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‘I WANT TO DO SOMETHING CRAZY BEFORE I TURN 40’
As Vidya Balan gears up to celebrate her birthday on January 1, she says she is not ready for motherhood yet
My neighbour made a cake that had coloured candies all over it. I still remember seeing the cake... Sometimes, when you grow older and you’re able to do much more, you lose the small joys of life. VIDYA BALAN, ACTOR
It’s said that life begins at 40, but on the cusp of her 39th birthday — the cake is cut on January 1 — actor Vidya Balan has had a very eventful life already. Her 2017 tally: a successful film, a Best Actress award, and countless congratulatory messages.
Vidya says that her usual birthday celebration is “a quiet family affair” as she isn’t “really a party person”. But this year is special. She says, “Since I’m turning 39, I’ve been telling my friends that I want to do something crazy, as this is my last birthday before the landmark 40. And I’m quite a bore when it comes to these things, so I’m waiting for them to organise something crazy. Let’s see who comes up with a fun idea — my friends or my husband Siddharth [Roy Kapur; producer].”
Her birthday style may be low-key, but the actor laps up the greeting. She says, “For years, I’d wake my parents up at 12 and ask them to wish me, and go back to bed. Now I don’t do that. Poor things, they’re quite happy that I’m married (laughs). Usually, I meet them over lunch.”
If her 40th is a landmark for Vidya, so was her 18th — that was the year of the hit dance number, ‘Macarena’, and she grooved the night away at her surprise birthday party. Another memorable one was when she was eight or nine. “My neighbour made a cake that had coloured candies. I still remember seeing the cake and dying to cut it. Sometimes, when you grow older and you’re able to do so much more, you lose the small joys of life. That’s all I needed to be happy. But I’m still someone who finds joy in small things in life,” says Vidya.
A January 1 birthday would mean New Year resolutions, too. But Vidya does it a bit differently. “Until last year, I’d try and do things on January 1 that I’d like to do through the year,” she says. But since her resolutions often have a shelf life of 24 hours, now she has decided to “just enjoy the day”.
The biological clock question enters our conversation — married; close to 40; and, um… any thoughts about a baby? The actor answers with a laugh. “Oh, I have no time for a baby,” she replies. “Each film I do is a new baby; [so], I have 20-odd babies (laughs). Right now, I’m focused on doing more and good work,” states Vidya, who celebrated her fifth wedding anniversary with Siddharth on December 14 this year.
This year ended a box-office drought for Vidya. Her stellar turn in Tumhari Sulu hit the bull’s eye after a couple of films that didn’t work. “This year has proved that nothing works as well as content does. Of course, when great content is backed by a great director and a great star, it’s a great combination. But it’s time we understood that only big stars don’t guarantee anything, anymore,” Vidya points out. That learning, and the resulting success, is perhaps her best birthday gift.