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