Vidya Balan promotes Bobby Jasoos at The Dugout on Sarat Bose Road. Picture: Rashbehari Das

On Saturday, Vidya Balan was in Calcutta, hopping from one city spot to another to promote her Friday film Bobby Jasoos. Before she zipped out of town on a late evening flight, Vidya made time for a chat with t2.

Over the last few films, there has been this pattern of you marketing your films in character....

the most fun was the jyotish (astrologer) disguise… the one where I have buck teeth, the moustache, the glasses…. I loved that… I found that look so funny. But let me tell you, after playing a man, I realised even more so that I love being a woman!

Over the last few years, I’ve realised that whenever I appear in character, then the association with the film is stronger… in the sense that people are instantly reminded of the film and that’s the whole point why we promote our films. Until the release, you have to keep hammering into the viewer’s head that we are coming on such and such date…. I have been working hard to ensure that ‘Bobby Jasoos releases on the 4th of July’ becomes a mantra.

There are so many avenues for entertainment and engagement that it becomes important to keep reminding people that keep this date free or make an appointment with our film this weekend (smiles). So when I appear in character, I feel that association becomes stronger. The Bobby look is actually very simple… it’s a cotton salwar kameez with a backpack and canvas shoes. It’s, honestly, been less time-consuming and far less hassle-free to slap on than some of the characters I have played so far.

And this must have been a lot more fun because besides being Bobby, you also got to don 12 disguises in the film…

Oh yes! It was an unbelievable amount of fun. As an actor, I always look to do something new with every film and with almost all the films I have done so far, I have been lucky that the characters have had distinct looks each time. It’s always fun to create a character and this time, I got to create 12 different ones in just one film. Of course they are disguises and not full-fledged characters, but it was a great deal of fun. I would just sit there in front of the mirror and get ready and get amazed by how a certain look would just kind of change me totally, as a person and an actress.

So which disguise did you enjoy the most?

Hmmm… the most fun was the jyotish (astrologer) disguise… the one where I have buck teeth, the moustache, the glasses… I loved that… I found that look so funny. My speech was a little impaired in that and every time I tried to speak, funny sounds would come out (laughs). I just found that really, really funny.

Dia Mirza, the producer of Bobby Jasoos, has said that on set you would come alive whenever you had to play a man, courtesy your disguises. One hears that you even flirted with the female hands on set to get into the skin of the character!

(Laughs) I enjoyed donning the male disguises… it was something so new and novel for me. As an actor, I respond naturally to costumes and make-up. For me, it’s a spontaneous reaction and my body language and even my voice would automatically change. Anyway, in playing any character, I carry impressions from my memories. In my subconscious, there is the memory of this extremely charming chooriwaala from my childhood somewhere in the Charminar area of Hyderabad who flirted and charmed his way to ensure that every woman who went to him bought at least six dozen bangles! People couldn’t say ‘no’ to him. And that’s the memory that stayed with me when I donned those male disguises. But let me tell you, after playing a man, I realised even more so that I love being a woman! (Laughs out loud) Nothing beats that.

There’s also this fun video doing the rounds where you went up to Hrithik Roshan, Arbaaz Khan and Sohail Khan in your Bobby Jasoos beggar get-up and they were shocked out of their skins when they realised it was you!

(Laughs) Yes, especially Hrithik because I don’t think he had seen the picture (of the get-up) earlier. He looked completely shocked. Arbaaz and Sohail figured out in a couple of seconds that it was me, but Hrithik didn’t and that’s what made it even more fun. Even on location in Hyderabad, we were shooting in this area called Kachiguda, and everyone had gathered on the roads to watch the shoot. The crowd wanted to know when Vidya Balan would come on set and I was standing right there! (Laughs) That was such a high for me… I couldn’t stop giggling.

Have you been a fan of detective novels and films?

I have read them and watched them over the years, but it’s never been an obsessive thing with me. I have been interested, yes. I have watched Karamchand and Byomkesh Bakshi and also read Feluda. And, of course, I read The Secret Seven, The Famous Five, The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew while growing up. But now, I haven’t read anything in that genre for a while. And I think that’s why I got attracted to Bobby Jasoos….

This is the first time Hindi cinema is seeing the story of a female detective. Also, unlike most detectives, Bobby is not Miss Know-It-All. She’s not trained and is learning while on the job. There’s a certain innocence in her approach to her cases. Her guesses are just like yours and mine and sometimes she just gets lucky. But of course she’s street-smart and sharp and a go-getter. In most detective films, the case almost always gets solved in the sleuth’s head and there’s hardly any visual breaking down. Here, the simplicity of the approach really touched my heart. It’s, of course, a detective film, but also a human story. Despite family opposition, Bobby pursues her dream and emerges triumphant.

Like Kahaani, Bobby Jasoos has a lot of energy, but while it was more intense energy in Kahaani, there is a very frothy kind of energy in Bobby Jasoos.

He (Hrithik Roshan) looked completely shocked. Arbaaz and Sohail (Khan) figured out in a couple of seconds that it was me, but Hrithik didn’t and that’s what made it even more fun

In her effervescence and energy, Bobby seems so much like what you are as a person…

(Laughs) You are very right in saying that I am a lot like Bobby… I really, really identify with her to a great extent. Like me, she’s also feisty and smiles and laughs easily (laughs). But probably, there is a lot more angst in her. I don’t think I have that in me, at least not now, after spending nine years in films. At a certain point, I may have been full of angst, but not now.

Like the angst to prove a point to the world when you were being dropped from films left, right and centre?

Yes! (Laughs) Like I did, Bobby has a certain anger towards the world. She wants her father to support her… she’s just so impatient with everyone around her. And yet, she’s so charming. She’s the kind of person you want to know. She seems very simple and yet is so nuanced and I really loved that balance. As an actor, I felt that someone made me do something different in this film… made me strike that fine balance. I have really enjoyed the energy of this girl, you know… I haven’t played such a childlike character ever before.

Calcutta as a city contributed immensely to Kahaani. What role does Hyderabad, which isn’t a common setting in our films, play in Bobby Jasoos?

I think the way Calcutta was a character in Kahaani, Hyderabad, particularly old city Hyderabad, is a character in Bobby Jasoos. It’s interesting because when it was first written, the film was set in a Muslim neighbourhood in Bombay. Samar Shaikh (the director) understands the milieu well and he wanted to tell a story that wasn’t stereotypical or conventional. But when Dia and Sahil (Sangha, co-producer) came on board, they suggested that Hyderabad be chosen as the setting because of its unique culture and language and because it has rarely been used as a backdrop in Bollywood. I am so glad they took that call because Hyderabad has really lent such a unique texture and flavour to the film.