Vidya Balan reveals challenges she faced while playing math wizard in 'Shakuntala Devi'

Versatile actress Vidya Balan’s upcoming film Shakuntala Devi is all set to premiere on the digital platform. The National Award-winning actress has always known for stepping into the shoes of her character with the utmost ease. The actress has played some iconic glass breaking roles in the past, which just shows the amount of grace and love she holds for her craft. Vidya who delivers some high-octane performances with her roles revealed the challenges she came across while portraying the role of the math wizard in the film.

Challenges faced by Vidya Balan

During her recent exclusive interaction wih Republicworld, Vidya shared the challenging part while portraying Shakuntala Devi and said, “It was the math shows because Shakuntala Devi enjoyed those shows. Our general perception of the subject is that it’s a dull and boring subject. Most people have that perception but, I personally do not have that. I always like maths. But, the way its taught at least in our time, it wasn’t that much interactive. It was almost like an abstraction. I think for me to see someone enjoying maths like come alive with numbers was such a joy. I really wanted to be able to convey that joy through my performance. I hope I have been able to do that.”

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Playing the character of a math genius encountered Vidya with some of her childhood memories regarding the subject. An above-average student in the subject, the actress felt good to be back with numbers. “I was an above-average student. But I was not that brilliant with maths. I only did maths till the 10th standard because after that I took arts. So I haven’t been in touch with maths for a long time It was good to be back with numbers and I realized that I still have a knack with numbers. I used to remember all kinds of numbers until the mobile phone happened. Also, for the film, I had to keep a track of long numbers which made me realize that I still have that,” she said with a loud laugh. 

With theatres being shut down due to the ongoing pandemic, the actress revealed that she has high hopes from the people who would watch the film on the digital platform. Considering the access of digital platforms to the masses, Vidya said that “OTT platforms are widely accessible.” Earlier, first day Friday shows were a massive hit among the fans and now considering the coronavirus lockdown, the actress feels that the OTT platform is no more for the niche audience. The actress further elaborated upon the statement and said, “OTT platform has become a mass platform now. As a matter of fact, Shakuntala Devi is going to available to the audience across 200 countries on July 31st. So I think ts a great situation. And I understand we are not able to go to the theatres now, but who knows that maybe early next year things will go back to normal. But, until then I am glad that we are able to have our film release at such a time especially because it’s a happy film. “

Apart from this, talking about her upcoming projects, the actress said that she will be next seen in Sherni which is directed by Amit V Masurkar. The film is bankrolled by Abundantia Entertainment. Due to the ongoing pandemic, the shootings of the film got stalled and now the entire crew is hooping to resume the shoot post the monsoon season. 

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