EXCLUSIVE: Vidhatri Bandi on playing a Malayalee rookie journalist in Jalsa without a dialect coach- "Have been getting messages asking where I am from in Kerala"
Actor Vidhatri Bandhi has convinced everyone with her performance in Vidya Balan and Shefali Shah starrer Jalsa that she hails from Kerala. After her performance as trainee journalist Rohini George who is unknowingly on a mission to uncover the secret of her boss, her Instagram DMs are flooded with queries on where in Kerala does she belong. In an industry, where creators are often criticized for the wrong portrayal of South Indians, audiences assumed Vidhatri to be hailing from Kerala because of the precision she brought to the role. “There are two different responses I'm getting- one goes, like, "Oh my god, I can't believe that you're the same girl who was in Shiddat". And the other half is like, "Where are you from in Kerala?" Both the responses make me really happy because people can't recognize me from Shiddat and that means I have done a good enough job,” says Vidhatri in an exclusive conversation with Bollywood Hungama.
Vidhatri was last seen in the film Shiddat, where she essayed the role of Sheena, Radhika Madan’s character’s best friend. With her limited role in the film, Vidhatri managed to stand out with her striking presence. “This is really funny, to be very honest, when Shiddat had come I was getting messages from all of these 18-year-olds and 19-year-olds sending me creepy messages like "What a hottie" and this and that. Here, I am getting messages from 45-year-olds and 50-year-old uncles, who genuinely appreciate my work. They are addressing me as amma, beta, and my heart is so full. These uncles and aunts, who are reaching out to me and messaging me are genuinely appreciating the work,” she said while talking about the change in reaction she has observed from the audience.
Talking about landing the role in Jalsa, Vidhatri said that for the longest time she wasn’t associated with any agency and would contact different casting agents to check if there is anything suitable for her. “Eventually, I got in touch with Casting Bay and I spoke to one of the casting associates and he told me that there is this project going on, but not to have too many expectations because someone has already been shortlisted for this role. I told him I still want to audition. He briefed me and I gave the audition,” she shared. After months of back and forth with accent and no accent auditions, Vidhatri finally bagged the role.
Talking further about working on the accent, Vidhatri shared, “Suresh (Triveni) sir would have a lot of rehearsal sessions with me. He would ask me to listen to the way he was talking. And he would ask me to record the conversations that him and I would have. Every time I would go to rehearsals, he would read the dialogue and the scene out for me, and I would record. I would keep listening to it. I also watched a lot of Malayalam films and understand how people would talk." Vidhatri also shared that they did not have any dialect coach on board though it was considered at one point. "Suresh sir really trained me very, very well. We had a couple of rehearsal sessions, training sessions, and my recordings, and like, all of this really helped," she added.
Vidhatri has several scenes with Vidya Balan in the film. While her character is always intimated yet in awe of Vidya's character, during rehearsals, Vidhatri revealed that she was nervous around Vidya. "During rehearsals, I was only nervous. I was fumbling, I was messing my lines up because I was just so intimidated. But the rehearsals really helped there. Because when we went to shoot, it was much easier. I was only focused on delivering the emotion," she said.
"She's such a giving person. It's amazing. I was in awe of that actually more than with Vidya Balan- the actor. I was in awe of her as a person. She's just a phenomenal person. So like it was amazing to work with her on set," she added.
Vidhatri wanted to become an actor from the age of 7. She started off her journey in the industry as an Assistant Director to understand how sets function and slowly made her way in front of the camera. "It's just that I was never confident because I thought that I don't have the body or the personality. Back then it was all about good looks. But now, things have changed. They're looking for actors and performers. And that change happened in the past four or five years. But when I was working as an AD, I remember, a lot of casting people would just tell me to lose weight. A lot of them. The first thing they would look at me and say lose weight. And I thought that is the start and end of it, but of course, it changed later. Now, I'm very happy, you know, to be a part of this industry," Vidhatri shared.
After her notable performance in Shiddat, Vidharti was offered similar roles, but she was clear on not getting stereotyped and waited for the right part to come her way. "After Shiddat, I was desperately waiting to do something different. Because I repeatedly got a lot of hot girl parts after Shiddat and I said no to all of them because sometimes we tend to get categorized when we do something. I didn’t want to again play the same thing. So I was waiting for a really long time for an interesting part," she said.
Talking further about what particularly attracted her to the story of Jalsa, she said, “What I really loved when I was even reading the script, I noticed that every character was given importance. It's so well written and I loved how till the end or midway you do not know who is asking for the money and it bothered me. When I was reading, I'm like, when is this going to come and when will I know who's asking for money? I specifically had these emotions when I was reading the script. I was like, ‘wow! If this is made into a movie like, people watching it will also have the same emotions”.
So, does Vidhatri consider Jalsa to be a game-changer in her career? “I have been getting a lot of auditions, yes. I've been getting a lot of calls and auditions from different directors. And that's been really overwhelming in a way. I will only know in like maybe the next few months if it` really was a game-changer. Earlier, I wasn't associated with any agency. Initially, I was going to agencies and now agencies are coming to me. So, in a way, I feel like it has changed things. But I need to do a lot more work for me to call something a game-changer,” she concluded.
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