Vidya Balan picked powerful women characters even before “female-centric cinema” became mainstream in Bollywood and the actor, who has pioneered a change in the concept of the Hindi film heroine in the last decade, says her choices are often guided by her personal experiences. Vidya has successfully established herself as an actor par excellence with films such as “Parineeta”, “Ishqiya”, “No One Killed Jessica”, “The Dirty Picture”, “Kahaani” and “Begum Jaan” among others.
But she says the films that are among her personal favourites and have become turning points in her career, are “Kahaani”, “The Dirty Picture” and her last release “Tumhari Sulu”. “Every film or role that I have done has had some personal connect. All these women (characters) follow their heart and do exactly what they want to do and in a way they were all an extension of me,” Vidya told PTI in an exclusive interview. “I am a shy person. There are two sides to me, when the actor side comes out, I am different. I can do anything for the character but as a person I am quite shy,” the actor adds.
Vidya, 39, counts her portrayal of Vidya Bagchi in the Sujoy Ghosh-directed movie as one of her finest performances. She says the only brief that Ghosh gave her was that the film would be about a pregnant woman who comes to Kolkata to look for her missing husband. “I found the story interesting and said, ‘Let’s do it’. It (climax) developed organically and when he narrated it to me, it blew my mind. People who were approached for the film were not told about the (twist) ending. Only, Sujoy, me, cinematographer, and the ADs knew about it. We kept it a secret,” she recalls.
