Miss goody two-shoes sheds her inhibitions. Filmfare presents her brand new avatar
Her role in Ishqiya was sexually explicit. Ushering in a sexual progressiveness onto the screen without much ado. Was there any hesitation at the script level to pull off a role like that? “When Abhishek Chaubey (director) narrated Ishqiya to me, I was like ‘Wow he wants me to do this’. I realised that I am probably not the immediate choice for a role like this. I am an unlikely choice. I was greedy and I grabbed it. First of all they don’t write such strong aggressive roles for women too often. And if they are aggressive roles they are not sensual or sexual. These women are usually cops, journalists or bandits. Their sexual side is not explored. Krishna revels in her sexuality and I was intrigued.”
Her personal views on premarital sex though are fairly conventional and very strong. “I think kids start too early these days. It’s distressing. Premarital sex is okay between consenting adults who are responsible enough to use protection. Protection is not an option, it’s sensible and non negotiable. And I really, really wish people would start being sexually active at the right time. I am not saying with the right person because you can never be sure of that, but at least grow up first.”
We move on and talk about the pressure of being glamorous for actresses and her own little battle with that. Ask her how she ultimately dealt with the pressure of fitting in and the flak she received for her dressing sense and she says, “I came in fully aware of who I was but somewhere along the line I lost my way. And I am glad I lost my way. Because the whole point of getting lost is that you find yourself again. I know I came under pressure somewhere. And I realised that I came in for so much flak because people were innately rebelling against who I was trying to be. They wanted the real Vidya back. And here she is today. I am not trying to fit in anymore. I don’t need to. I am accepted as I am.”
Which brings us to Shahid Kapoor. “I haven’t met Shahid in ages,” she says in exasperation. And if I do meet him I guess we will exchange pleasantries.” Err… but she did kinda look through him at a recent award function and then yet again at the Filmfare Awards too. What’s the deal? “When I went up to take my award at that function I was too overwhelmed to notice anyone or anything. It was my first best actress award. The people around me were a blur. It wasn’t about Shahid at all. And at the Filmfare Awards the only time I saw him was when he was dancing on stage. What am I supposed to do? Run up to the stage and say, ‘Hey Shahid, stop the moonwalk. I want to say Hi because everyone expects me to?’”
I nod vigorously, grinning and a cushion comes hurtling in my direction. Once I am done ducking I persist. So what’s up on the love front? Anyone interesting? She looks despondent as she says, “I am fed up of saying ‘Nothing’. I have no love life. It’s embarrassing. And there are enough people who want to match make but nothing good ever comes out of it. It’s main aur meri tanhai (me and my loneliness) all the way.” Well, at least Amitabh Bachchan will definitely approve.
Sukanya Venkatraghavan
http://www.filmfare.com/articles/love-sex-vidya-balan-880.html
