She seduces with her gaze and then puts a gun to the head of her two lovers.

With 'Ishqiya' Vidya Balan breaks away from her squeaky-clean image and the actress says that she thoroughly enjoyed playing the "sexually aggressive" bad girl.

Balan debuted as the coy Bengali belle Lolita in 'Parineeta' and the image stuck to her, but the actress says that her turn as a conniving, foul-mouthed temptress in the film by debutante director Abhishek Choubey will be a shocker.

"I know it's going to shock people but I thoroughly enjoyed playing the bad girl in the film. It is the kind of role that I have wanted for a long time and the fact that I was the first choice for it was a surprise for me too. There is a underlined sexual aggressiveness about the character and she speaks her mind," Balan said.

The film, set in a small hamlet in UP, will see the actress romancing funnyman Arshad Warsi and veteran Naseeruddin Shah who play bandits on the run.

The 31-year-old actress said that much to her own surprise she slipped into the role quickly, despite the initial apprehensions.

"There is plenty of abusive language and innuendo in the film but I am an actor who spends a lot of time with the director before shooting begins. So the inhibitions were done away with during the early readings and when the camera rolls the 'sharam' goes out of the window," said the actress.

While she may be romancing Shah in the Vishal Bhardwaj production, the actress plays mother to megastar Amitabh Bachchan, 63, in her other upcoming project 'Paa'.

... contd.