see her in her bellbottoms, she looked classy.

“My director stripped me of all the excesses”

Raj Kumar Gupta is someone who is very instinctive. Ever since I have made my debut, I’ve seen directors vision change and how. One in terms of treatment they give to their scenes. It’s real and not conventional. Directors like Abhishek Chaubey, Raj Kumar Gupta and Sujoy Ghosh are unconventional but very passionate and very high on conviction. That’s why they have the courage to make the types of films they want to make. Secondly, the new directors strip you of all the excesses. When I watched something of NOKJ, I asked myself, “Is that really me?”

“Rani Mukherjee is my favourite actress amongst my immediate seniors”

It’s exciting to work with a good actor and Rani Mukherjee is someone who I’ve always liked. I’ve liked her in Bunty Aur Babli, Raja Ki Aayegi Baarat and Black. Rani Mukherjee is my favourite actress amongst my immediate seniors. Like I said, acting is about reacting and when you work with an actor like Rani, its great fun. We don’t have too many scenes together in the film but we have worked together for a few days. We got along very well.

“I love the song ‘Aitbaar’ which talks about Sabrina’s journey

Amit Trivedi’s music and Amitabh Bhattacharya’s lyrics complement each other. The first time I heard the song ‘Dilli Dilli’ I thought that it had some kind of weird energy about it. There is another favourite track of mine called ‘Aitbaar’ which is really about Sabrina’s journey and there is a crazy song like ‘Saali’. Three diverse songs which has everything to do with the film and its characters – Delhi, Sabrina and Rani’s character.

“One of the newspapers carried a headline – No one killed Jessica, and that became our title”

The title is very ambiguous but it has a deeper meaning to it. The day after the initial court case of Jessica Lal, when everyone got acquitted and the witnesses turned hostile, the conclusion was seen in the next day’s newspapers with a headline saying ‘No One Killed Jessica’. I like this title because it says a lot about the film and yet says nothing. I loved the titles Ishqiya, Dabangg and Lage Raho Munnabhai, not because it had Munnabhai but because it had ‘Lage Raho’. It was simple. I loved Parineeta too without sounding biased.

By Jilawatan

Vidya Balan delighted in a working girl look plugging her new film No One Killed Jessica (NOKJ) at the FM Station 98.3 Radio Mirchi Studios at Lower Parel in Mumbai on Tuesday, December 28.

Balan was accompanied by her co-star Rani Mukerji. The two stars, who rank amidst Bollywood’s finest, were animated and voluble talking about the film that is inspired from the Jessica Lal murder case in New Delhi.

The 32-year-old Ishqiya star, who plays Jessica Lal’s sister Sabina in the film, was dressed in character – a blush Lucknavi kurti, faded blue skinny jeans, black strappy sandals, thick frame eyeglasses and long wavy locks.

Balan and Mukerji talked with RJ Jeeturaaj while he played the film’s songs for the listeners. They also answered fan questions posed to them using the radio stations’s facebook account.

When it comes to fashion, Balan prefers a no-nonsense approach, wearing attires that she feels comfortable in. We bet she loves not having to doll up to promote NOKJ. We will probably be seeing a lot more of Balan in kurtis, jeans and eyeglasses in the coming days until the release of the film on January 7.

By Jilawatan

Now when you have Vidya Balan telling you, “I am pregnant”, you’d get a shock of your life. You’d tend to look around and see if there isn’t anyone listening to the breaking news, right? So you look around and to your horror see half a dozen people staring at you. Then like a teacher telling a kid, ‘Come on son, fill in the blank’, Vidya completes the blank, “I am pregnant with anticipation for the release of No One Killed Jessica”.

Buzz up!
Smart, ain’t she? A pun in a way when she meant ‘pregnant’ because not only is she busy promoting her film No One Killed Jessica, she has wrapped up her film Kahani too which is directed by Sujoy Ghosh. On further questioning, she quotes, “Working with Sujoy was great fun. Kahani is special because I shot this film in my favourite city: Kolkata. It’s the fourth film I’ve shot there. I’ve seen Kolkata like I’ve never seen before.”

So when it comes to hard work, you know for sure that Vidya Balan nails it and how. To our surprise, she unquotes her quote, “After Parineeta, I felt that I really worked hard in Ishqiya but after Kahani, I felt that I’ve never worked hard before. We worked our a** off. It’s about this woman who comes down from London in search of her husband and what a search it was.”

Suave, smart, hard working, talented and then comes respect. Yes, one of the most respected names when it comes to the field of acting, she doesn’t forget to pay one too to her director Sujoy Ghosh. She comments, “I must say this today that I have the highest regards and respect for Sujoy Ghosh more as a human being. No one in my experience, so far, has been so wonderful at dealing with pressure. I almost felt that the crew were going to lay their lives for him. I’ve seen the worse come out of people in pressure but not Sujoy. God Bless him for that.”

By Jilawatan

Vidya Balan immediately bowls you over with her smile and style. Excerpts from an interview.

From playing the sensuous Krishna in “Ishqiya” to Sabrina Lall in ” No One Killed Jessica” is a huge leap…
Oh! Totally. Both the characters are dramatically different. While Krishna was a firebrand, my portrayal of Sabrina is subdued. Moreover, one is a fictitious character whereas the other is inspired by a real person. So that was the big challenge.

Taking into account your past films, seems like you want to be different each time?
More than anything else, it’s gratifying to play different characters. No one person is similar to the other and I want to do something different each time I’m on screen. To a certain extent I have proved that Vidya Balan can do a lot more than others think and that makes me happy. But as an actor I don’t think I’m ever going to be satisfied with the way my career is going so far. I have this insatiable hunger to keep doing different characters everytime. In my next with Sujoy Ghosh I play a pregnant woman throughout the movie. After I finish playing one character, I have this need to play another person. In a way I’m schizophrenic and I love it.

You are the only South Indian actor from your generation to have made it big in the Hindi film industry.
I feel blessed. People thought I was limited due to my looks. But I transformed that. Today, when top directors want to sign me for their films, it shows their faith in me and shows that I have evolved as an actor. The credit goes to my parents and well wishers who egged me on. It’s due to them that I have this fire in my belly. Plus, I have been fortunate to have chosen the right scripts and worked with the best directors. Some day, I hope to do mad comedies like Sridevi did.

With “Paa” and “Ishqiya” doing well you’ve proved that a heroine need not don skimpy outfits to draw crowds.
Over time, the only actresses who’ll survive will be the ones who have given substantial performances. The awards that we receive are for the work we have done and not for the clothes we have worn. But it’s not just an actor’s effort that has brought about the change. It’s the kind of scripts and directors who have given women prominence on screen. Today, you are less apologetic about being a woman in showbiz.

Any plans of doing a full- fledged South Indian film?
My parents want me to do do a Malayalam film some day. For starters I have done a guest appearance in “Urumi”. Maybe in the future, I’ll do a full-fledged Malayalam film. I’m also open to Telugu films.

By Jilawatan

One of the industry’s most competent stars Vidya Balan is known for her versatility and ability to morph seamlessly into her roles – the mark of a great actress -
Vidya Balan had audiences impressed in her roles as a struggling mother in Paa and the brutally seductive villager in Ishqiya -Always threading on the path less traveled Vidya will soon be seen playing Sabrina Lal in No One Killed Jessica based on the real incident of the highly controversial death of model Jessica Lal.
Vidya also steps into the shoes of Silk Smitha in Ekta Kapoor’s next – and is the central character in Sujoy Ghosh’s Kahani -
Says Sujoy, “This is a Vidya Balan film. I make no excuses to hide that. What I like about Vidya is that she is dead fussy, but in a good way. She has an uncanny sense about scripts”
Says an industry source ” Much like Hrithik Roshan – Vidya Balan is quite a risk taker she loves getting out of her comfort zone and pushing herself with every single film. She loves experimenting and is the kind of actress who can pull it off – Currently she is on a high since all her films are critically well received and commercially successful as well”

By Jilawatan

Director Sujoy Ghosh, who has roped in Vidya Balan for his forthcoming film Kahani, believes the actress can indentify good scripts.

“What I like about Vidya is that she is dead fussy, but in a good way. She has an uncanny sense about scripts,” Ghosh said in a statement.

Ghosh is justified in his belief – with roles like a struggling mother of a progeria patient in Paa to a brutally seductive rural woman in Ishqiya, she has always treaded different path.

Not only that, her next release No One Killed Jessica, based on the real life incident of model Jessica Lal’s murder, will see her playing Sabrina Lal, who fought tooth and nail to get justice for her sister.

Set in Kolkata, Ghosh’s Kahani is a woman-oriented thriller.

“Much like Hrithik Roshan, Vidya is quite a risk taker. She loves getting out of her comfort zone and pushing herself with every single film. She loves experimenting and she is the kind of actress who can pulls off every role. She is on a high as her films are critically acclaimed and commercially successful as well,” said an industry source.