Mumbai: When it comes to her movie choices, Vidya Balan has said she pays heed only to ‘her inner voice’. Vidya Balan has also said she doesn’t let advice from others influence her course of action. Vidya Balan made her debut in the Hindi film industry with Parineeta in 2005.
Since then the 41-year-old actor has picked projects like Ishqiya, No One Killed Jessica, Kahaani and The Dirty Picture. All the films were considered unusual picks but were runaway success. Her last solo outing Tumhari Sulu was a tale of a woman who discovers her ambition after years of marriage and a child.
Listening to inner voice
“I don’t mean to be disrespectful, but I only pay heed to my inner voice. I don’t pay much attention to other’s advice, if it is contradictory to what I feel very strongly. I felt like I want to do this (Tumhari Sullu), and so I did it,” Vidya said at a virtual press conference. It was held for the launch of the song ‘Pass nahi to fail nahi’ from her upcoming movie Shakuntala Devi.
“As an actor, I am greedy to play different women on screen, to live different lives. When I’m getting the opportunity, I grab it with all my might,” Vidya added.
The film features Vidya in the titular role of the mathematical wizard. Shakuntala Devi was known for her ability to make incredibly swift calculations. Her genius was first discovered at the age of five, when she solved a math problem for 18-year-old students.
Difficult part of being Shakuntala Devi
Vidya comes with an experience of doing a biopic in the past. She has played south actor Silk Smitha in The Dirty Picture. She however, said the toughest part about Shakuntala Devi was to get her mannerism and energy right.
“The most interesting and challenging part of the biopic were doing the math shows. For her, it happened naturally; she was a genius and was gifted. Thankfully, I didn’t have to work out the answers but I had to enjoy the numbers in a way and interact with people the way she did. She had this attitude towards maths that it was magic. I had to feel that to be able to perform that. The way she gave her answers, it had a certain elan, swag. I had to work on that,” Vidya added.
The film is directed by Anu Menon, who has also co-written the screenplay with Nayanika Mahtani.
No need of dramatisation
Vidya said the movie doesn’t ‘dramatise’ the story of Shakuntala Devi as she already lived a fulfilling life.
“When you’re telling a story, sometimes you take those creative liberties and that’s absolutely fine. If it was a very staid account of a person’s life, maybe a documentary form should be used. But in Shakuntala Devi’s case, we didn’t have to dramatise anything. It had everything. She was an exciting, livewire personality who lived a fulfilling life. Therefore, we didn’t have to dramatise anything,” Vidya pointed out.
The movie, with dialogues penned by Ishita Moitra, will start streaming on Amazon Prime Video, July 31.