By Jilawatan

Even though she is known for her serious roles, Vidya Balan takes the liberty to have some fun at times. While shooting for Sujoy Ghosh’s Kahaani, Vidya had to do a photo shoot for the film. And as Sujoy waited for her on the sets, he was in for a shock to see a ‘drunk’ Vidya show up on the set.

Sujoy, who wanted to wrap up the shoot that day, was surprised when Vidya wouldn’t shoot properly. She was slurring and acting like she’d drop any minute. As the actor continued her real-life act for half an hour, Sujoy sat quietly in a corner, as the photo shoot went on, with a worried look.

Finally, Vidya burst out laughing and put an end to the prank. “She pulled of the ‘I–am-so-drunk’ act so naturally that I believed it. Although I know it’s not like Vidya to show up in a drunken state, but full marks to the actress for playing the role,” says the director.

In Sujoy’s Kahaani, Vidya plays a married woman whose husband leaves London and comes to India for a job. After he goes missing, Vidya — who is pregnant — goes to Kolkata to search for him. The actor shot the film in the City of Joy for most parts of the year.

By Jilawatan

After stunning people by taking up the bold role in her upcoming flick ‘Dirty Picture’, Vidya Balan has decided to go for butt pads to enhance her hips.

Reportedly, she is going to be her boldest best in the movie that is based on Southern porn star Silk Smitha, and Vidya is going to indulge in a lot of cosmetic stuffing to look like a sex symbol.

Actually, Vidya was asked to gain weight for the movie, but as she felt the losing process post the film will be a hard process and so she has decided to go for artificial body enhancements.

“While, the buzz was that the actress would have to use prosthetics to increase her bust line for part of the film (the very part for which she had to gain a few extra kilos), now the news is that some bulk would be required for the hips as well,” reported TOI.

Vidya Balan in a voluptuous avatar
Vidya Balan is known for her girl next door image in movies like ‘Kismat Konnection’ and ‘Parineeta’, and she said that getting a chance to portray such a bold character was quite exciting for her.

So much so that even the producer of the film Ekta Kapoor has worked hard with A D Shahana and Vikram dada, on giving Vidya a voluptuous look.

“While Vidya after shedding her kilos and the ‘plump’ tag is probably in no mood to gain extra adipose, since the shoot starts May 30, the filmmaker had to resort to desperate measures,” an insider informed TOI.

The party instinct in Vidya
For all who thought that Vidya was conservative and shy, this will be startling, but as for the actress, she is partying with her friends and co-stars.

“Recently, when Ishqiya won four national awards, Vidya was so elated that she invited the entire team for a get-together. Though she did not win an award herself, she thought it was a great idea to celebrate with the team which has made such a great film,” said a source.

And well, she also makes sure to turn up at every party that she is invited to.

By Jilawatan

Sonakshi Sinha may be the flavour of this season given the fact that her debut film is still plucking awards here and there, but there is a parallel debate going on about this DABANGG girl and that has to do with the kind of roles that she has chosen to play.

Increasingly many industry insiders are tracing parallels between Sonakshi Sinha and Vidya Balan. Though the two actresses might actually belong to different generations, but it seems they have a lot in common.

SONAKSHI SINHA and VIDYA BALAN

Adds our source, “The reason for drawing comparisons between Vidya Balan and Sonakshi Sinha have their own logic. Firstly, like Vidya, Sonakshi is trying to project an image of the earthly heroine. Not only that, both Vidya and Sonakshi are reluctant to expose their bodies beyond a certain point. While, Vidya might have changed her ideas now given the fact that her upcoming film THE DIRTY PICTURE will have lot of skin show, Sonakshi for the moment seems to be overlooking this fact.”

No one can deny that bollywood actresses who have tried to play safe have ended up paying big time and even changing their stand later, Sonakshi Sinha seems to be making the same mistake. Adds a bollywood veteran, “Vidya Balan has come a long way. Now, she has no issues with exposing her body. I think it dawned on her late that bollywood actresses with little sex-quotient don’t make up for popular icons. Now, she is trying to go for an image makeover with THE DIRTY PICTURE.”

Now, the onus is on Sonakshi to take a few tips from Vidya. Her ban on bikinis and exposing her body is not a success formula that worked with her apparent inspiration Vidya Balan, so most likely it won’t work for her too.

By Jilawatan

Bollywood’s A-list actresses, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Vidya Balan will be handing out backstage passes into the glitzy and glamourous world of the showbiz industry with their next releases titled; Heroine and The Dirty Picture.
However, Aish and director Madhur Bhandarkar are one step ahead with their film Heroine, which has already been launched at the Cannes Film Festival, and what better place to create awareness than at an international event? The film is said to be an entertaining, daring, emotional, shocking, glamorous, scandalous behind-the-scenes look at the reality of the showbiz world. The buzz is that the movie is based on the real life story of America’s pop and cultural icon, Marilyn Monroe, however the Heroine team begs to differ and says it’s a story of a Bollywood star.
Film marker Madhur Bhandarkar, who is known for his female orientated movies having previously worked with some of Bollywood’s top actresses, Tabu, Konkana Sen Sharama, Bipasha Basu and Priyanka Chopra, was asked why has he opted out for Aishwarya this time to be his lucky mascot? At the Cannes film festival he told the press, “Rai is a much-talked about actress internationally and I think she truly is a global star in every sense.”
On the other hand, director Milan Luthna has decided to cast the recent award winning actress, Vidya Balan in the movie, The Dirty Picture. Rumour has it that the movie will have elements of soft porn incorporated, however the director has reassured Vidya she will not be presented in a cheap manner, but shown in an aesthetically artistic and sensual manner with a touch of class.
In the meantime, Vidya has been asked to study the English films, Burlesque and Chicago – even the big stars in Bollywood have homework to do!
So which movie are you looking forward to watching?

By Jilawatan

There are two films being made on heroines and their lives. One is The Dirty Picture which has Vidya Balan in the lead and the other is Heroine that stars Aishwarya Rai Bachchan in the lead role.

While Vidya essays a Silk Smitha-type character in Milan Luthria’s film, the second sees Ash playing the role of a superstar whose career is fading away in the Madhur Bhandarkar directed flick.

Now both directors have stepped up their pace to ensure that their project goes on the floor as soon as possible. Madhur wants to release the film after Ra.One while Milan is working with Sanjay Dutt and Ajay Devgn.

By Jilawatan

Actress Vidya Balan says ‘No’ when it’s most warranted…

Vidya Balan who is being asked to put on weight for her role as Silk Smitha in ‘Dirty Picture’ has now backed down from the pact given that she needs to be slim and trim for her future commitmments. The actress won’t have enough time to lose all the weight she would have put on.

So, a more voluptuous Vidya Balan is going to be created by way of prosthetics. Professionals from abroad are going to be flown in to work on Vidya’s look for the movie and give her that extra weight through artificial means.

Vidya is more than happy settling for this. The actress who has already put on a little weight for her role says putting on any more is going to land her in a little bit of a crisis situation as knocking weight off within a small time frame isn’t a very easy task.

However, the actress is very upbeat about her role and claims it to be one of her most chanllenging ones…

By Jilawatan

Vidya Balan is known as the Miss Perfect of Bollywood like Aamir Khan, the actress before getting into the skin of the character always studies or carries out a thorough research over it.

Sources said Vidya did the same for her role in Sujoy Ghosh’s next Kahani. She plays a pregnant mother and any guesses Vidya spent almost a fortnight with three expecting mothers before getting into the role.

“Vidya met three expecting mothers who are in different stages of motherhood and studied the process, gynac issues, food habits, mood swings and especially the final day of labour pain,” said a source from the film unit.

In fact she impressed the director Sujoy so much after giving timely expressions during the photoshoots that he went down to her feet seeking her blessings calling her mother of all actreses.

He was aghast when he got to know that Vidya also discreetly managed to sneak inside an operation theatre to witness a delivery of a child and the inducing of labour pain which are said to be the crucial time of women’s life, says sources.

Let’s hope Vidya’s hardships are justified by Sujoy’s film making.

By Jilawatan

Vidya Balan gets restaurant to put her favourite dish back on the menu

So taken in is Vidya Balan by a particular dish at her favourite Bandra restaurant that she compelled the owners of the place to bring it back on the menu after it was dropped.

Says a source close to the Paa actress, “Vidya is very fond of the cracked wheat ragu on the menu at Farhan Azmi’s restaurant in Bandra. When she comes there the staff knows exactly what to get for her.

But in the last six months, she got so busy shooting for her films that she didn’t find the time to visit the place.

When she came back last week she was informed that her favourite dish was taken off the menu. It is a vegetarian dish made of cracked wheat and spinach and is very healthy.

Few people order it as it requires an acquired taste. During Balan’s regular patronage, it was customary in her order. When she heard it wasn’t there she insisted that it be brought back and now the dish is back on the menu.”

Farhan says, “Vidya is a very sweet girl and my wife Ayesha and I are both like her. We had discontinued the cracked wheat ragu but bought it back because of Vidya.

She loves it. For regulars like Vidya, Ranbir Kapoor, Yuvraj Singh, Salman and Sohail Khan we make food as per their liking like we don’t sell pre-decided pasta but the diner gets to choose everything from the dressing to the sauce and vegetables.”

By Jilawatan

Bollywood’s curvy lass Vidya Balan is learning Salsa, the sensuous Latin American dance form, for her upcoming film Dirty Picture, which is based on the life of Silk Smitha, yesteryear sex bomb of Tamil cinema.
According to buzz, Vidya is shooting for the movie and learning the sexy moves as well. She feels that Salsa will help her get Silk Smitha’s languid body language for the role. The Ekta Kapoor-produced film is being directed by Milan Luthria and stars Naseeruddin Shah, Emraan Hashmi and Tusshar Kapoor.

Vidya is surely going to set the screen on fire with Dirty Picture!

By Jilawatan

Vidya Balan’s power-packed performance in Parineeta catapulted her to instant fame. Hailed by critics and the audience alike, she soon became synonymous with quality films before her career hit a rough patch and critics began to write her off. Proving everyone wrong, she bounced right back with two back-to-back rock solid performances in Paa and Ishqiya winning every coveted award in the industry last year. The actor who has now carved out a niche for herself shares with us how remaining positive and believing in herself and in the power of prayer helped her spring back-from being written off as a jinxed actor to emerging as one of the most sought-after faces of Bollywood.

Breaking even
Films were a natural progression to ad films and music videos. I had signed quite a few films down South and was gearing up for my big screen stint. Little did I know then that life had other plans. Out of nowhere, the project I was working on got shelved. Subsequently, every other project on my hands also collapsed for some reason or the other. And before long, I was being called a jinxed actor. No one was willing to sign me on. My self-confidence nosedived completely and I was miserable. However, I had learnt never to give up and believed things would change for the better. I knew I had to prove myself as an actor. As I went about looking for work, I took recourse in prayers. Every time I prayed, I felt a sense of calm. And finally, my prayers were answered. I got a call from Dada’s (Pradeep Sircar) office to audition for Parineeta and before I knew it, I was on board. I felt elated, I wanted to enjoy the moment, but I also knew the road ahead was not easy. I had a greater task at hand, that of proving my worth to the world, to people who had helped me sail through difficult times.

Under the scanner
Just when I was beginning to get comfortable with my place in the industry after the first couple of films, I was suddenly under the scanner again-not for my acting skills, but for how I looked and what I wore. What began as a murmur soon became the talk of the town. I was being pulled up publicly at every award function, and in every possible daily. Things got so bad that beyond a point I actually stopped reading the papers. My confidence level started dipping again. Each time I would have to make a public appearance, I would start panicking. However, in spite of all that was being written about me, work never stopped coming to me. In fact, some of my finest projects like Paa and Ishqiya were offered to me during this period. I was made to realise by friends and family that I was first an actor and then a fashionista. And if people were coming to me, it was because they believed in my acting skills. I saw reason and decided to maintain a dignified silence and let my work do the talking. Through it all, I shared my concerns with my sister who kept me going with a strong belief in the saying, ‘This too shall pass’.

And it did! Designer Sabyasachi Mukherjee expressed his desire to work with me. And gradually, everything fell into place. Yes, you can win every battle with faith in yourself.

Celebrating me with health
I believe in the celebration of curves, more so because it complements the Indian way I choose to dress. So, fitness to me is not as much about losing inches as it is about respecting my body and keeping fit physically and mentally. I work out with my trainer Vilayat Husain five days a week using mostly light weights, a bit of cardio and a bit of yoga. But above all, I’ve taken great care to modify my lifestyle. And that has worked wonders for me. I believe every woman after age 30 needs to take greater care of herself. Unlike earlier, when I thought it was okay to skip a meal or two, not have a fitness goal or go late to bed, I am now much more disciplined about it all. I have a fibre-rich diet, keep a close watch on my mealtimes and also make sure I get at least six hours of sleep every night. Honestly, I have never felt happier and more content than I feel now, both in terms of my work and looks.