Vidya Balan: Films no longer an escape route

After her turn as a scientist in her latest release, Mission Mangal, Vidya Balan is gearing up to play the mathematical wizard, Shakuntala Devi in her biopic. Ask her what drew her to the character, and the talented actress says, “She is the only computer with a wicked sense of humour. She was really sharp-witted and whatever she was asked, pat came the reply.” 

How good was Vidya at Maths? “I liked it better than Science. I was good at it, but not to the extent Shakuntala Devi was... utna sab nahi hai (laughs). They say South Indians, especially Palakkad Iyers, are good at Maths, so uska faayda ho gaya mujhe. Thankfully, I won’t have to learn cube roots as the director will give it to me,” she grins. The actress was also planning a biopic on India’s former Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi, but now the Tumhari Sulu star says that it will take time. “It will take at least a couple of years for it to happen,” she shares. 

The last few years have seen a marked increase in films based on real incidents and biopics. For that matter, Vidya’s Mission Mangal was based on India’s Mars Orbiter Mission and her next is a biopic. “For the longest time, films presented a fantasy world you could escape into. Now, they are no longer an escape. We want to see ourselves as heroes or heroines. Social media has done that to us. Each one of us knows our opinion matters and that we have a voice. I may be an ordinary person but my story is really interesting. I am a hero in my own life. You can be a regular person, but do something extraordinary and that is being celebrated now,” she says. 

Besides the Shakuntala biopic, Vidya has given her nod to two more movies but wants the producers to make the announcement first before talking about them.