Vidya plays a detective in her upcoming movie Bobby Jasoos
Mumbai:
National-award winning actressVidya Balan feels that portrayal of women in films is stillstereotypical to a great extent. (Also Read: My Husband is Supportive, Non-Interfering: Vidya Balan)
With films like Parineeta, Paa, The Dirty Picture,Kahaani and now Bobby Jassos to her credit, Vidyaacknowledged efforts are being done by some filmmakers tobreak the mould.
"I think it (portrayal of actresses) is changing and itwill keep changing for a while. Change is never absolute butwe have definitely taken a few baby steps towards the change(in portrayal of actresses in films)," Vidya told PTI in aninterview.
She said only five per cent portrayals are trying to dosomething new and break away from the convention."I think 95 per cent of the portrayal is still verystereotypical and only five per cent portrayals are attemptingsomething different, more realistic like 'Bobby' (her filmBobby Jassos)," the actress said.
Vidya, 36, said that her character in Bobby Jasoos wasmore realistic and not conventional."It is not that I have to be serious, sharp andstylish for being a detective. I am a real girl and untrained,I am not like Sherlock Holmes and any of his ilk," she added."In Bobby's case there is certain simplicity and innocencewhich I am learning along the way and it is very real. So I thinkthe portrayals are getting more interesting because they aregetting realistic but they are just five per cent of the kindof films that are getting made," the actress said.
Vidya said she opted for out-of-box films primarilybecause she got bored doing same stuff again on screen andhence looks for something unusual before giving her nod for aproject.
"I am just someone who gets bored easily so I need todo different things. I lose interest beyond a point otherwise.As an actor one gets to live the life of different people onscreen. And today I am getting more variety to do it(different roles).
"In the past seven years the variety of roles havestarted expanding and I am picking up the best of theopportunities that are coming my way. I am enjoying thisvariety and it keeps me interested," Vidya said.
When asked why other actresses are not attemptingout-of-box roles much, Vidya quipped, "May be they don't getbored easily. I just get very fidgety."Vidya said that her fellow actress Kangana Ranaut wasdoing something different which was commendable."I think Kangana is doing some differentand nice work. Unfortunately, I haven't seen Queen but Iheard she is unbelievable.
"I always had a liking for Kangana. I remember watchingFashion and I think she was incredible in the film. I thinkshe is an extremely bold and brave person and that is why she islike that in her films too. It is interesting to see the kindof work she is doing," Vidya said.
Vidya also said that disparity in remuneration betweenmale and female actors exists and it might take some time tochange the things.
"Remuneration has changed but if you compare it withwhat the men get it is still very different. But I would saylet's not compare it because just five per cent of these filmsare being made. I think we will get our due. We are slowlymoving towards that," Vidya said.
The actress feels that female actors need to be paidbetter in at least typical commercial films as they alsocontribute to the success of such movies.
"I think in the so called typicallycommercial films women need to get paid better because theyalso contribute towards the success of the film. But for somereason there I think there is the most disparity," she said.Vidya is quite excited about Bobby Jassos where sheplays the role of a detective.
To slip into the character on screen, Vidya watchedKaramchand (popular detective series of yesteryears), TVshows, some films, and also read books.
"I called up some detective agencies and asked themhow they approached cases before I began shooting. I told themabout a fake case and wanted to know what were the questionsthat they asked. That was the amount of referencing that I didfor this film," the actress said.
Bobby Jasoos celebrates the aspiration of Bobby, whowants to become the number one detective.
"Detective films are exciting and thrilling but it(Bobby Jassos) is a humane story of a girl from a smallmohala (area) of Hyderabad and her dream is to become a knowndetective in her mohala. It is a simple aspirational story. Itis not that the girl is expecting to become famous and I foundthis refreshing," Vidya said.
Vidya has donned 12 different looks in the film. Themakers spent a lot of time on getting different and uniquelooks.
"Some of the disguises required me to look closer toBobby, some were completely different so the male disguisescame in. We had looks of peon, astrologer, beggar, maulavi ,producer, etc. We put in a lot of effort for the looks but itwas very enjoyable. I think it is the biggest high for anyactor," she added.
The toughest disguise for Vidya was that of a maulaviand the easiest was of an astrologer."The maulavi look was not tough per se but I felt a bitawkward initially because something was applied near my noseto make it look wider. I had to run a lot and take a deepbreath. Then there were eyebrows, a beardand a moustache. I think there were too many things on me.It wasn't tough but it was challenging.
I had the maximum fun being a jyotishi (astrologer) who was half bald,with a moustache and had dirty teeth."I enjoyed that because I found myself funny. I keptlooking at myself and burst out laughing," she said.
It was relatively easy for Vidya to shoot on thestreets with so many disguises as noboby, including her familymembers and even her husband Siddharth Roy Kapur, failed torecognise her.
Directed by Samar Shaikh and produced by Dia Mirza andSahil Sangha, the film is slated to release on July 4.
With films like Parineeta, Paa, The Dirty Picture,Kahaani and now Bobby Jassos to her credit, Vidyaacknowledged efforts are being done by some filmmakers tobreak the mould.
"I think it (portrayal of actresses) is changing and itwill keep changing for a while. Change is never absolute butwe have definitely taken a few baby steps towards the change(in portrayal of actresses in films)," Vidya told PTI in aninterview.
She said only five per cent portrayals are trying to dosomething new and break away from the convention."I think 95 per cent of the portrayal is still verystereotypical and only five per cent portrayals are attemptingsomething different, more realistic like 'Bobby' (her filmBobby Jassos)," the actress said.
Vidya, 36, said that her character in Bobby Jasoos wasmore realistic and not conventional."It is not that I have to be serious, sharp andstylish for being a detective. I am a real girl and untrained,I am not like Sherlock Holmes and any of his ilk," she added."In Bobby's case there is certain simplicity and innocencewhich I am learning along the way and it is very real. So I thinkthe portrayals are getting more interesting because they aregetting realistic but they are just five per cent of the kindof films that are getting made," the actress said.
Vidya said she opted for out-of-box films primarilybecause she got bored doing same stuff again on screen andhence looks for something unusual before giving her nod for aproject.
"I am just someone who gets bored easily so I need todo different things. I lose interest beyond a point otherwise.As an actor one gets to live the life of different people onscreen. And today I am getting more variety to do it(different roles).
"In the past seven years the variety of roles havestarted expanding and I am picking up the best of theopportunities that are coming my way. I am enjoying thisvariety and it keeps me interested," Vidya said.
When asked why other actresses are not attemptingout-of-box roles much, Vidya quipped, "May be they don't getbored easily. I just get very fidgety."Vidya said that her fellow actress Kangana Ranaut wasdoing something different which was commendable."I think Kangana is doing some differentand nice work. Unfortunately, I haven't seen Queen but Iheard she is unbelievable.
"I always had a liking for Kangana. I remember watchingFashion and I think she was incredible in the film. I thinkshe is an extremely bold and brave person and that is why she islike that in her films too. It is interesting to see the kindof work she is doing," Vidya said.
Vidya also said that disparity in remuneration betweenmale and female actors exists and it might take some time tochange the things.
"Remuneration has changed but if you compare it withwhat the men get it is still very different. But I would saylet's not compare it because just five per cent of these filmsare being made. I think we will get our due. We are slowlymoving towards that," Vidya said.
The actress feels that female actors need to be paidbetter in at least typical commercial films as they alsocontribute to the success of such movies.
"I think in the so called typicallycommercial films women need to get paid better because theyalso contribute towards the success of the film. But for somereason there I think there is the most disparity," she said.Vidya is quite excited about Bobby Jassos where sheplays the role of a detective.
To slip into the character on screen, Vidya watchedKaramchand (popular detective series of yesteryears), TVshows, some films, and also read books.
"I called up some detective agencies and asked themhow they approached cases before I began shooting. I told themabout a fake case and wanted to know what were the questionsthat they asked. That was the amount of referencing that I didfor this film," the actress said.
Bobby Jasoos celebrates the aspiration of Bobby, whowants to become the number one detective.
"Detective films are exciting and thrilling but it(Bobby Jassos) is a humane story of a girl from a smallmohala (area) of Hyderabad and her dream is to become a knowndetective in her mohala. It is a simple aspirational story. Itis not that the girl is expecting to become famous and I foundthis refreshing," Vidya said.
Vidya has donned 12 different looks in the film. Themakers spent a lot of time on getting different and uniquelooks.
"Some of the disguises required me to look closer toBobby, some were completely different so the male disguisescame in. We had looks of peon, astrologer, beggar, maulavi ,producer, etc. We put in a lot of effort for the looks but itwas very enjoyable. I think it is the biggest high for anyactor," she added.
The toughest disguise for Vidya was that of a maulaviand the easiest was of an astrologer."The maulavi look was not tough per se but I felt a bitawkward initially because something was applied near my noseto make it look wider. I had to run a lot and take a deepbreath. Then there were eyebrows, a beardand a moustache. I think there were too many things on me.It wasn't tough but it was challenging.
I had the maximum fun being a jyotishi (astrologer) who was half bald,with a moustache and had dirty teeth."I enjoyed that because I found myself funny. I keptlooking at myself and burst out laughing," she said.
It was relatively easy for Vidya to shoot on thestreets with so many disguises as noboby, including her familymembers and even her husband Siddharth Roy Kapur, failed torecognise her.
Directed by Samar Shaikh and produced by Dia Mirza andSahil Sangha, the film is slated to release on July 4.
