No stopping for Vidya Balan

Friday, July 13, 2007
Having made a grand entry into Bollywood with two whopping successes in Parineeta and Lage Raho Munna Bhai next, Viday Balan is now on cruise control. She is confident she will reach her goal and will step on the gas only when she needs to.

Her performance in Guru was notable but too short to be tagged with the success of the film. Her roles in Salaam-E-Ishq and Eklavya could have given her nothing other than an opportunity to rub shoulders with other industry A-listers and that is precisely why she took them.

Vidya isn't too excited about her forthcoming Halla Bol either. The film, she believes, is Ajay Devgan's show. He plays a small town boy who makes it big in Bollywood but not without straying off the straight and narrow, in the process becoming estranged from his family.

A shocking murder, in the vein of the 1999 Jessica Lal murder, stirs the real life hero within him and he decides to take on the politically well connected killer with the help of his estranged wife (Vidya Balan) and mentor (Pankaj Kapur).

"It's undoubtedly Ajay Devgan's film. It's the story of a man who goes from being a reel life hero to a real one, and I play his wife," Balan says. "But sometimes, it's important to do films that move the status quo ahead, like Guru. I hardly had a role, but I'd gladly do it again."

"In Halla Bol, the relationship between Ajay and my character defines much of the screenplay, but I've no qualms about being the secondary character," she adds

Balan is objective when reviewing her performance, something that can only come from great self assurance. "Three of my films came in a tumble. Now there's a break, which will do me good. Now I've Halla Bol, Bhool Bhulaiya and Heyy Babyy! I'm not in a rush to sign more films. I hope people don't get bored of watching me."