‘Raunchy, sexy, alien’

For the first time, Vidya Balan has said she didn’t identify one bit with a character she portrayed. Her part’s overtly sexual character, intimate scenes and foul language has become the talk of the town, but Vidya says it was totally “alien” to her.

Debutant director Abhishek Chaubey says the actress required serious convincing to don this new garb. “She was not apprehensive to do bold scenes, but she needed proper reason why those scenes were required. It was well explained in the script and I was also clear in my mind why her character is like that. So I gave her the details. When she came on the set, she knew what she was doing and why she was doing it,” says the director.

Chaubey is sure the role is set to shock and enthral audiences in equal measure, but the seeds of its details stem from his personal experiences. “You don’t plan it, you don’t think in that way, but the moment you start creating your characters, some of your personal experiences go into it. Some part of my life has gone into the film. For instance, inputs for Vidya’s character came from women I met in my life.”

And the character is hugely important, Chaubey is keen to stress. “Ishqiya could be described as a female-centric film because Vidya’s character has an important role in the movie,” says the director, “The woman in my film happens to be a very important character. She has her own issues. She has her own needs, desire and goals. She is not just an emotional support to the hero of the film. The female character in the film drives the plot in critical places.”

Overall, he describes the story as one of “love, lust, complete submission and false love.”

Vidya herself is said to have had the jitters when she saw the bold content of the film, but has been put to ease now. In a recent interview, she recalled how a particular scene brought everything to light. She was supposed to suck on-costar Arshad Warsi’s thumb in a highly suggestive manner.

“I don’t know I’d have been able to do a scene like putting my co-star’s finger in the mouth with someone else. That gesture of sucking Arshad’s thumb was so raunchy and sexy — so not me — I couldn’t connect with it all,” said Vidya.
“That sense of non-connectivity,” she added, runs through her character in Ishqiya. “I play this rustic, voluptuous woman. All my weight-loss happened after I did this film. I had to look filled up for this part. In Ishqiya, everything from the way I wore my saree to the way I looked at men, was alien to me. The role exposed me to a new way of interpreting a liberated woman. My character in Ishqiya may not know about feminism. But she’s truly liberated,” said Vidya.

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