By Jilawatan

She was hailed as the next big thing when she made her debut two years ago in Pradeep Sarkar’s Parineeta. But now everyone is questioning Vidya Balan’s career decisions. Critisised for her itsy-bitsy role in Eklavya, her unflattering wardrobe in Heyy Babyy and her refusal to promote Mani Ratnam’s Guru, Vidya Balan seems to be courting controversy with every step she takes.
Rajeev Masand: You are just back from a long two-month outdoor in Toronto shooting for Aziz Mirza’s Lucky Charm . What was the experience like, being away for so long?
Vidya Balan: Yes, this has been my longest outdoor. Toronto is a beautiful place and it was my first trip there. We were at a very pretty location downtown. We were actually on Lake Ontario so it was beautiful. I love Aziz Mirza. He spreads so much positivity and cheer that rubs off on everyone. Otherwise what can happen on such a long shoot is that you just get on each other’s nerves. But I don’t think any of that happened. We really had a nice time.
Rajeev Masand: With you being away for two months, you didn’t really get to savour the success of you film Heyy Babyy.
Vidya Balan: Yes, I have just come in though I know it has done really well because I have been in touch with Sajid (Khan) and a couple of other people from the team. I have not been here to enjoy the success but that has also saved me a lot of flak. So maybe there’s a reason for everything.
Rajeev Masand: The flak was not really directed towards your performance as much as it was directed towards your wardrobe.
Vidya Balan: That’s some respite at least. For the wardrobe, I would like to take as much responsibility as Manish (Malhotra) because I think I was a little blasé about the clothes and the look. I tried to be different but I have learnt that you don’t have to look different for the sake of being different. Manish and I should have been more careful because it is the first time I have sported a western look. It would unfair to say that Manish gave me bad clothes because I can also look into the mirror and see what works and what doesn’t. But I didn’t bother too much so both of us should be splitting the flak.
Rajeev Masand: Your film Bhool Bhulaiyya is releasing on the same day as Laaga Chunari Mein Daag. You were offered a role in Laaga … first but you could not do it for whatever reasons. So do you that find it ironic or poetic?
Vidya Balan: Poetic, yes. Like I have said before, I never imagined not being part of Dada’s (Pradeep Sarkar) film. I just got to know a week ago that it’s releasing on the same day. I was amazed. It’s great.
Rajeev Masand: You must feel tricky because you can’t want the other film to not do well.
Vidya Balan: I don’t want anyone’s film to not do well. I’m not trying to sound holier-than-thou but I know what goes into making a film and I think there are enough people to be watching all kinds of films.
Rajeev Masand: You must have heard that your film Eklavya has a bit of a controversy surrounding it regarding it being sent for the Oscars. What’s you view on this?
Vidya Balan: I wouldn’t like to say much about it because at the moment the matter is sub judice. As an actor, it just feels good that one of my films was selected. Last year, Lage Raho Munnabhai was sent as an independent entry. I enjoyed working on Eklavya. Vidhu Vinod Chopra is someone who I had wanted to work with ever since I had seen Parinda. I remember in a little black book I had a list of directors I wanted to work with and his name was in one of the first pages.
Rajeev Masand: Tell us a little more about this little black book. So how many names have you struck off it already?
Vidya Balan: I’m a very greedy person. I have worked with Mani Ratnam but I want to work with him on a full-fledged role. There’s Vidhu Vinod Chopra who I again want to work with. Strangely, I had watched Dada’s music videos and I had told myself I want to work with him. He stopped doing music videos. Finally when he did one after two and a half years I was actually in it. So divine intervention, I guess. There’s Rajkumar Santoshi and Nikhil Advani who I have worked with also.
Rajeev Masand: So that’s a good record.
Vidya Balan: Yes, but there’s a long, long, long way to go.
Rajeev Masand: Best of luck. Let’s hope we see a lot of different roles and films from you. Thank you for talking to us.

By Jilawatan

Santosh Sivan has started the shoot of his trilingual Urumi in the forest areas surrounding Malshej Ghat. The film has Prithviraj, Prabhu Deva and Genelia in the lead, with Deepak Dev providing music. Santosh has pulled off a coup by getting Tabu and Vidya Balan to do separate item songs.

He recently shot a rain song with Tabu, Prabhu Deva and Prithviraj. We hear that it was actually pouring cats and dogs on location in the forests of Malshej Ghat when he shot the song! Interestingly, a few months ago, Santosh shot in artificial rain for a song in Mani Ratnam’s Raavan.
Now, in pouring rain, he shot the song choreographed by Bollywood’s famous dance master Ahmed Khan. Prithviraj, who is also one of the producers of the film tweeted: “Santhosh is making Malshej look like another world as nature and the rains made it look terrific. We finished the song picturisation earlier than we thought, thanks to Ahmed Khan and others.”

Later, speaking to TOI from the location, Santosh said, “We are filming in a never-seen-before remote area near Malshej Ghat. It is quite hectic; the Tabu song is complete and choreographed by Ahmed Khan in a different way. The Vidya Balan song sequence is still in progress and we are also filming with Alex, who acted in Madraspattinam.” Meanwhile, the buzz is that Genelia — who plays a Portuguese princess — is learning horse riding and will be joining the unit later.

By Jilawatan

It was reported that filmmaker Mani Ratnam is planning to cast actor R. Madhavan and Vidya Balan for his next movie. He clarified in his latest saying that he is unfortunately not the part of the love story that Mani Ratnam is making with Vidya Balan.

Madhavan and Vidya chemistry was liked by one and all in the film Guru and so he too was keen to do a film soon with her. Earlier Sanjay Gupta was also looking to pair them again but the film never took off and now when the reports of Mani bringing them together it is also not true. There was also a recent report of filmmaker Sanjay Gupta trying to sign the pair for his next project, which did not take off. Earlier in an interview, Madhavan expressed his interest to work with Vidya again provided some really big project comes on their way.

After Guru they could only appear together in one of the TV-ads.

By Jilawatan

After foraying into Bollywood with ace Mani Ratnam’s ‘Raavan’, followed by Ram Gopal Varma’s ‘Rakta Charitra’, the national award winning actress Priyamani is signing more projects in Hindi.
Rumour-mongers insisted that she will be the heroine opposite Salman Khan in the sequel of his 2009 super hit ‘Wanted’ (tentatively titled ‘Wanted 2′), directed by Prabhu Deva. However, the dusky beauty has already denied these reports.
“I wish someone had approached me for the role in ‘Wanted 2′; sadly no one has as yet! But if I get an offer, I will grab it instantly! Who will want to miss out on the chance to act with Sallu bhai?” Priyamani was quoted as saying.

By Jilawatan

Sources in Bollywood say that Priyamani’s cousin and actress Vidya Balan feels that Priyamani should’ve opted for a full-fledged role for her Bollywood entry rather than a cameo. The actress was reportedly upset that her cousin chose a role that was not even akin to a second heroine. However, with Priyamani being appreciated by the media for her role in Mani Ratnam’s Raavan, Vidya should be satisfied that her sister made the right decision.
It is worth mentioning here that Vidya had starred in Mani Ratann’s Guru a couple of years ago, the film in which Aishwarya Rai played the female lead.

By Jilawatan

Another southern sexy siren Priya Mani is buzzing hot these days in Bollywood circuit. This name would not sound familiar but the girl is very much from the industry.

The girl is cousin of Vidya Balan and was recently seen in a small role in Abhi-Ash starrer Raavan. Priya started at the age of 18 and have done several films down south in Tamil, Telugu, Malyalam and Kannada. She will also be soon seen in Tamil version of RGV’s Rakhta Charitra opposite superstar Suriya. The two of them have Mani Ratnam in common as in past Vidya have also played a part in Abhi-Ash starrer Guru that too in a small role.
Whenever Priya is in town she makes it a point to meet Vidya’s parents but does not expect them to help her in her career.

By Jilawatan

Actually, the twist is the charming ‘Paa’ actress is not all part of this Ram Gopal Varma’s trilingual flick. In fact her cousin is….

Priyamani, a south Indian actress and cousin of Vidya Balan, is reported to feature in RGV’s ‘Rakta Charitra’. The film, a biopic of political leader Paritala Ravi, features Vivek Oberoi and south Indian star Surya. Priyamani said to act opposite Suriya here.

According to sources, Varma was mighty impressed with the actress after seeing some of the South films which she has done.

Incidentally, sources revealed that RGV had seen Priyamani’s Tamil film ‘Paruthaveeran’, for which she had won a National Award. And with this he made up his mind to cast her in the film.

Produced and directed by Ram Gopal Varma, ‘Rakta Charitra’ is being made in Hindi, Telugu and Tamil.

As a matter of fact, Priyamani also features in Mani Ratnam’s ‘Raavan’.

By Jilawatan

Ever since she made her debut with Parineeta, Vidya Balan has worked with many a veteran filmmakers like Vidhu Vinod Chopra (Eklavya – The Royal Guard), Mani Ratnam (Guru), Priyadarshan (Bhool Bhulaiyaa), Raj Kumar Santoshi (Halla Bol) and Aziz Mirza (Kismat Konnection). Meanwhile, she has also worked with first time directors like Pradeep Sarkar (Parineeta) and Sajid Khan (Heyy Babyy) as well as one film old Raj Kumar Hirani (Lagey Raho Munnabhai) or Nikhil Advani (Salaam E Ishq).

Buzz up!
This is why, when she interacted with someone like Balki (who only has a Cheeni Kum behind him), what sort of change in approach did she see in them?

“The best part about him is that he is just fantastic when it comes to multitasking”, Vidya begins talking about the filmmaker, “Even during the making of the film, he would be managing his ad agency meetings. While having lunch with us, he would be having round table conversations. Meanwhile, he would interact with all of us quite normally on the sets.”

She is also impressed with the fact that in spite of a hectic schedule, Balki kept himself abreast with all that was being churned out in Bollywood. “He would always catch a Friday movie release without fail. That’s not all; he is someone who goes for all the concerts and plays. Can you believe that? He has time for everything and anything. He manages his time so well”, she gushes.

Time management is not the only factor that has impressed Vidya. She believes that Balki is also an ace when it comes to people management.

Vidya Balan “Temperamentally he is just so cool”, she smiles, “He is just so easy to work with. I have seen him interacting with his assistants. His people management is fantastic because whether it is Mr. Amitabh Bachchan or any junior most crew member on the sets, he knows how to get that comfort feel rolling. He gives and gets respects all around.”

However, the story goes that to begin with Vidya wasn’t too sure about working with Balki. “I have a personal anecdote to share”, she divulges, “My sister and brother-in-law, whom I hold in great regard, have worked with Balki for years on the ads that he has made. I used to interact with a lot of their mutual friends and they always used to speak about him. This set me wondering that what was so great about him.”

She got the answer when Cheeni Kum released and Balki’s cinematic sensibilities were on display for one and all. “I loved the film and didn’t forget the kind of wonderful experience that Balki had created. Now when I have worked with him, I know what makes some of his qualities so distinct. Both Cheeni Kum and Paa have been based on subjects hitherto unexplored and all of that has been possible due to one single factor – sheer conviction. Once Balki is sure about the story he wants to tell, there is no looking back”, she comments.

It is this conviction factor that attracted Vidya towards Paa. “I was having a constant pull and push internally before I decided to do Paa. However, Balki didn’t flinch even for a microsecond. This is what that set me on path to do Paa. I had certain doubts but they were quashed by this guy’s conviction. It is simply admirable and we all just followed the line”, she adds.

Vidya Balan While Amitabh Bachchan, Tabu and Paresh Rawal were senior heavyweights in Cheeni Kum, same wasn’t the case in Paa which featured her along with Abhishek Bachchan. “There is this mutual sense of respect that Balki encourages”, says Vidya, “Like, I really enjoyed the way he used to interact with Mr. Bachchan. Similarly with me and Abhishek, he had his own way of conveying a point. Of course all of us we used to make suggestions and he was open to them as well. He would never dismiss our suggestions.”

And how much did these suggestions actually get incorporated in the final filming?

“Hardly any”, Vidya comes up with a laugh here, “Invariably he would go with what he felt was right. He believed in the principal of listen to all and do what you feel strongest about. But yes, this entire exercise used to be quite helpful since I would ask him quite a few pertinent questions and I would always get the right answers.”

This is the reason why she was quite convinced when in the early days Balki explained to her the entire idea about the film, its background (Progeria) and how it was not meant to evoke sympathy or pity.

“I was wondering if Paa would turn out to be a serious film but Balki was quite clear that this was not going to be the case. He promised that it would be a heart warming film and that’s the way it has turned out to be. The entire disease thing is just the background of the film. The idea is to project the story with all the sensitivity but not make it a sympathetic affair”, she concludes.

By Jilawatan

Vidya Balan is back in news, this time it’s neither for her outrageous dressing sense nor for her newly gained slim-trim avatar. Guess what? The south siren who has shot for some really intimate scenes in Vishal Bharadwaj’s upcoming film ISHQIYA with co-star Arshad Warsi with great ease, apparently now has expressed her reservations over a luscious smooch. Producer Vishal Bharadwaj too was all praises for the actress who carried on with the scenes exhibiting aesthetics. But looks like no kiss for this Miss!

After her much talked about lip lock with Madhavan in Mani Ratnam’s GURU, Balan seems to have developed cold feet to the idea of pucker up to another co-star. Reportedly ISHQIYA was being shot on Wednesday at the Borivili National Park where one smooch scene between Vidya and Arshad was to be canned. But the actress surprisingly threw tantrums in the work, refusing to do a lip lock with Arshad. Director Abhishek Chaubey was taken aback as he had informed Vidya about the kissing scene beforehand.

It is learnt that now Producer Vishal Bharadwaj will be meeting Vidya to discuss her reservations for not enacting the scene. It was astonishing, as Balan has explored onscreen intimacy ever since her debut film PARINEETA to other films like EKLAVYA, HEYY BABYY, we wonder what makes her put her foot down?

By Jilawatan

Bollywood actress Vidya Balan is quite upset. She refused to kiss her Ishqiya co-star while shooting.

Vidya and Arshad were shooting in Mumbai and the moment of kissing scene came, Vidya refused to do it. She just left the set.

Ishqiya is being produced by Vishal Bhardwaj. According to the reports, Bhardwaj was quite surprised about the sequence on the set.

Vidya has previously kissed Madhavan for Mani Ratnam’s Guru.