Many feel that there is a certain kind of sameness that is creeping into Vidya Balan’s performances on screen. Perhaps, the directors feel that she is game to play the rebel, so they make certain cosmetic changes in the dye and expect Vidya to push the envelope once more. Vidya doesn’t agree with this point of view. “I don’t think it is like that. It is like saying in every film you are playing a woman. The characters I play are different kinds of woman. And they are breaking norms because women around us are breaking something. Like Sulu is the most happy go lucky woman I have played. She is just like I am. People who know me are saying this. Just like me, she laughs easily; she laughs loudly.”
Is this loud laughter a reflection of decades of silence? “Not decades, it’s centuries! We are fortunate that efforts of a few are bearing fruit now because there is a dialogue. We don’t see our gender as a liability anymore.”
But she still has to face body shaming. “I stopped reading about myself nine years ago. I am not very active on Twitter. I cannot restrict myself to a few words. I find Instagram more appealing. On Instagraam, people are still much kinder than on Twitter. Comments on my body type used to affect me a great deal 10 years ago. Over the years, little by little, and sometimes by big leaps, I have gotten rid of my body consciousness.”
However, after a point her fan-base would like to see her in a different image. “Of course, I will do anything for my character. but my characters are not requiring me to shed weight. If the character really requires it, I will do whatever is naturally possible. I am not willing to use any unnatural means. My body has changed over the years and I am not willing to put myself through any unnatural means to get the body of an 18-year-old.”
If a role requires her to play an emaciated person, Vidya says, “Like they make somebody put on weight by padding them up, creating lines under eyes by touch ups, I feel, there must be a solution for that also.”
For playing the RJ of a late night show in Tumhari Sulu , Vidya, who has a deep voice, had to sound sensuous. “I had to sound intimate as if I am whispering into someone’s ears, as if I am making a personal conversation. So after the shoot, I felt these are the scenes that would be redubbed because it is a sync sound film. But when I found Suresh Triveni (director) was not going for dubbing, I asked him that he said he wanted me to sound intimate. He said this is it, aur kitna karna hai !” laughs Vidya.
Seeking acknowledgement
Beyond the fun part, Vidya says Sulu is an everyday woman who is seeking some sort of acknowledgement. “In homemakers, this need is much higher because they don’t get paid for so much work they do. They feel like their work amounts to nothing. But it is not that she is trying to prove something.”
That is why, she feels, it is an identifiable story. “The references are identifiable as a large section of India is middle class. In films, we usually see a dressed up middle class but here she is actually a very happy being who is not overtly trying to break free from some shackles.”
Recently, Vidya became a member of the Central Board of Film Certification. There are lot of expectations from the revamped board and Vidya knows this. “In Prasoon Joshi, we have got the best person who has a balanced approach towards cinema. We are on the same page. But one should keep in mind that we have to work within the ambit of the Cinematographic Act,” she days. But Pahalaj Nihalani, the previous head, used to say the same thing to justify his decisions. “A lot depends on interpretation,” counters Vidya. “See what happened with Mersal . We okayed the film but people had a problem with it. That's not in our control. It was certified without any cuts by the CBFC.”
‘Not fundamentalists’
But in the case of Sexy Durga, it was the Board that suggested dropping the word Sexy. Vidya says a decision cannot be seen in isolation. “Things can’t change overnight. It is a period of three years. I don’t want to make tall promises but our work will speak for itself. And when I talk about interpretation, I mean like any holy book, law can also be interpreted according to your intention. Fundamentalists interpret it the way they choose to, and all I can say is that we are not fundamentalists. The rest I leave to your interpretation,” remarks Vidya with an impish smile.
On the impact of Harvey Weinstein episode in Indian film industry, Vidya says, “It takes just one person to speak up. And when this person speaks up, I think, there will be a domino effect. I don’t know if anything is building up right now. Even if there are are things I have heard about, it is the person’s prerogative to talk about it.”
Some still feel it is getting too far and are asking for ‘proofs’. “You cannot always have proof. What proof can possibly be. I know there will be places where it gets abused or pushed too far. That would be disturbing but having said that, I think, women have kept quiet for far too long. I rather have them speak and I hope that people don’t use such means to malign another human being just for the sake of it,” sums up Vidya.
