Vidhatri Bandi, who marked her acting debut in Shiddat, is getting noticed for her powerful role in Jalsa where she plays a trainee reporter of a news app. The Free Press Journal caught up with the actress for a candid chat where she opens about working in Jalsa alongside Vidya Balan, her dialect training to speak Malayalam, and much more.
Talking about receiving appreciation from fabulous co-actors; Vidya Balan and Shefali Shah, Vidhatri excitedly shares, “Honestly, I am still processing, because when I was shooting, there was so much going on. I was shooting another film besides Jalsa. I have grown up watching Vidya ma’am’s (Balan) films, she is such an inspiration for all of us. I aspire to be her. Not just working with both of them but getting appreciation from them is so fortunate. My journey has just begun and no words will justify my happiness. I am overwhelmed that they all loved my work and that’s most important.”
She adds, “Interestingly, my director Suresh Triveni told me that my character Rohini George was the toughest character to cast. Throughout the process, I was really nervous as to how I would do justice to my role and I am happy that I could do it. I was intimidated by Vidya ma’am but she is so kind and a giving person. She used to ask me if she could do anything that can help me in enhancing my performance,” she adds.
When further probed on getting the Malayalam accent right for her role, she reveals, “I am a Telugu by origin but not a Malayali. Initially, it was very difficult for me to get the accent right but the entire credit goes to Suresh sir. He was always available for me. We had rehearsal sessions where he would allow me to record the way he speaks. He used to tell me correct pronunciations of certain words. It really helped me. I had to undergo a bit of training too, I saw a lot of Malayalam interviews and movies.”
Vidhatri, who plays a news trainee explains the process of portraying her part aptly. “I took help from a friend in Bengaluru, who is a journalist. I would talk to her a lot, she gave me a few important pointers for certain body language, mannerisms etc. I personally wanted to give a specific body language to Rohini. In fact, I worked as an AD too for D-Day. The title sequence with all the newspaper clippings were done by me so I had an idea of newsrooms. I had documented everything and I didn’t know that it would benefit me for Jalsa. Rohini looked very naive but she is a go-getter," she shares.
After Shiddat and Jalsa, when asked the kind of roles she is looking at, Vidhatri tells, “As I mentioned earlier, I was shooting for another film while I was doing Jalsa so that will come out where you will see me in a very different role. I am playing the lead in that ensemble and it is a feel-good film. Funnily, a lot of people are convinced that I am from Kerala and I am a Malayali so I am trying really hard to break that image.”
