None of us is a doodh ki dulhi and we react as per the requirement or the demand of the relationship.
     - Vidya Balan

Says the actress who feels that her role in Ishqia is probably the best till date as far as her career is concerned. The bollywood attractive has pinned a lot of hopes on the film to take her to the next level as an actress after Paa, tells Jyothi Venkatesh over a steaming cup of coffee at the office of Shemaroo which has produced the film with Vishal Bharadwaj that she would rather use her merit to get whatever she wants than her sexuality as a weapon like the character of Krishna who she plays in the film.

 Excerpts.

Q: You seem to be too choosy as far as signing films is concerned?
A: I am not in a tearing hurry to take up each and every film that is offered to me, because I make it a point to give 200% to every film that I take up and hence I cannot afford to do too many films. I prefer to work in one film at a time. I am glad that I am part of the phase where cinema has grown up and I am getting to do the kind of work that I have always wanted to do.

Q: What is your role in Ishqiya?
A: I play the role of a widow called Krishna. He may not be a conventional character but what I liked about the character is the fact that she is very believable. The role has gray shades. She is neither positive nor negative. All that I can say is that Krishna is very humane. She is not apologetic about her needs. If she is like a chameleon in front of Arshad , for whom, love is a way to get sex, with Naseer she enjoys the way he woos her in a classical way.

Q: In what way are you different from Krishna?
A: I would rather use my merit to get my way than use my sexuality but Krishna does not think twice before unabashedly using her sexuality as a tool to get whatever she wants from men.

Q: Did you hesitate to take up the role because you had to mouth a lot of swear words and also indulge in a smooching scene with Arshad Warsi?
A: I sign any film only after I read the complete script. If I had not been convinced, I would not have been able to play the role at all. Though as Krishna, I had to portray a woman who is aggressive as far as the way she speaks and her body language was concerned, as Vidya Balan I still would desist from mouthing gaalis. Kissing was integral to the script because the story goes ahead with that. Luckily in front of the camera, I could forget that I am Vidya Balan and make the transition to being the character that Krishna was.

Q: How comfortable were you with the kissing scene?
A: I was quite comfortable with the kiss because I knew Arshad well from the time we had acted in Lage Raho Munnabhai and he is a friend. It all depends upon with whom you are working. People like Vishal Bharadwaj have a certain amount of credibility. I have done the kissing scene with honesty and am not ashamed of it at all, though I should say that as Indians we are very private about our display of affection

Q: How did you prepare for your part in Ishqiya?
A: I do preparation for every role of mine but for this part, I needed to do more preparation. I shot for Ishqia even before Paa. I knew I could do a role like that of Krishna, as an actor. Abhishek gave me the brief that, as a typical North Indian woman, I should look wholesome for my part and hence I did not make any attempt to reduce my weight though I had put on a lot of weight at that time.  I could understand Abhishek’s vision as a director when I spent almost a month discussing not only the script with him every day but also talking about everything in the sun

Q: Did you go by any reference?
A: Krishna is the quintessential Indian woman. For an actor like me with a certain image, it was very nice to get a role like this which was new. I did not need to prepare in terms of reference for this part. I only needed to understand what Krishna would do in various situations and I did a character building exercise. The thing is mostly women’s roles in Bollywood are not etched out well in most of the films and they are made either the vamp or the ever suffering bharatiya nari. Women are rarely portrayed as real characters. As an actor, it was for me an experiment and I could also discover a lot about myself as an actor.  I feel much fulfilled now that the film is being readied for release.

Q: To what extent did you depend upon your director to give life to your part?
A: As an individual, I do have my own inputs for every character that I set out to perform, though I have always maintained that it is the vision of the director that counts ultimately. Vishal Bharadwaj has written the subject along with Abhishek Chaubey but Abhishek’s interpretation is quite different. The biggest challenge for me was to do with conviction every scene even when there was a difference of opinion. In spite of the fact that he is not only the writer and producer of the film, Vishal did not interfere with Abhishek Chaubey as far as direction was concerned because he had complete confidence in him.

Q: Which are your other films in the pipeline?
A: After Paa, I hear that by God’s grace, roles are being written keeping me in mind. I am committed to doing a film to be directed by Rajkumar Pandey, who had directed the film Aamir, on the life of Sabrina, the sister of Jessica Lal who was murdered. I am kicked about having met some one whose role I am actually going to play. I find the case very interesting. After watching Aamir, I realized that Rajkumar is an able director.