I understand the director before signing a film -Vidya Balan

One and a half years after she was last seen in ‘Kismat Konnection‘, Vidya Balan would be seen on the silver screen once again in ‘Paa‘. While the former was a love story, Vidya would now be graduating to playing Amitabh Bachchan‘s mother in the latter. Is there any strategy that she has built around the kind of films that she wants to do?

“I don’t really think so”,

negates Vidya,

“I don’t have any set rules on the genres or the kind of films that I want to do. When a film is offered to me, the things that I look for are my role, the story and especially the director. I give it a good enough thought on whether I would be able to form a rapport with the director or not.”

No wonder, she is extra careful and prefers to be in touch with the director before making a final call.

“Before I plunge into a film, I meet the director a few times and try to understand his thought process and how he/she is as a person”,

she informs,

“Of course the right banner is also important, especially when you do an unconventional subject. With such a subject, if a banner is not established then there is a lot of risk involved. After all you are in the business where you don’t want your film to be seen by one or two people; you want universal acceptance.”

Vidya confesses that in the past, she has avoided doing a few films because she wasn’t too sure if they would be marketed, promoted and released appropriately.

“Yes, and that’s a pity because some of these projects have indeed sounded exciting but then my practical side has said that I should not do it”,

she continues.

This is why Vidya is all praise for Balki, the director of ‘Paa‘, because after meeting him she was convinced that he would be able to create the film in a manner similar to the way he had envisioned.

“The best part about Balki is that he is always available for you”,

gushes Vidya,

“It really inspires confidence. For example when I was on the sets, I used to have thousand questions. In fact I also remember an instance when he was on a holiday after we had wrapped up the shoot. On retrospective, I was wondering if I should have done a scene a little different from how it was canned originally. However, rather than getting all flustered, he remained unperturbed.”

Balki quietly explained the overall relevance of scene to her and made Vidya realize that how her scene blended perfectly with the narrative.

“He is someone who doesn’t really carry any confusion. As actors, we are bound to think that humein yeh scene aise karna chahiye tha ya phir uss tarah se but he is truly sorted out. He was the clear captain of the ship when it came to ‘Paa’ and knew it in and out about what he was making”,

she continues.

Lastly, one can’t help but ask Vidya this question – With the quintessential Indian looks that she comes with, she is a definite candidate for a film maker who is looking for an exotic beauty. However, in a way doesn’t it also restrict the kind of films that she can do?

“No, I am not restricted in any ways”,

she defends,

“In fact if you study my career graph right from the days of ‘Parineeta‘ to ‘Kismat Konnection’ and now ‘Paa‘ followed by ‘Ishqiya‘ -in all of these films I have attempted to do things different. That’s the way I intend to be in future as well.”

–By Joginder Tuteja