Vidya Balan:The Only Way I Can Go Wild Is If I Get Drunk!'

Real. If there’s one adjective I had to describe this girl, it would be real. From her glowing skin and hair to her squeaky clean heart inside, its all sans make-up. Literally and metaphorically too. Whether she’s confident or aggressive, comfortable or awkward, cheeful or awful, its all out there for the world to see, in one sense. In another, Vidya Balan is a very private person. She’s comfortable in her skin, but she’s not artificial in her appearances. And she has enough faith and hope in the Universe, that she can put her vulnerabilities out there, not be crippled by them, and trust that she will come out undamaged. And so she does. She thinks a lot, and talks even more. Articulately. She’s not afraid to grope when she stumbles, but she needs no helping hands. She rights herself with no crutches, but her own thoughts and balance. And so when Vidya Balan walks, she walks tall. Taller than her diminutive five feet four inches. And when she performs, she can devour the breadth of 70mm with just one breath.

Vidya is a strange amalgamation of paradoxes. She comes across as a serene, placid person, but that beautiful placidity shields a lot of impatience. So there’s a sense of movement even in her stillness and serenity. She comes across as unperturbed, but her face and smile effectively cover any turmoil she might feel, till she has given it the right direction and expression. in the middle of that mature person nests a child-like, skipping leprechaun. She’s unaffected enough to not put on two faces, but her hurt is sometimes visible, catching you unawares. But the affability does not mean you can get over-friendly or familiar with her.

- Suguna Sundaram

We’ve met often, at various industry events, over the last decade since her debut in Pradeep Sarkar’s Parineeta in 2006. We know each other at a reasonably familiar level. She’s an easy and affable person socially, when she chooses to step out. Yet, it was only when we met this time, did we actually make a connect. We share the same alma mater, and whilst I knew it, she remembered seeing me at school 24 years ago, but didnt know I was alumna. Elephantine memory, I compliment. She admitted to feeling an instant sense of identification, even though I was well out of school when she was toddling in. We launch off into old school memories of common teachers, staying in touch, what school meant to us, almost like we’d shared time then.... 20 minutes of her precious hour fly by in seeming seconds. She’s busy. Very busy with the preparations of her forthcoming release. So we reluctantly staunch the cascade of conversation to do some shop talk, with a strange and unfamiliar sense of familiarity settling warmly around us.

The beauty is getting made up. Looking at me in the mirror while I get cross-eyed talking to her image. She’s eager to make eye contact and as soon as she gets done with the stylist fussing with her hair, she turns around with the chair, tucks her feet under her and continues. There are many people around us in her vanity van, but thinking back now, they were a kind of blur. It was us and the conversation.