Vidya Balan
Actress Vidya Balan feels that nowadays people in India are feeling worried that their wives, daughters, mothers are standing up and challenging their status quo. She also took a jibe at male actors saying that they shut their mouths on relevant issues in the country whereas female actors are more vocal.
"I think female actors have been more vocal in a lot of ways and male actors don't open their mouths at all, which is why we are told why don't you stick to what you are doing. There have been threats issued. That's only because we (females) are threatening their status quo," said Vidya, while interacting with students at her alma mater St. Xavier's College, at a conversation named 'Arts
She added: "People are worried and I am not saying that just men are worried that tomorrow, their daughters, sisters, mothers, wives, girlfriends or friends are going to stand up and question what is happening around them, and that is where it comes from. It comes from that deep-seeded fear that their status quo is being challenged. I think whoever wants to express should be able to express. In the same way, I will say that peaceful protests are our constitutional right so as long as we are not being violent, we should be able to say whatever we want to say. I think everyone in country should go through our constitution to know about our rights and responsibilities."
Vidya is, for the first time working with a female director in her upcoming film "Shankutala Devi". Asked if it is different working with a female filmmaker, she said: "Yes it is. I have just had my first experience. I have done a film which tells a story of mathematician and the human computer named Shankutala Devi, which I also shot in St. Xaviers College. It has been written and directed by Anu Menon So, it's my first experience with a female director."
She added: "I don't want to make gender generalisation, but I think experiences and perspectives of men and women tend to differ. So, I would like to call it as some kind of an equaliser and I would like to see that happening across the board. Now, we have more women writers, directors and technicians in films and I feel the women's perspective are a little more nuanced, which is why probably they are finding more opportunity on the digital platforms because it allows you to have more nuanced narrative. In films we keep it is simplistic and that's why it makes all the difference."
