Vidya Balan on her fashion choices: ‘My opinion is the only one that matters’

Vidya is one of the most sought after female stars of India, she has earned accolades for her National Award-winning performance in The Dirty Picture, heartwarming comedies like Lage Raho Munna Bhai and Tumhari Sulu, and intense outings such as Sherni, Jalsa and Neeyat. However, Vidya says she was craving for an “easy breezy” film, especially post the Covid-19 pandemic.

“It is my favourite genre, actually comedy is my favourite genre and obviously rom-com falls into that. I love lighthearted, happy stuff. I have enjoyed the intense stuff that I have done but I began to get a bit bored of the kind of stuff that I was being offered. There is so much intensity in everything that I started feeling that mujhe hasna hai, hasaana hai (I want to laugh and make others laugh)! Because anyway we were coming out of the pandemic, the world had turned upside down and I just felt like it’s time to laugh, it’s time to celebrate love, just be joyous and that’s when I got this film,” she says about her upcoming film Do Aur Do Pyaar.

Vidya is often called “serious” and “intense” but the actor wants to break away from all these tags, even if momentarily. She says she never took herself seriously, and  as an actor, has only looked at work according to what she is feel in a particular moment, and at this point she only and only wants to keep it light and breezy. “I got a bit bored of the intense stuff. My choices are based only on how I am feeling. And at that point I felt like yaar hasne hasaane ka time aa gaya hai (it’s time to laugh and make people laugh),” she says.

 

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When asked if with Do Aur Do Pyaar she is trying to break the image of being serious and doing intense work, she says, “As an actor I don’t like to limit myself to any one kind of role or film, story. I am constantly looking for something new to do. I am very happy doing the female led stuff but now is the time to make it lighter. I think female led films are taking themselves too seriously and now we just need to lighten up. Even Crew is exactly that and that’s why I enjoyed that film.”

Vidya’s choices are clearly reflecting in the kind of movies she’s picking — after Do Aur Do Pyaar, she’ll be seen in Anees Bazmee’s Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3 along with Kartik Aaryan and Triptii Dimri, a horror comedy. Apart from work, yet another thing she’s having fun with is fashion, but she says she’s “never understood fashion” and dresses up to be comfortable especially now that she’s crossed 40.

About her not so sartorial choices and keeping it real and relatable for her fans and followers, Vidya says, “Honestly, I don’t understand fashion, I never have. But with age, I have got more comfortable with myself. I started embracing who I am and therefore what I like to wear. So I wear exactly what I like. It’s not to make anyone else happy but myself. I don’t wear things because it is cool or fashionable, I would be suffocating myself if I am not feeling good about what I am wearing. I feel, to me, my opinion is the only one that matters and that’s without any disrespect to anyone. Once one touches 40, it is very liberating.”