Shobha de interview vidya balan

Interview/ Vidya Balan, actor

In an industry obsessed with fillers and filters, calling someone a chameleon could invite ire or scorn.

But how else do you describe Vidya Balan, the actor?

Vidya Balan and Shobhaa De sat down for a chat on everything from Bollywood to feminism to India's vibrant democracy.

Vidya Balan and Shobhaa De sat down for a chat on everything from Bollywood to feminism to India's vibrant democracy.

Crisply edited.

A very special session of the Penguin Literary festival featuring a dialogue with two amazing women Shobhaa De and Vidya Balan.

She is usually critical of actors and filmmakers, but columnist and novelist Shoba De is all praise for Vidya Balan's "Ooh la la" performance in "The Dirty.

Acclaimed author and columnist Shobhaa De known for her "tell-it-as-it-is" comments is usually seen passing nasty comments about the stars.

Not that she would mind. For, she would rather we talked about her body of work than her body.

Balan breathed nuance into Lolita, the lead in Parineeta (2005), bringing the innocent yet playful and resilient character to life.

That was only her beginning in Bollywood. It brought her critical acclaim. Commercial success followed the next year with Lage Raho Munna Bhai. But if one were to gauge the true impact of her powerhouse performances in her nearly two decade-long career, it would be in the way she has redefined female characters in the Hindi film industry―she headlined films at a time when heroes called the shots, be it in Ishqiya (2010), No One Killed Jessica (2011), The Dirty Picture (2011), or Kaha