I will continue to write about Vidya Balan today too. Vidya spoke about how the film The Dirty Picture gave her an opportunity to celebrate her body and sexuality, and the piece of wardrobe that contributed towards this realization is definitely the not-so-humble choli. Vidya in The Dirty Picture has put cholis back on the fashion map
Vidya says size zero is boring. She says she is comfortable with her curvaceous figure and finds the craze for size zero very boring. The 33-year-old actress put on 12kgs to portray Silk Smitha in her latest film The Dirty Picture, which has enjoyed a good opening at the box office. And Vidya hopes that with the new film, her boldest so far, the buxom beauties will make a comeback in Bollywood. She can identify with Silk to the extent that like her she also enjoys and celebrates her body. For your information, Vidya has often faced criticism for her weight and dressing style. But Vidya says she is not worried about losing the weight that she put on to play Silk and never felt insecure playing the role of a curvaceous sex siren.
Silk was a South Indian star, and women in the South are curvy, but Vidya had to get even better so she had to put on weight. She was never insecure about how she will look on the big screen. The actress feels that women's sexuality is no longer a taboo in Indian cinema. She believes that it is a coming-of-age for sexuality, particularly women's sexuality in Indian cinema. The film The Dirty Picture is a reflection of that.
Vidya will next be seen in Sujoy Ghosh's Kahaani. She is a six month pregnant woman in Kahaani. It is based in Kolkata. Again, the character she plays is very raw, real and edgy.
Thus Vidya is enjoying her newly acquired 'sex symbol' status but the actor, who is determined to play as varied roles as possible, says she has stopped being scared of being typecast. The 33-year-old actor, who played mother to Amitabh Bachchan in Paa, has surprised everyone with her portrayal of Silk Smitha, a tragic dancing star of 60s and 70s Southern cinema in The Dirty Picture.
Balan says she decided to go by her instinct after getting lots of brick bats for her film choices and weight a few years ago. She chose The Dirty Picture because it is as varied as it gets from everything she has done before or from the kind of person she is. When she is being offered interesting roles like this it will be stupid of her to let them pass by. About three years ago she went through this mindset change. She was going through a lot of confusion about the kind of roles she wanted to do. The kind of films she was doing, she was getting slapped across the face. She saw a lot of criticism coming her way for everything that she did and she sat back and asked herself what brought her here. If it was acting she should focus on that and that's what has guided her decisions so far.
Vidya is an emotional person at heart and likes to portray roles with honesty. However tough it might be she decided to go with the films that she completely believes in.
Balan, in fact, identified with her character in The Dirty Picture to some extent but could not understand how Smitha never used her head and only her body. The actor, who put on weight to play the curvaceous character onscreen, said she hopes that buxom figure is back in cinema with the movie.
Balan had started her career with Saif Ali Khan starrer Parineeta in 2005 and hence playing Silk Smitha has been the toughest role so far. It has been the toughest role for her because she had to play five different people for one character in the movie. In a pivotal scene of The Dirty Picture, Vidya as eighties screen bomb Silk Smitha is trying to button a pair of jeans. The scene meant to define a depressive phase in Silk's life and requires Vidya to look overweight and she grapples with the zip and the button. What strikes you about the scene is how the camera zooms in on her paunch. Probably no other mainstream heroine in image-conscious Bollywood would have agreed to let the director portray her as a fat woman - no matter what the script demanded. Vidya though has forever broken rules.
Vidya was bold right from the beginning. She had made her Bollywood debut as a 27-year-old in 2005 with Pradeep Sarkar's period romance Parineeta as a demure, dusky girl essaying old-world charm. Not many girls would have gone for such an image with their first film in this era when uber-westernised chic is compulsory for wannabes. Importantly, not many in the industry gave her more than a couple of years. She seemed too much of an outsider. On the wrong side of 25, after all, you are considered 'over the hill' by Bollywood producers if you are a rising actress. Most heroines have either made it by that age, or are looking around for the right match to settle down.
At 33 and after The Dirty Picture last week, no one in the industry obviously has any doubt left over the fact that Vidya's career is only headed upwards. She is counted among the top four heroines in commercial Bollywood right now and is reportedly demanding a pay-cheque of nearly Rs.4 crore per film. There is no dearth of offers. In fact, Vidya created news recently by reportedly quoting a price more than Farhan Akhtar, the film's hero, for an offer to star in Shaadi Ke Side Effects, the sequel of the 2006 comedy hit, Pyar Ke Side Effects.
If her uninhibited performance in The Dirty Picture breaks all stereotypes associated with Bollywood heroine, many in the industry have hailed her as the industry's "bravest hero" considering the film wholly banks on her and the fact that not many even among male stars in male- dominated Bollywood would dare to toy with image as she does with the film.
If she has avoided projecting a stereotyped image overall, Vidya makes sure to come across as different even off the screen. At a time when most top heroines cry off the rooftops as to how they believe in being fiercely competitive and are obsessed about being the best, Vidya cuts a chilled-out picture for herself. She has become complacent as an actor. She has already realized her dream of working in films and with people she wanted to, so she has nothing to complain about. Perhaps it has to do with the rejections and criticisms that came along the way. Vidya has often recalled in interviews how not being 'hip' enough made her an object of ridicule.
Vidya had earlier taken up challenges such as Paa, Ishqiya and No One Killed Jessica. Released over the past year or so these three films along with The Dirty Picture has ensured a four-in-a-row success roster for Vidya. In Paa, Vidya's decision to play Big B's unwed mother in the film was no mean feat either. Ishqiya saw her play a morally flexible married woman who uses two men to get what she wants. And in No One Killed Jessica, she put up an act worth the applause as Sabrina Lall, slain model Jessica Lall's sister who fights for justice.
These latest films have only proved what lovers of quality cinema had thought of Vidya after Parineeta. Vidya always banked on talent more than glamour and this made her profit a lot. Well done, Vidya! Wishing my readers a very happy and prosperous New Year!
Vidya says size zero is boring. She says she is comfortable with her curvaceous figure and finds the craze for size zero very boring. The 33-year-old actress put on 12kgs to portray Silk Smitha in her latest film The Dirty Picture, which has enjoyed a good opening at the box office. And Vidya hopes that with the new film, her boldest so far, the buxom beauties will make a comeback in Bollywood. She can identify with Silk to the extent that like her she also enjoys and celebrates her body. For your information, Vidya has often faced criticism for her weight and dressing style. But Vidya says she is not worried about losing the weight that she put on to play Silk and never felt insecure playing the role of a curvaceous sex siren.
Silk was a South Indian star, and women in the South are curvy, but Vidya had to get even better so she had to put on weight. She was never insecure about how she will look on the big screen. The actress feels that women's sexuality is no longer a taboo in Indian cinema. She believes that it is a coming-of-age for sexuality, particularly women's sexuality in Indian cinema. The film The Dirty Picture is a reflection of that.
Vidya will next be seen in Sujoy Ghosh's Kahaani. She is a six month pregnant woman in Kahaani. It is based in Kolkata. Again, the character she plays is very raw, real and edgy.
Thus Vidya is enjoying her newly acquired 'sex symbol' status but the actor, who is determined to play as varied roles as possible, says she has stopped being scared of being typecast. The 33-year-old actor, who played mother to Amitabh Bachchan in Paa, has surprised everyone with her portrayal of Silk Smitha, a tragic dancing star of 60s and 70s Southern cinema in The Dirty Picture.
Balan says she decided to go by her instinct after getting lots of brick bats for her film choices and weight a few years ago. She chose The Dirty Picture because it is as varied as it gets from everything she has done before or from the kind of person she is. When she is being offered interesting roles like this it will be stupid of her to let them pass by. About three years ago she went through this mindset change. She was going through a lot of confusion about the kind of roles she wanted to do. The kind of films she was doing, she was getting slapped across the face. She saw a lot of criticism coming her way for everything that she did and she sat back and asked herself what brought her here. If it was acting she should focus on that and that's what has guided her decisions so far.
Vidya is an emotional person at heart and likes to portray roles with honesty. However tough it might be she decided to go with the films that she completely believes in.
Balan, in fact, identified with her character in The Dirty Picture to some extent but could not understand how Smitha never used her head and only her body. The actor, who put on weight to play the curvaceous character onscreen, said she hopes that buxom figure is back in cinema with the movie.
Balan had started her career with Saif Ali Khan starrer Parineeta in 2005 and hence playing Silk Smitha has been the toughest role so far. It has been the toughest role for her because she had to play five different people for one character in the movie. In a pivotal scene of The Dirty Picture, Vidya as eighties screen bomb Silk Smitha is trying to button a pair of jeans. The scene meant to define a depressive phase in Silk's life and requires Vidya to look overweight and she grapples with the zip and the button. What strikes you about the scene is how the camera zooms in on her paunch. Probably no other mainstream heroine in image-conscious Bollywood would have agreed to let the director portray her as a fat woman - no matter what the script demanded. Vidya though has forever broken rules.
Vidya was bold right from the beginning. She had made her Bollywood debut as a 27-year-old in 2005 with Pradeep Sarkar's period romance Parineeta as a demure, dusky girl essaying old-world charm. Not many girls would have gone for such an image with their first film in this era when uber-westernised chic is compulsory for wannabes. Importantly, not many in the industry gave her more than a couple of years. She seemed too much of an outsider. On the wrong side of 25, after all, you are considered 'over the hill' by Bollywood producers if you are a rising actress. Most heroines have either made it by that age, or are looking around for the right match to settle down.
At 33 and after The Dirty Picture last week, no one in the industry obviously has any doubt left over the fact that Vidya's career is only headed upwards. She is counted among the top four heroines in commercial Bollywood right now and is reportedly demanding a pay-cheque of nearly Rs.4 crore per film. There is no dearth of offers. In fact, Vidya created news recently by reportedly quoting a price more than Farhan Akhtar, the film's hero, for an offer to star in Shaadi Ke Side Effects, the sequel of the 2006 comedy hit, Pyar Ke Side Effects.
If her uninhibited performance in The Dirty Picture breaks all stereotypes associated with Bollywood heroine, many in the industry have hailed her as the industry's "bravest hero" considering the film wholly banks on her and the fact that not many even among male stars in male- dominated Bollywood would dare to toy with image as she does with the film.
If she has avoided projecting a stereotyped image overall, Vidya makes sure to come across as different even off the screen. At a time when most top heroines cry off the rooftops as to how they believe in being fiercely competitive and are obsessed about being the best, Vidya cuts a chilled-out picture for herself. She has become complacent as an actor. She has already realized her dream of working in films and with people she wanted to, so she has nothing to complain about. Perhaps it has to do with the rejections and criticisms that came along the way. Vidya has often recalled in interviews how not being 'hip' enough made her an object of ridicule.
Vidya had earlier taken up challenges such as Paa, Ishqiya and No One Killed Jessica. Released over the past year or so these three films along with The Dirty Picture has ensured a four-in-a-row success roster for Vidya. In Paa, Vidya's decision to play Big B's unwed mother in the film was no mean feat either. Ishqiya saw her play a morally flexible married woman who uses two men to get what she wants. And in No One Killed Jessica, she put up an act worth the applause as Sabrina Lall, slain model Jessica Lall's sister who fights for justice.
These latest films have only proved what lovers of quality cinema had thought of Vidya after Parineeta. Vidya always banked on talent more than glamour and this made her profit a lot. Well done, Vidya! Wishing my readers a very happy and prosperous New Year!
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