'I normally don't wear such clothes'

By Subhash K Jha

Everyone is talking about Vidya's all-new glamorous avatar in Nikhil Advani's Salaam-e-Ishq, almost as though it was the most dramatic makeover since Waheeda Rehman in Shatranj,Jaya Bhaduri in Jawani Diwani and Smita Patil in Namal Halaal.

Vidya shocks you by saying she's not quite the glam-doll in Salaam-e-Ishq. "There's no hidden agenda to my new look. It's very normal city girl's look, with no pouting and preening. I wanted to move away from the comfort of the known.

You know all actors have a comfort zone. And it's the easiest thing in the world to remain there. After my first film Parineeta I didn't want to be slotted in the sari-clad image. Post-Munnabhai a lot of the fears about whether I could carry off a more modern look, were put to rest. But I need to go further."

Vidya admits she's more comfortable with her clothes in Munnabhai and Salaam-e-Ishq than in Parineeta. "I don't normally dress like that. Of course I love the sari. And in fact I get to dress up elaborately in Indian clothes and jewels in Priyadarshan's Chandramukhi. I haven't done that kind of dressing-up before."

She however dismisses the belief that she's ultra-glamorous in Salaam-e-Ishq. "That's only a myth. I dress very normally in the film. Again in Raj Kumar Santoshi's Halla Bol I play a very real woman. I don't contest the fact that filmmakers see me in realistic roles.

But if tomorrow I get to play someone ultra-glamorous, why not? But not the way it's defined in our films. Here in our films glamour is often synonymous with lack of substance."