Posters, characters of Satyajit Ray’s films adorn Vidya Balan’s home

As a teenager, she secretly wrote a letter to her favorite filmmaker Satyajit Ray, but didn’t post it. Naturally, when he passed away suddenly, she felt heartbroken for many reasons.

Many moons later, that teenager, who is now one of the successful stars of Bollywood, Vidya Balan, opened her heart and shared her wish to work with her favourite filmmaker and on how Bengali cinema influenced her.

“If I write a letter to Mr Ray today, it would read ‘I wish you had lived longer’,” says Vidya Balan. “I’d have loved to work with him. I know everyone talks about Ray’s Pather Panchali and Charulata but Mahanagar is one of my favourite films. The film impacted me so deeply. I wish he lived longer and I could have worked with him in multiple films.”

The fangirl in her does not stop there as she shared: “I have poster collection of Ray’s films like Mahanagar and also a painting that filled with a canvas full of characters from his films! I have many decorative pieces in my home, inspired by Ray’s work. My home is full of Ray. I have huge love and respect for Bengali cinema and culture.”

No wonder her film debut happened in 2003 with Bhalo Theko before Bollywood.

Interestingly, her Bollywood debut also happened in 2005 with Parineeta, based on a Bengali novel of the same name.

Currently, the actress is celebrating the success of her recently-released Jalsa. Talking about how she started enjoying playing characters that are the exact opposite of who she is in reality, Vidya says: “The fact that in both films — Sherni and Jalsa — my characters are so different from who I am in real life. But I also believe that there is a Maya Menon and Vidya inside me that I got a chance to tap into while performing them on-screen. I believe there are many people living inside us, the more you connect yourself and search within, you realise that.”

While it is quite interesting how her character Maya in Jalsa is morally complex, Vidya explains how the name of the character justifies its action.

“Initially, when I read the script, I was judging her. But thankfully, better sense prevailed. Maya is inscrutable. What you see is not what she is...the meaning of the word ‘Maya’ is an illusion. So, that way, she is an illusion. I think that is why Suresh (Triveni, the director of the film) named her Maya.”

Directed by Suresh Triveni and produced by Abundantia Entertainment, Jalsa is streaming on AmazonPrime Video.

A still from Jalsa with Shefali Shah