Vidya Balan On Sherni: I Went On Forest Trails With Female Forest Officers, Saw The Challenges [Exclusive]

Although actress Vidya Balan feels she has had to give a restrained performance in her latest release Sherni because of her character of a tough forest officer fighting the system, we feel she has shown glimpses of that in all her performances on screen - restraint whereever required even in roles that had to be a little loud, cheerful or more 'popular'. Or maybe that's how women inherently are. In an exclusive roundtable with Vidya Balan, Filmibeat asks the powerhouse performer about how she prepared for her role of Vidya Vincent in Sherni. Excerpts from the conversation.

We start with congratulating Vidya Balan on her act in Sherni. Looking calm and happy, and dressed in an elegant saree, as she often is, Vidya thanks us. We feel it's good to see stories like Sherni being made these days - straight from nature - when one is actually reading about such incidents of tigresses being killed in the jungles of Central India (recent one being in April 2021).

Exclusive: Vidya Balan On Internalising Her Role in Sherni

We ask: How is your performance or preparation for the role different from the other characters you have played? Sherni is not a mainstream performance.... For instance, Tumhari Sulu or anything else you've played is still a lady or a girl that you've seen in and around you, maybe. But in Sherni, it's a forest officer (not even a cop in the city), someone you've not even seen. So, how did you internalise it and prepare for it?

"I met with a few female forest officers and they helped me understand the nature and the scope of their job, the challenges they faced...," says Vidya. "Their personal life is often fragmented therefore because, they are living far away from their entire families and it's tough, and the sexism they face. But that's a reality that not just people in this department but I think people the world over and in every profession, experience. But the officers also helped me with some reading materials and some links to documentaries, and I did some forest trails with them. So, that helped me understand the job of a forest officer."

How did you build on the personality of the character?

Vidya Balan in Sherni

"As far as the personality of forest officer Vidya Vincent was concerned, one, it was in the writing (of the movie), and second, it was the writer Aastha Tiku and writer-director Amit Masurkar who helped me understand Vidya's motivations, her reactions or the lack of it, and all of that. So, the personality was really Amit and Aastha's imagination of who Vidya Vincent would be," says Vidya.

Vidya Balan Interview Sherni

Vidya goes on to elaborate on how Sherni the film is a metaphor - not just about the tigress T12 in the jungle, but the character of Vidya Vincent herself, who is fighting sexism, misogyny, patriarchy, and the system in the human jungle.

Sherni: Vidya Balan Opens Up About Playing A Woman Of Few Words But Many DimensionsSherni: Vidya Balan Opens Up About Playing A Woman Of Few Words But Many Dimensions

We congratulate Vidya Balan on yet again proving what she had said in one of her earlier interviews - that she is a "tigress on the prowl" as far as acting is concerned. She has time and again shown her class act on screen, and history repeats itself in Sherni - with the pun in place. Kudos to Vidya Balan! We cannot wait to see what the actress is doing next!

Sherni Movie Review: Vidya Balan Rules The KingdomSherni Movie Review: Vidya Balan Rules The Kingdom

Sherni released on Amazon Prime Video on June 18, 2021.

Have you seen Sherni yet? Tell us how you liked the film.

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