Long before The Dirty Picture made Vidya Balan one of the prettiest pictures in Hindi cinema,the actor had declared a war on cliché. She was bothered by the industrys admiration for coy heroines,who wore conformity on screen and cling-and-bling off it. Her pre-adolescent fantasy of doing a Madhuri Dixit Ek,Do,Teen wasnt getting anywhere either. Till a slew of personal and professional realisations altered her goals. On Tuesday,at the Express Adda in Delhi,Balan revealed the seed of her new persona: Little bit of guts and a lot of gut. The event was the fifth edition of Express Adda,a series of conversations with people at the centre of change. Balans freewheeling chat with the audience was moderated by the Express Group Editor-in-Chief Shekhar Gupta and Senior Assistant Editor (Films) Harneet Singh. An eclectic gathering waited for the star who has become an actor,the actor who has become a hero,and the hero who happens to be a heroine. And Balan had an answer for all of them. When Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari told her he hadnt watched a film in ages but would make an exception for her,she said: I hope it is worth the aberration. To architectural restorer Sunita Kohlis suggestion that she should play Draupadi from Chitra Divakarunis Palace of Illusions,she countered: Who would play Karna? When sociologist Ravinder Kaur from IIT,Delhi,complimented her on altering the narrative of the heroine in Hindi cinema,she said she was keen to live different lives through different characters. Balan took questions on her character to costumes in The Dirty Picture,on Naseeruddin Shah to Shah Rukh Khan,and on her directors to her detractors. I used to be anxious to please,but no longer, she said. Now,I am unapologetic to the power of 100. In her colourful sari,Balan admitted,she felt the Delhi chill. But this was a woman warm in her own skin.
