“Powerful Women Find It Lonely at the Top,” Says Vidya Balan

Vidya Balan, exquisitely dressed in a cream silk anarkali and heavily made up, with rings and bells on her fingers and toes, like a Begum from the royal courts of Mughal Emperors gone by, swept majestically into the Dailybhaskar.com office last evening. Still in character for her release of today, the Srijit Mukherji-directed Begum Jaan, the actress bowed her head respectfully and raised her right hand to the brow in repeated greeting. Aadab, she said, and then characteristically burst into peals of delighted laughter.

The Central Board of Film Certification gave Begum Jaan an A; certificate without any cuts. Today it competes at the box office against Fast and Furious 8 whose macho line up includes Hollywood's action stars Vin Diesel, Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham among many others. The Begum will not be bullied. Backing her are over 20 National Award winners in Mukherji;s Bollywood debut including its narrator, Amitabh Bachchan. Begum Jaan is a remake of Mukherji;s Bengali hit Rajkahini and Vidya plays the role of a brothel madam made famous by the Kolkata actress Rituparna Sengupta.

According to Vidya, Begum Jaan is the most powerful character I have come across onscreen and off-screen. She does not care about anyone or anything and her power lies in that. She us unabashedly, unapologetically powerful, she won;t be slut shamed by anything, she is unashamed to be in the sex trade and has no qualms about trading in pleasure daily. The Begum stands for herself, she puts up her own fight, she is her own strong pillar that weathers every storm. For the role, Vidya didn;t have to do any research because the script was complete and the character well defined. But, yes, she did see Rajkahini a while back and then put it out of her mind.

Talking about the Begum;s power that appealed to her, Vidya said, Women in a position of power are always judged. But men in a position of power are accepted. I don;t know why, but successful women in powerful positions are uncomfortable about embracing their power, they feel awkward about threatening the status quo at the work place and home. I have seen women corporate honchos grappling with this and overcompensating in some way not just because they are independent and more successful than their male colleagues, their husbands, fathers and brothers at home, but also because they are prosperous! They feel like somewhere they are alienating a lot of people. They worry that it;s lonely at the top.

But Begum Jaan is not a 21st century corporate film about a woman struggling to accept her power in a man;s world. Vidya;s character is a Gurdaspur brothel owner in a story of survival set against the backdrop of Partition. Begum;s power is what grabbed me, Vidya admitted, it;s a beautiful story, I was mesmerized by it and the script. Also the fact that I;m a sociology student and familiar with both subjects, Partition and prostitution! What I liked in particular about this character is that in a world where women are still made to feel apologetic about being successful, Begum Jaan has the power to say, My body, my house. My country, my rules. It;s a film meant for everyone, not just mothers and daughters and girls. It;s hard hitting and leaves audiences overwhelmed at the end, stunned and not saying anything, they just sit soaking in all that they have seen on screen.