"I'm not going to change dramatically anyway"

Brut India

Vidya Balan opened up about how she tackled criticism regarding her fashion choices and weight in this unfettered chat with Karan Johar.  📹: Disney+Hotstar

Transcript

00:00I don't understand fashion. I don't understand clothes.

00:02I wear what I like to wear.

00:04Initially, I was driving myself crazy trying to get rid of the weight.

00:07The Dirty Picture is a film for which I had to gain weight.

00:11And I was actually showing off love handles.

00:13I wasn't really called sexy.

00:15You like big things?

00:25You're also not really bothered about what you're wearing.

00:27And you don't really care.

00:28You've never been. You've never worried about the fashion.

00:31You're clearly not in the fashion pages.

00:33Of course, for your Indian look, you've kind of said that look.

00:37Everybody emulates that and finds that wonderful.

00:40There's a whole section that thinks that going traditional is the best way possible.

00:44But all this criticism that comes your way about what you wear...

00:47Are you amused now by it?

00:49Now I am. There was a time when I wasn't.

00:51I was like, why are they getting after me? What wrong have I done?

00:54I don't understand fashion. I don't understand clothes.

00:57I wear what I like to wear.

00:59And now, people have begun to say, you've brought the saree back.

01:03And I'm like, the saree's always been there.

01:05I've just been wearing it a lot.

01:08But that's because I...

01:09Those are the people whose saree you're returning.

01:14That's for her, for you.

01:15She's trying to say you're borrowing other people's sarees.

01:17I look really good in the clothes I've asked for.

01:19Oh, really?

01:20Which film?

01:20Yes.

01:21Sita and Geeta.

01:23Oh, God.

01:24Would you say you're the opposite of Sonam?

01:26Oh, for sure.

01:28And you're both at the same film festival this year.

01:31Yeah, but I think both of us got criticized.

01:33So, I don't know what makes me happy.

01:37Because everyone decided to wear that nose ring.

01:39Yeah, I loved it.

01:40Yeah.

01:41Yours was criticized for its size, I think.

01:44I don't know when Bigg began to make a, you know...

01:49...be a problem.

01:50What are the parameters on which you gauge who's looking cool or who's not?

01:54How does that happen?

01:55I didn't say it was big.

01:56No, I'm asking.

01:57I actually kind of liked it.

01:58You like big things?

02:00Yeah.

02:02So, tell me. So, we were going back to the fashion talk.

02:05So, you were completely okay with everything that is ever being written about you?

02:08Yeah, yeah. Now I am.

02:09Now I am. I don't read it.

02:12I don't watch TV.

02:13And so, I don't get to know most things.

02:15I hear from people.

02:16I'm literally, and I'm not saying this for effect.

02:19But I'm completely not in touch with what's being said about me.

02:24Which is great. I think that's fantastic.

02:26That's the only way I've been able to retain my sanity.

02:29You've combated not only fashion but also all this talk about these weight issues...

02:33...that you've always carried on you.

02:34And you kind of combated it always and emerged always beyond it.

02:38So, these weight issues never made you want to run into the gym...

02:41...and kind of lose the weight once and for all to prove it...

02:44...or you just felt you were happy the way you are?

02:46Yeah, you know, initially I was driving myself crazy trying to get rid of the weight.

02:50But everyone has a body type.

02:52And at some point, I think about five, six years ago, I just said, listen...

02:57...I'm just going to be happy with myself because...

03:00...I'm not going to change dramatically anyway.

03:03I may as well be happy the way I am.

03:05And I actually began, people began to compliment me far more...

03:09...after I made peace with myself.

03:11And you know, until the Dirty Picture, I wasn't really called sexy.

03:14Yeah.

03:15The Dirty Picture is a film for which I had to gain weight...

03:18...and I was actually showing off love handles and...

03:21Yeah, everything.

03:21...everything, and suddenly everyone was saying, oh my God, how sexy.

03:24She's out there, yeah.

03:26I was like, really? Wow!

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