This story is part fan-girl tale and part real life. Sreedhanya Thekkedath was one of thousands of admirers of Vidya Balan. Gradually, destiny pushed her on to the big screen where her diva bedazzles many with her charisma. They became residents in the same city too. But still their paths did not cross until one fine morning when film director Kamal rang Dhanya up to teach Vidya Malayalam! Very soon, we’ll hear Vidya’s own voice as Kamala Das alias Madhavikutty in the much-anticipated biopic Aami.
“Personally I like and adore her. I’m little bit thrilled as well,” says Dhanya in a gushing tone. She got introduced to the director through a journalist friend of hers. The clincher was her proximity to the leading Bollywood actress. Though she has her roots in Kerala, Vidya’s Malayalam was at the rudimentary stage when Dhanya began her lessons.
At first, I didn’t know where to start, so I started with the alphabets. Certain alphabets present in Malayalam are absent in Hindi and Marathi. I focused on correcting the diction and helped her learn the dialogues in the script,” says Dhanya. “I had a brief stint of teaching college students and Vidya thought a professor was coming,” she laughs. The classes were progressing at a frenetic pace till Vidya was afflicted with dengue fever upon returning from the sets of Kahaani 2. Dhanya feels it barely made a dent in her studious student’s enthusiasm. “We met until the penultimate day of Onam and by the end of the day she appeared so tired. She never put learning in the backburner though the face-to-face classes stopped. I kept her sending voice notes over WhatsApp and she was listening to them. The classes will resume next week,” says Dhanya.
Vidya was also sent YouTube videos of Madhavikutty’s interviews. Having played the lead role in Balachandra Menon’s comeback directorial Njan Samvidhanam Cheyyum, Dhanya took a break from acting to complete her Ph.D in Social Work. After getting the doctorate this May, she has signed two movies, Ivide Ee Nagarathil, a musical-thriller by Padmendra Prasad and Thooppu, an offbeat film by Sandeep. Dhanya is a journo in Ivide Ee Nagarathil, and in the other one, hers is a pivotal female character who takes the movie forward.
