The Vidya Balan We Know

A slowly developing photograph in a dark room… that’s Vidya Balan,

- Jitesh Pillaai

It was not to be. It rained kittens and puppies that day in June, 2005. My car broke down. We couldn’t meet up. My interview with the Parineeta girl was a non-starter of sorts. What appeared in the newspaper was a watered down version of a telephonic conversation. But a relationship was established. As seamlessly as her acting on screen. We just connected.

It’s always been like that with Vidya Balan. I may not see her for a year. But when we meet there’s the usual tribal lingo we have for one another plus my feeble attempts at Palghat Tamil and her horrible attempts at Malayalam. When she lacerated the screen with her debut it was a performance borne out of rejection, pain and anguish.

Never mind the several screen tests that Vinod Chopra made her go through. She was also smarting because her attempt in Malayalam, and I suspect Tamil cinema, gave her some silly tag of being ‘jinxed’. She took it to heart. And gave her best possible reply. Her performance in Parineeta harked back to Madhabi Mukherjee’s act in Charulata. Vidya Balan had talent in spades and a beauty that would inspire poets.