Vidya Balan is a whiff of fresh air in the trailer of Do Aur Do Pyaar. Directed by debutant Shirsha Guha Thakurta, the film has Vidya and Pratik Gandhi playing a married couple, who, over the years, have drifted apart and have got involved with others, with Sendhil Ramamurthy and Ileana D’Cruz playing their respective partners.

Things take a tragi-comic turn when Kavya (Vidya) and Ani (Pratik) reconnect and rediscover their love for each other, leading to both humour and heartbreak. t2 chatted with Vidya on being Kavya and why she wants to do “light, happy stuff” on screen. Do Aur Do Pyaar releases in cinemas on April 19.

Vidya with Pratik Gandhi in Do Aur Do Pyaar, releasing in cinemas on April 19

The trailer of Do Aur Do Pyaar is such a clutter-breaker. It starts off with your character Kavya fighting with her husband (played by Pratik Gandhi) and vehemently saying how much she hates begun posto, which he loves. I don’t for a moment believe that Vidya hates begun posto. I know you love Bengali food!

(Laughs) I am an actor... I have to say the lines that writers write for me. But yes, I love begun posto. I am a vegetarian and there aren’t too many options for me in Bengali cuisine. I do love mocha, begun bhaja, alu posto, begun posto....

Do you hoard stainless steel pots and pans like Kavya does?

What happens in most Indian households is that when the daughter gets married, the parents tend to stock the kitchen in the girl’s new house. Even though I walked into a fully stocked-up kitchen, my parents bought me a full set of largely stainless steel items. Not all of it gets used regularly but I do love stainless steel. My parents have been married for 50-plus years and they still have the utensils my mom came home with when she got married. They have lasted forever and she takes great care of them, she has maintained them beautifully.

What struck you the most about Do Aur Do Pyaar when you were first offered it?

Despite the weird situation the couple seems to find themselves in, it felt like a pretty relatable story. It also lends itself to so much humour. One is not trivialising anything, but it is a slightly awkward situation and I don’t know if too many people want to get caught in this kind of a situation. One tends to wonder what if something like this could happen to them.

That lends a touch of lightness. The film has a lot of energy and is fun. The relatability factory makes it funny. There is, of course, heartbreak but there is also a lot of humour in it.

Honestly, I have got a bit bored of how seriously we take ourselves in the female-led space. I felt like it was time to toss things up a bit. I was looking for something light and when one of the producers, Swati Iyer (Chawla), brought me this idea, it wasn’t even written. She then got Suprotim (Sengupta), the writer, involved and I loved what he wrote. Shirsha (Guha Thakurta, director) got involved and she gave it a certain direction. Our energies aligned and the script only got better from there.

Do Aur Do Pyaar is not a character-driven film, though character is important in everything. Because it is not a character-driven film, my emphasis was on seeing the script as a jigsaw puzzle and trying to get it right.

In which aspects is Kavya like Vidya?

Her name is Kavya Ganeshan. One major point of identification is that she is also a Palakkad Iyer like me. This was the first time in my career of so many years that I got to play a Palakkad Iyer. Even though I was born and brought up in Mumbai, I am a true Palakkad Iyer girl. You will see that coming through at various moments in the film.

I do find similarities with every character I play. If I didn’t, then I wouldn’t be able to play them. Kavya is happy-go-lucky like me and yet she wants more from life, which is very similar to the way I am.

A unique selling point of the film is the primary cast. Not many would have thought of casting Vidya Balan, Pratik Gandhi, Sendhil Ramamurthy and Ileana D’Cruz in a film together...

Absolutely! When I got involved in the film, the other actors hadn’t come into the picture. When they mentioned Pratik’s name to me, it was quite uncanny because I had just watched Scam (1992, in which Pratik plays Harshad Mehta), I was excited but I asked the producers if they were sure he would be interested in a project like this. They said he was on board.

I am always interested in working with new actors. If I didn’t know what Harshad Mehta looked like, I would have believed that he (Pratik) was Harshad Mehta... he was so good as the character! He is very talented and I was curious to know how he would meld into a scenario like this. Besides Scam, there is nothing else I had watched of his when we started working together.

I have enjoyed watching Ileana as an actor. I have always felt that she is so good! She seemed like the perfect Nora... I really can’t imagine anyone else as Nora. And if my character has to have an affair, it may as well be with someone like Sendhil Ramamurthy! (Laughs out loud)

I know! I am so jealous!

Even on screen, it has to be believable, right? With Sendhil, it becomes believable that someone would actually step out of their marriage for him! (Laughs)

At this point, what are you hungry for as an actor?

I want to do light, happy stuff. There is too much of intense, dark stuff going around. I think that it has run its course. Now, I just want to see colourful, happy, joyous stuff. I am not saying that take away the nuance or the layers. Do Aur Do Pyaar is proof that a film can have all that and yet it can be fun.

Is that something that you also enjoy watching? The light, happy stuff?

Oh, yes, most definitely! I recently watched this show called Down With Love, which is about people with Down Syndrome. There is also Love On The Spectrum, which is about people with Autism who are set up to go on blind dates. It brought me so much joy. I know it is reality TV, but it showed me that we just need joy in the world.

I also watched another show called Colin From Accounts. I can’t stop watching it. It is such a lovely, heartwarming show. I think we have done enough of taking ourselves seriously. There is enough strife in the world and we have shown too much of it on screen. There is no need to add more. I don’t enjoy that.