Exclusive: My fee won’t equal that of a male actor: Vidya Balan

Vidya Balan is contented with the response to ‘Bobby Jasoos’, even as the film fares below average, after its release. Confident that the detective drama will catch up on word of mouth, she speaks to Pinkvilla on her latest film, life after a phase of rumours, future film plans and family.

‘Bobby Jasoos’, once again, proves that a film can get a major release, without a mainstream hero, a typical leading man. Do you, at some stage, feel vindicated and do you think that you have proven a point here?

Huh! That wasn’t the agenda when I signed on this film. I just responded to the script and the role, and I realized what a great opportunity this was. But it’s not about proving anything to anyone, I have probably gone past that.

Honestly, it’s definitely not about proving that I don’t need a hero in the film. I am open to all kinds of films and roles. I want to work with the best there is, which is why, I did a ‘Shaadi Ke Side Effects’ and a ‘Ghanchakkar’ for I wanted to try different things.

I feel validated because all of us had blinkers on. There was this one thing that we were seeing, and we were seeing only ‘Bobby Jasoos’. Every film is hard work and lots of team effort. But what Dia Mirza and Sahil Sangha achieved with this film is that everyone developed pride and a sense of ownership in it. So everyone was working towards the same thing, which is rare.

That’s it’s a woman centric film, and ‘Oh, she a jasoos!’ so again it’s different. So the going is not easy, there are lots of hurdles, it will take time till the process began easier. We didn’t have a studio on board, they were in talks with Reliance, who hadn’t come on board then. And that was a lot of pressure on Dia and Sahil. I was very worried for them, they had invested time, money and effort.

For a film like this, it is even more important to have a studio’s support. For all that we’ve been through as a team, I think I feel validated now.

In Hindi films, trade pundits, the distribution of film chain, plays a very important role. Have they come to respect you more now?

Whenever I meet people from film trade, they are very encouraging but I am also realistic. The economics of a woman centric film are very different from that of a male centric film. My fee won’t equal that of a male actor, far from it, but I am not aspiring to that either. A male centric film often makes 5 to 6 times more than a film. In a proper, commercial film, I definitely think women should be paid better.

For example, when we talk of opening, we knew that the openings of this film would be conservative. And now that we have done a little better than expecting, and word of mouth picked up, that’s a good thing. More people came into the theatres yesterday.

A lot of people from the film industry have seen the film, and have been encouraging. What’s the best compliment that you’ve received so far?

The best compliment came from my father. ‘Bobby Jasoos’ has an important father daughter relationship. My father came out during the interval, and said that ‘you’ve done so many different things in this film so far. The performance is vibrant, effervescent. There is a lightness of being to this character.’

My parents have always been very proud of my work, but this compliment felt quite special.

Before ‘Bobby Jasoos’, there was a lot of confusion around you. Your health was under scrutiny, as was your private life and marriage. Do you feel better now, do things feel more settled now?

Yeah, you know, honestly, I knew what all of that was a fall out of. The fact that I had opted out of ‘Durga Rani Singh’, Sujoy Ghosh’s next film. I was going through health issues that I didn’t want to talk about. So people then thought that since she is not talking about it, for today people talk about everything everywhere, they speculated.

Everyone then started speaking of pregnancy, of marriage. I was upset for about two days honestly. I’ve been here long enough to know that these things come and go. But since the film’s reactions began coming in, I feel wonderful now!

Next up, is ‘Hamari Adhuri Kahaani’ right? Having delivered quite a few decent performances in recent years, who would you want to work with next?

Yes, my next film is ‘Hamaari Adhuri Kahaani’. So far I have not signed anything else, I want to do some re reads and some meetings and take a call.

I am thrilled to be working with Bhatt saab (Mahesh Bhatt) as a writer at least, for ‘Arth’ has been a life changing experience for me. Unfortunately, he gave up direction before I could work with him. I am doing a love story after ‘Parineeta’, and Mohit understands about the edge of romance, captures it well. So I am excited about that!

The other directors I would like to work with are Abhishek Kapoor, Ayan Mukerji. I am willing to work for an interesting script from a new director. Some time ago, if you had asked me who Samar Sheikh was, I wouldn’t have known (the director of ‘Bobby Jasoos’). So there’s a long list of people I want to work with!

This year, so far, ‘Queen’ and ‘Highway’ have been appreciated for women oriented performances, and have done well? Have you seen these two films? What do you think of Kangana and Alia?

Unfortunately, I have not watched either film so far. But I have heard only good things about Kangana and about Alia, considering that she is so young. I don’t know the whole film ‘Highway’ but I do know that there is a certain sensitive angle to it, about child sexual abuse.

Now I really want to watch those films. ‘Queen’ released during the time when I was promoting ‘Shaadi Ke Side Effects’. The DVDS of ‘Queen’ is not out, I will be watching them now.

Your brother in law, Aditya Roy Kapur, has done well for himself, having featured in two monster hits ‘Aashiqui 2’ and ‘Yeh Jawaani Hain Deewani’. What acting advice do you give him?

(Laughs) Nothing really! We never talk about acting in that sense. If he ever needs, not acting advice, but anything about how to deal with this place, Bollywood, there are enough people at home - Sidharth, Kunal, Me - who have an insiders’ perspective.

That’s something I didn’t have when I started out. When I was going through a certain phase, I didn’t have anyone to tell me that criticism is okay and that these things work in phases. As for acting, I think he’s got a unique style and has a wonderful presence on screen! So I don’t think he needs my advice.

Parting note - with everyone in the family now working on films, what’s standard dinner table conversation? Who gets to control the TV remote in your home?

Sidharth can keep the remote to himself, for I don’t watch TV at all. I try to switch off the TV more often than not.
But as a family, we do Sunday lunches together. That’s like a ritual.

We talk about films that we have just watched, we discuss them. But that’s just one of the many topics, it is like any other family conversation, films aren’t the only focus. In fact Kunal’s kids are growing up, so it’s also about doting on them, on how they have changed in just a week!