Calcutta feels like second home to Vidya Balan. So, whenever there’s any chance of a ‘homecoming’, she never misses it! The actress was back in the city on Friday to attend the Kolkata International Film Festival for a special screening and talk on her debut Bengali film Bhalo Theko. Released in 2003, it was directed by the late filmmaker Goutam Halder. Incidentally, it was Vidya’s debut not only in Bengali films but also as an actress. “I still have a picture of my cousin who had climbed up and took a picture with the poster of Bhalo Theko featuring me because we didn’t know whether I would get another film. We had come to watch it as a family. I was happy with that one film. But God has given me this happiness many times in life thereafter,” said the actress at KIFF.
MEMORIES OF BHALO THEKO
In a chat with writer-filmmaker Sangeeta Datta, the actress talked about the memories of her first film and the beginning of the Calcutta connection. “I remember, 20 years ago Bhalo Theko released on December 25. This sari was gifted to me by Goutamda and Chaiti boudi (Goutam Halder’s wife) and I wore it to the premiere of the film. Today I am wearing it again! I was in Calcutta to do an ad film with Pradeepda (Sarkar) and there was a production manager Dinesh Rout who suggested my name. Today is bringing back so many memories! My career started with Bhalo Theko. I didn’t know anything about this industry. I didn’t know how to read a script. Goutamda was a very gentle-mannered man. He used to call me Bidya! (Laughs) I didn’t know Bengalis say ‘Bidya’. I corrected him the first time but then thought how does it matter? He had mailed me the script and I read the script and immediately said yes. I was doing a film in the land of Ray! My mother accompanied me to the shoot location and met Goutamda, boudi and Rai. They invited us to his house and I met them. He narrated the script to me in Bengali and I understood it completely. I don’t know how! Today I understand a lot more Bengali but at that time I didn’t know. The passion with which he narrated… I felt like he needed to say this story. My first scene was with (late) Soumitra Chatterjee. I was like, ‘Oh my God!’. We started the shoot on May 18 and wrapped it by June 3. For the first scene with Soumitra Chatterjee, I had to say ‘jhetamoshai’. But I couldn’t get the pronunciation right and he said I could say ‘jhethu’. Goutamda made me feel so comfortable. He trusted everyone. I still don’t know how I did what I did,” said Vidya.
THE CALCUTTA CONNECT
Vidya’s love for Calcutta and Bengal is no secret. “I always say, ‘Ami mon theke Bangali (I am a Bengali at heart)’. Bengal has given me so much. You all have welcomed me with open arms, after all the rejection I faced in the South. It has happened so beautifully and effortlessly here. If I don’t come here every few months I yearn for it. My mother asks, ‘If you have never lived there, why do you feel like this?’ But I think I yearn for this love. I need a dose of it from time to time. I will be forever grateful to Bengal which is what keeps bringing me back here. I love Bengali cinema. I love the Bengali culture and language and I picked it up over the years. I keep saying, ‘I am a probashi Bengali.’ Sujoy (Ghosh) keeps telling me I am such a showoff! (Laughs) Just because I know the word probashi, I cannot use it!” said the actress.
Talking about how she bagged her role in Parineeta after repeated auditions, she said: “Lots of Bengalis to thank in one lifetime! Even my first co-star Saif (Ali Khan) is half Bengali. I remember meeting Sharmilaji (Tagore) on the sets and we were shooting the song Piyu bole and my Bengali cinema dreams came true. Shooting in Calcutta was magical. After Parineeta, I shot for many films here — Kahaani, Kahaani 2, Begum Jaan, Teen. A lot of ad films too.”
NOT A TRAINED ACTOR
Talking about not being a trained actress, her method and inspirations, she said: “I read the script quite a few times but more than that I sit with the director a few times to know the character, the character’s world because it is a director’s medium. I am not trained at all. Madhuri Dixit actually ignited that desire in me to become an actor and Shabana Azmi was the actor I wanted to be and equally Sridevi. I always felt like why can’t there be a Shabana and a Sridevi together? There’s a Tabu, Rekhaji, Meena Kumari and so many others and performances of various actors in various films…”
LOVE FOR COMEDY AND BHOOL BHULAIYAA
“I want to do comedy! People randomly come and tell me, ‘Ami Monjulika’. Even one of my most popular characters is a Bengali! So, there is a connection somehow with Bengal. Seventeen years and still this. I love it. I would love to do comedies. I don’t think they write a lot of comedies for women. Post-pandemic, I want to watch light stuff and therefore do a lot of light stuff. I was a little skeptical when Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3 came to me because Bhool Bhulaiyaa has given me so much. I didn’t want to touch it. But then something in me changed. I wanted to do an entertaining film. And with Anees bhai (Bazmee) it would only go a few notches higher,” said the actress.
Talking about sharing the screen with Madhuri Dixit, she said: “Initially, they wanted to picturise the song on me. I knew I had to work hard because dancing is not my forte... and then Madhuri (Dixit) ma’am said yes. Then they told me to have a dance-off with her in the film. I was initially nervous... but then I remembered the time when I had danced in front of the mirror to Ek do teen. I don’t know for how many times. I knew I would do my best. I am glad it happened.”
BODY IMAGE AND LOVE FOR ACTING
“I think The Dirty Picture really changed the body game for me. Size doesn’t have anything to do with being sexy, being desirable. I had to own my body... and it is still a work in progress. Throughout my growing-up years, I was a fat girl. Therefore, I grew up wanting to be invisible yet wanting to be visible because I wanted to be an actor. I felt shy and awkward while growing up. But I love acting so much that this is one place where I don’t care what I am doing. I just love what I do. I think I am so grateful and blessed and humbled that I get to do this for a living and to receive so much love. I feel so happy that body image never pulled me down from owning myself, living my dream and being who I am. For this, I give credit to my parents because of how they brought us up, my sister and me,” said Vidya.
Talking about producing films, she said: “I don’t have the ability or interest to produce films. As long as I get to act, I am happy. At this point, people should just stick to the jobs that they are good at. There is so much mediocrity around because everyone wants to do everything.”
CHAMPIONING HANDLOOM WEAVES
“I didn’t do it consciously. But I have always associated beauty with the sari because of all the women around me. I grew up in Chembur, where everyone wore simple cotton saris. That simplicity is my idea of beauty. That’s where it comes from. I am very connected to my roots. I love everything Indian. Today I am very privileged that weavers from all over the country send me their saris and I get to wear them,” said Vidya, sharing her thoughts on championing handloom weaves and her love for saris.
The chat concluded with questions from the audience where she shared tips on how to become a good actress. “Just live life to the fullest”. Her three absolute favourites in Calcutta? “Adda with the people of Calcutta, Kalighat Mandir and nolen gurer sondesh”. Thoughts on the yellow taxi and tram? “When we came for Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3, we did promotions with the yellow taxi… it will break my heart if I don’t see the taxi and tram in Calcutta.” Keeping the requests from her fans, she left KIFF after humming two lines from the Bengali song Tomate amate dekha hoayechhilo by R.D. Burman.
