By Jilawatan

Vidya Balan will be soon seen with a baby bump in a forthcoming film, ‘Kahaani’. The film directed by Sujoy Ghosh has Vidya Balan playing the role of a pregnant woman. The most interesting part is that Vidya will be seen with the bump not just in a scene or two but throughout the film. The film is about a journey of a lady who is six months pregnant and who reaches Kolkata searching for her husband. Known to be a perfectionist, Vidya is known to live the character she plays on screen. So sporting a baby bump and being comfortable with the look is all a part of the professional regime that the actress follows. She has earlier played mother to a baby in Sajid Khan’s ‘Heyy Baby’.

Director Sujoy Ghosh, is full of praises for the gifted actress for carrying off the role so effortlessly. He said that he had written the script with Vidya in mind and none other than Vidya could have portrayed the character so well. “It’s the story of a woman who’s six months pregnant and her journey. I had written the script keeping Vidya in mind. I wouldn’t have made the film without her. For me she’s a perfectionist who has beautifully brought the character alive,” said the director.

Vidya Balan has another interesting film coming up, ‘No one Killed Jessica’, based on the real life killing of Jessica Lal, where she plays a lawyer and co-stars with Rani Mukerji. The beautiful actress made her debut in Bollywood with the film ‘Parineeta’ by Vidhu Vinod Chopra. She shot into limelight with her maiden performance and made everyone take note of her. There has been no looking back ever since.

By Jilawatan

Vidya Balan has been touted as a special talent ever since she joined the film industry. Of late she’s been busy with her “special” appearances in films, like in Rohan’s Sippy’s Dum Maro Dum and the dance number in Santosh Sivan’s Malyalam film Urumi she recently shot for. “It’s a special appearance song and not an item number as people are calling it,” Vidya sets the record straight at the onset. For an actor of her calibre, she probably doesn’t want to be associated with item numbers. Like the actor in her also probably feels disappointed by the snub at the recently announced National Awards, where cast members managed to bag trophies.
“I’d be lying if I say I didn’t feel the pinch,” Vidya admits. “Actually, more than me, people around me were surprised. I wasn’t even aware that the National Awards were being announced that day and was on the way to a shoot when I started getting messages saying, ‘You should’ve won it,’ ‘You deserved it’ and so on. So it did hurt, but not for long. I am happy that the film won awards because it’s my film after all. And I wish Balki had got awards too because he is one director who has the guts to push the envelope and deliver as well,” she says.
Vidya can pin her hopes on her next No One Killed Jessica that she’s finished shooting for and is said to have delivered an excellent performance. However, as there are talks of the Munnabhai sequel Vidya’s name in the titles isn’t a given. Does she find it hard to swallow the fact that the hero seems to be an automatic choice while the heroine can vary? “Well, a Charlie Chaplin film is about him and the other characters keep coming and going,” she draws a parallel. “The first film had Gracy Singh in it, and then I came in. I don’t know if I am going to be in the next film. If I am, great. Coz I’d love to be a part of it,” she enthuses.
Vidhu Vinod Chopra productions was once Vidya’s home ground. “Vinod and I haven’t met each other in a while because we’ve both been travelling a lot,” she explains. “We still have a strong bond but when we talk, we don’t get into the work space,” Vidya adds.
Vidya’s always maintained that she’s comfortable in her skin, but does she feel like going in for an image overhaul when she sees actresses like Deepika, Kareena, Priyanka all tall and slender, glamorous and sexy? “Not at all,” Vidya dismisses the notion. “Today more than ever I am accepting of myself the way I am, I am enjoying being myself. I’m in a happy place and I wouldn’t want any kind of trade back,” she says. “Besides people seem to like me the way I am because when I tried to be someone I was not, they rejected the idea,” she chuckles.
Talking of other actresses, Vidya seems to have becomes friends with No One Killed Jessica co-star Rani Mukherjee. Being pitted against another seasoned actress, wasn’t there any competition on the sets? “There’s no question of competition,” Vidya clarifies. “Rani is my favourite actress amongst my immediate seniors. We were meant to work a couple of times earlier but that didn’t happen, so I was excited about this film. I wouldn’t claim that we are best friends but there is a genuine fondness between us,” she says.
Would she call any industry people her friends? “I don’t get the definition of friendship here,” she says. “For me friendship is a deep bond, and most of my friends are from childhood or college,” Vidya adds realistically.
And what does Vidya think of love? Being an actress Vidya must meet many interesting men, so why is she still single? “Only God can answer that question,” she looks upwards. “I’ve stopped asking myself that. I do meet a lot of interesting men and I have been on a couple of dates but nothing concrete has materialised. Love hasn’t happened. Even if it’s just dating, I can’t date two or three people at the same time and keep my options open, I am a one-man woman in that sense. So I guess I have to wait and believe that God has reserved someone really special for me,” she concludes.
That would be divine justice indeed, a special someone for the special one!

By Jilawatan

Bollywood actors Amitabh Bachchan and Vidya Balan who played son and mother in ‘Paa’ received the best actor and best actress award at the 55th filmfare awards on Saturday night. While Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s ‘3 Idiots’ won the best film awards and Rajkumar Hirani bagged the best director award for the same film.

Music composer AR Rahman won the best music director award for ‘Delhi 6’ and Mohit Chauhan who crooned Masakali won the best male singer. Singers Kavita Seth and Rekha Bhardwaj shared the female playback singer trophy. Kavita for ‘Ik Tara’ from ‘wake Up Sid’ and Rekha for ‘Genda Phool’ from Delhi 6.
Hosts Shahrukh Khan and Saif Ali Khan again made the evening funnier with their jokes. Actor Shahid Kapur gave a stunning performance. He paid tribute to pop singer Michael Jackson.

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 has lent her voice to one of the stories in the Karadi Tales.

What’s more Balan along with Gulzar did the Karadi Tales reading in Mumbai.

Balan shot to fame in the film industry with Parineeta, which was produced by Vidhu Vinod Chopra and directed by Pradeep Sarkar. She debuted in the movie opposite Saif Ali Khan. Prior to that she was seen in Balaji Telefilms popular television show Hum Paanch.