Covering Bollywood and the Hindi Cinema

Vidya Balan in spite of being hugely talented, has always  faced criticism for her dressing style and weight. Here she talks about those issues and also Shahid Kapur.

• You are constantly being criticised about your weight and dressing sense…

I have become a deaf frog. You know the story of the frog who reached the top simply because he wasn't bothered by people's criticism as he was deaf. He reached the top while the other frogs fell as they were distracted by people's comments when they were competing in a race.

I am amused by the way that television and print media is talking about me. Initially, it used to bother me but how long can I worry? I have really stopped caring.

 • Really?

Yeah. If my clothes have become a national issue, then I must mean something. If I didn't matter, they wouldn't be picking on me.



• Is there a possibility that you will change your style of dressing?

No. I am my own person. I am very comfortable in my own skin. I am not here to keep everyone happy. Try to understand me. It could happen that maybe an outfit went wrong, but of late, the kind of criticism I am getting is definitely not constructive.

• But surely, the recent pictures of you shooting the hot music video of Kismat Connection must have harrowed you, especially a media picture which had Shahid Kapur looking at your cleavage and a speech bubble that said, 'I have seen enough of that'…

Look, I am not Hrithik Roshan or Shahid. Moreover, I haven't done a dance like that before. So, I took a few more takes than I would have normally. What's the big deal?

I burst out laughing when I saw Shahid's speech bubble. Is the media so starved to make up news like this? Are we cartoons?

• Pardon me for saying this, but didn't that speech bubble hint that you and Shahid are seeing each other?

Why hint at it? People are openly saying that Shahid and I are seeing each other.

• What is your current relationship status with Shahid? Are you and Shahid seeing each other?

Current status? I am fed up of this. I am not seeing Shahid.

• Tell us something more about Shahid.

Shahid is a friend and I won't deny that. But, there's nothing more to it.

• Does he confide in you about his 'friendship' with Sania Mirza?

No. We don't talk about our personal lives. Trust me, we are hardly in touch after we returned from the Kismat Connection shoot in Toronto. Yet people write whatever they want to. (Sighs) What can I do?

• Okay, do you think that your link-up with Shahid will help Kismat Connection?

If you insist, maybe 0.005 per cent. Nothing more. Pehle din hi pata chal jayega picture kaisi hai. Guru did not run because Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai were going to get married; it was genuinely a good film.

• You didn't say anything about the talk on your extra kilos.

I don't think that people are talking about my weight. It's my clothes that they are talking about.

• Some people say that you are fat.

I really don't want to say anything about my weight