Did Nerkonda Paarvai out of reverence for Sridevi, says Vidya Balan

This week, actress Vidya Balan makes her Tamil debut (albeit in a special appearance) in the Ajith-starrer Nerkonda Paarvai (2019), a remake of the Hindi hit film, Pink (2016), starring Amitabh Bachchan and Taapsee Pannu, her Mission Mangal (2019) co-star.

Speaking about her next Hindi film, Vidya revealed why she agreed to do the small role.

“Nerkonda Paarvai is basically Boneyji,” she said. “I worshipped Sridevi and I had met her socially and all that. But I had just got to know her a little and then she passed away. My heart went out to Boneyji and the girls [Janhvi and Khushi], like I think the rest of the country. And Boneyji has always been very warm whenever I have met him.”

When he called her to discuss the special appearance in the Pink remake, Vidya didn’t even hesitate.

“I said, I’m doing it, you don’t need to tell me anything. It was out of that reverence for Sridevi, out of affection for Boneyji, that I said yes. Then, of course, the bonus was that I was getting to work with Ajith, who is such a huge star and a lovely person. Also, the fact that Pink was such a powerful film,” she continued.

She clarified that she is not part of the main plot as the Tamil film has been changed slightly from the Hindi. She added that she was excited to get a “lovely romantic Tamil song to perform to”.

Vidya also revealed that Pink (2016) had not exactly been copied but had been adapted for Tamil sensibilities.

“If you are doing a remake, it should be true to its context. Sometimes I feel copies are bad when it’s a direct copy, whereas this, even though I’ve not seen the film entirely, I feel it would be a good film because [director] H Vinoth is very conscious of the fact that he is making it for a Tamil audience."