Versatile Bollywood actress Vidya Balan on portraying strong women

In Dubai to promote her new detective caper Bobby Jasoos, Vidya Balan talks about everything from her disguise-laden role to her marriage and her much-criticised dress sense.

The Bollywood actress Vidya Balan, centre, dances during the promotion of her new film Bobby Jasoos. Satish Kumar / The National

Over the past few years, Vidya Balan has carved a niche playing quirky characters. Her repertoire includes a conniving widow (2010's Ishqiya); a woman seeking justice after her sister is murdered (No One Killed Jessica; 2011); a controversial B-grade actress (The Dirty Picture; 2011); and a pregnant woman in search of her missing husband (Kahaani; 2012). That she dons nearly a dozen different disguises in her latest film Bobby Jasoos (jasoos means private eye) – including that of an astrologer and a fisherman – does not come as a surprise.

The detective drama is directed by Samar Shaikh and produced by Dia Mirza and Sahil Sangha, under the banner of Born Free Entertainment. Balan, 36, plays a woman from Hyderabad who is intent on becoming the first female private detective in the city.

"Hyderabad is to Bobby Jasoos what Kolkata was to Kahaani," says Balan. "The city is like another character in the film. Samar wanted to tell a Muslim story, but not in a stereotypical way. Dia grew up in Hyderabad and came up with the idea of shooting it there. She felt that the old city has a unique culture not seen before in Hindi cinema. I cannot imagine the film being set anywhere else except the old city of Hyderabad. The place has such energy."

At a press conference held in Dubai this week to promote the film, Balan is asked about the practicality of her character. How does a female detective go around undetected? How does she ensure her own safety?

“My character in the film is a very strong woman,” Balan says, emphatically. “She does not need anybody’s protection. She is in charge of her own safety, as all women should be.”

The person who poses the question tries to argue the point, but Balan shoots down all objections.

“I encourage all women to learn self-defence,” she says.

Female emancipation is not the only thing Balan is passionate about. She has equally firm views on “item numbers” – the raunchy dances that are a mainstay of commercial Bollywood cinema.

"I have done just one item number. It was for the film Ferrari ki Sawaari. I did the lavani dance, popular in Maharashtra, and it was my way of paying tribute to the state I was born in. But item numbers don't interest me. I am not a dancer. I am an actress. I will not dance unless my character requires me to. Then I will put in a lot of effort, like I did in The Dirty Picture."

Balan, who married the film producer Siddharth Roy Kapur in December 2012, says that married life is treating her well: “I am really enjoying married life.” Then she is asked about recent rumours of her husband’s alleged affair with another actress and her smile vanishes.

“Rumours such as those are just so irritating,” she says with a toss of her head. “That was the one time in my nine years in this industry that I got so irritated. Normally I am OK about all the gossip, but this time they crossed a line. My husband is not an actor; he is not open to speculation. Our private life should be kept private.”

Her life these days is consumed by promoting Bobby Jasoos, which Balan clarifies has nothing in common with the forthcoming Ranbir Kapoor film Jagga Jasoos, except that the lead characters in both films are detectives.

"Promoting Bobby Jasoos has left me with little time to do other things, but I think it's worth it because everyone is keen to watch the film. The response to the trailer has been very encouraging and I hope that people will watch the film and like it."

• Bobby Jasoos is out in UAE cinemas on July 3