To the students at WWI, who have been privileged to interact closely with some of the most accomplished and best-known ‘stars’ at the weekly Master Classes, this Wednesday’s interaction with actor Vidya Balan was truly different and unique in many ways. To begin with, the session was moderated by Subhash Ghai (S G), Chairman, WWI and Rob Reece, HOD, Actors’ Studio, WWI, which raised the discussion, particularly with respect to Acting, to another level altogether. In part, it was also due to Vidya’s down-to-earth, disarmingly honest and rooted nature that came across to questions put to her on her tryst with cinema, which itself has been quite different from the norm.

On Acting

To a question from S G as to what inspired her to be an actor, Vidya’s candid answer her was that, even when still in school, she had been an avid admirer of Madhuri Dixit, (referring to the magic of her ‘ek do teen number in Tezaab); but even with some experience in theatre workshops, she had no inkling of eventually taking up Acting as a vocation herself. Acclaimed today as one of Indian cinema’s most talented and multi-faceted actresses in author-backed roles in Parineeta (2005) and the recently released Paa (2009) and Ishqiya (2010) Vidya believes that she is “learning and growing everyday on the sets. … I have learnt to let go of the method after a while, and submit to spontaneity.” To her, acting is not about expression, but more about feeling. “There is no substitute for feeling in a performance.” She believes that it has been a huge shift for her as an actor, once she has learnt to be oblivious of the camera. “The camera is my best friend. I lose my inhibitions before the camera. It is almost a spiritual thing that happens on take.”

Internal Preparation

To a question from Rob Reece on ‘emotional preparation’, Vidya said that in reading the script several times over, she would “get a sense of the person… and a background story of the person, shared with the director.” Where any tension or nervousness about emoting for a particular scene is concerned, she added, “Music always helps me focus better--it need not necessarily echo the scene, and could be completely contradictory to the scene, but it helps to zone out everything else.” To another question from Rob on whether she would substitute people or relationships in preparation for a role, her answer was, “No, I prefer not to impose one person on to another.” Asked by S G about how she prepared herself for the bold scene with actor Arshad Warsi in Ishqiya, her answer was that she had come to know the character of Krishna whom she portrayed. Also, she was assured by the director that the scene was absolutely critical to the story. However, she did not believe in having a rehearsal of the scene itself, but instead prepared herself by “zoning out everything else before that moment.” Interaction with Directors

In a discussion on how she interacted with the directors with whom she works, Vidya said that for her, it was important “to know and have a rapport with the director.” She would read and re-read the scripts and ask a lot of questions of her directors, but would “imbibe from them and not impose on them.” In a discussion with S G, she spoke about her varying interactions with different directors, in particular with the director of her first Hindi feature film, Parineeta, Pradeep Sarkar (referred by her as Dada), with Mani Ratnam (Guru, 2007), with Balki, in essaying the role of a single mother to a 13 year old boy in Paa, and most recently with first time director, Abhishek Choubey, director of Ishqiya.

Selection of Roles

In the Q & A session with the students, there was an intensive discussion on her roles, with particular reference to the title role in Parineeta (viewed by the students prior to the Master Class) and to the complex characters she portrayed in Paa and Ishqiya. On asked whether she purposely sought out challenging roles, she referred to her 12 films (since her debut in 2003) and said, “I have tried to do something different with every film… a constant effort not to repeat oneself …it makes the job exciting.” On her selection of roles, she said, “The story has to excite me…it has to be something that I would like to watch or hear from someone. …What am I doing in this film? Is there something new for me as an Actor?” And she added that it was important to her “for the director to inspire trust and confidence.” She admitted that she has on occasion turned down some projects due to what she calls her “gut instinct.”

To the Students of WWI

Her advice to the film students: “Be yourself. Create a space for yourself. There are no rules. What works for you, works. Nothing else matters.” And, from her own journey: “Experience life. Leave yourself open to experiences. And bring those experiences on to your work.”

On an earlier visit to the WWI campus, Vidya had spontaneously declared, "I love this space and envy you all who get to explore Cinema here.” She now intends to be in touch with Actors’ Studio at WWI and promises to be back here soon.