Vidya understood the beauty of the character perfectly. Director Milan Luthria

The year 2010 ended on a good note for director Milan Luthria whose Once Upon A Time In Mumbai hit the high notes at the box-office. This year, he’s hoping to top that with his film

The Dirty Picture that is based on late sex siren Silk Smitha’s life. And Milan, who’s known to have a knack for exploring the darker side of life, has no qualms in admitting that this one’s full of sexual content. “The film is high on sex, but if you’re looking for sleaze, you’ll be disappointed,” he says, adding that it’s also where the real challenge lay for him as a director.

“Sex sells, but that’s not what I am selling in this film. My film is a story about this bold woman who meets with a tragic end. It’s difficult to maintain a balance in showing sex and titillation without diluting the depth of the story, which is not sexual but an emotional one,” explains Luthria.

“I’m putting my reputation as a director at stake with this film and I have no intentions of letting the balance tilt in favour of cheap entertainment,” he adds.

Talking about his choice of actress Vidya Balan to play the lead role, Milan says that she understood the beauty of the character perfectly.

“Sexuality need not come from lewd actions, it can be conveyed through one’s eyes and expressions alone and Vidya’s eyes do all the talking. She’s also very comfortable and unapologetic about being sexy. But at no pint can she ever be vulgar. Vidya will shock everyone in this film,” says the director.

The inspiration for this film, reveals Luhtria, came from some works he had read about the South star. “It was explosive material,” he shares. But he points out that they have been used as sketchy references and that the film does take cinematic liberties.

Milan also adds that he plans he plans to turn producer soon. He says, “I begin my second phase this year, where I hope to make more films. Turning producer is also on the cards.”

Vidya Balan invited megastar Amitabh Bachchan to her Movie

Bollywood actress Vidya Balan invited megastar Amitabh Bachchan for the screening of her new film No One Killed Jessica, which is releasing Friday.

’Vidya Balan called us over to the screening of her latest film No One Killed Jessica, a strong film based on the real life incident of the Jessica Lall murder in a club in Delhi and the legal and police to and fros, before her family got justice, by punishing the killer, the son of a renowned and powerful politician,’ Amitabh wrote on his blog bigb.bigadda.com.

The actor, who has just returned from Goa after a family vacation, was all praises for the performances in the film and added he was delighted to meet Rani Mukerji who is also playing a pivotal role in the movie after a long time.

’The performances living up to the title and story of the film. Meeting Rani after so long was a joy. And Vidya is just so graceful as always. My best wishes to them all for the film. It has been creating quite a buzz,’ he added.

It always feels so good to be back in Delhi, especially at this time of the year: Vidya

Vidya Balan has discovered a new side to Delhi. During her extensive shoot in the capital for No One Killed Jessica, the Bollywood star walked through crowded streets and markets, even in old Delhi, and was quite surprised to find that people did not stop to watch the shooting. Delhiwallahs are as busy as Mumbaikars, the actress said.

"I always thought Delhi was a bit more relaxed than Mumbai where nobody walks aaram se (in a relaxed way). But through my walks in Delhi during the shoot of No One Killed Jessica, I realised that people don’t have time to look at you. Life is as fast-paced here as in Mumbai," said Vidya.

The 32-year-old essays the role of Sabrina Lall in the film, based on the murder case of model Jessica Lall, who was shot dead by Manu Sharma in 1999. For many scenes, Vidya had to shoot in perennially crowded areas like Connaught Place and Bhikaji Cama Place in the capital, but says she was surprised that no one waited to see the shooting, unlike earlier times.

"I give complete leeway to the fact that I was dressed differently - very plain and simply. I saw a mad rush of people in CP and Bhikaji Cama, but people didn’t have time to stop and look at us. I had always heard that Mumbai is more used to stars and Delhi isn’t used to stars, but even here, no one cared! This is one new side of Delhi that I got to explore," she added.

Vidya spent a-month-and-a-half shooting in Delhi for the Rajkumar Gupta film, and says the experience was heart-warming. The film releases Friday.

"I actually walked through the streets of Delhi for the film. It’s been a different and heart-warming experience because it wasn’t like just shooting in one location. I had to walk through streets wearing absolutely plain clothes and shoot with hidden cameras to look like one of the people in the crowd.

"I won’t be able to specify the streets I traversed, but I know I have been through both - Puraani Dilli and New Delhi. I have really explored Delhi like I could never have done alone and I don’t think any Delhiite has explored Delhi the way I did during this shoot," she said, sounding overwhelmed.

The actress who hails from Tamil Nadu loves Delhi’s winter.

"It always feels so good to be back in Delhi, especially at this time of the year. It’s so charming... we don’t have this kind of weather in Mumbai. The streets are so much calmer during these days than the rest of the year. So I really like it."

Vidya Balan is getting bolder role in Ekta Kapoor’s film

The buzz is that Vidya has all but agreed to play the lead role in Ekta Kapoor’s film Ragini MMS, which is a based on a bold subject and will have many explicit scenes. In fact, Kapoor had previously talked with Kangana Ranaut for the role, but the actress had chickened out as she wasn’t in the mood to do something so bold.

Now, Vidya is Ekta’s best bet. Why? Because Vidya is already acting in Dirty Picture, which is based on the life of the south sex bomb Silk Smitha.

The spokesperson for Ekta’s company has refused to confirm or deny the fact that Vidya has been approached, which means a deal is indeed in the works.

Vidya Balan likes to play a real life character on screen

What do you do when you play a real life character onscreen? First thing you do is to meet that person to study the character more closely. But Vidya Balan doesn’t agree with this concept.

The actress who played Sabrina Lall in Raj Kumar Gupta’s most awaited film ’No One Killed Jessica’ decided not to meet Sabrina while doing this film.

"I didn’t meet her before the film," said the actress. According to Vidya, it was a mutual decision taken by her and her director Raj Kumar Gupta who wanted the focus to be on their interpretation of Sabrina.

"What we have borrowed from the real life case is the legal journey. But the emotional journey is something that is a work of Raj and mine. We worked on the character on our own. It’s Raj’s interpretation that I fell back on so I didn’t have to meet Sabrina," said Vidya, who is busy promoting NOKJ.

Vidya reveals that she met Sabrina recently after completing NOKJ. The actress informs that she got to know Sabrina more after meeting her. "I did get a chance to meet her recently and I was quite overwhelmed at that point," she concluded.