India still remembers me as ‘Chak De’s captain, says Vidya Malavade

The very moment anyone utters the name lsquoVidya Malavadersquo one is reminded of the extremely feelgood and gogetter captain of the Indian womenrsquos hockey team from the cult film lsquoChak De Indiarsquo Even though its been many years now that the film had got released the fact of the matter is that people still remember her as Vidya Sharma her characterrsquos name in the filmMid Day Online met up with the talented actress for an exclusive interview wherein she spoke about her other projects and also her New Year 2023rsquos resolutionsVidyain a span of so many years of being in showbiz what do you consider as the turning point of your careerAfter so many years being in showbiz the turning point in my career was definitely lsquoChak De Indiarsquo Its been 15 years since that film was released Interestingly everybody still talks about it In todays times when people dont even remember the names of movies or the characters in them people have approached me remembering my role and even the character Its a huge blessing So that was the tipping point And of late with the advent of OTT my show lsquoMismatchedrsquo has suddenly become the talk of the town That way it wonrsquot be wrong to say that even though that has proved to be a turning point Whenever I go for my walks people call me Zeenat Karim Earlier people would call me Vidya Sharma fromChak De IndiaYour show lsquoDr Arorarsquo hasgarneredgood response for your character What kind of preparations did you do for getting into the skin of the characterThere are significant preparations that I went through I read and write a lot I got roped in for lsquoDr Arorarsquo just before the lockdown in April last year I would read the scripts at least once a day Something new about her would reveal itself to me as I read on and on Vaishalirsquos melancholy her loneliness her vulnerability and guilt her loss and so much morehellip I wanted her to have this simmering quality about her while maintaining a cold distant exteriorAlso ReadWhy did Vidya Malavade get emotional while shooting for FleshWere there any challenges that you faced while doing this roleNot challenging as such Its just that I was also shooting for the show lsquoMismatchedrsquo simultaneously And my character Zeenat was just the opposite of the character that I play in lsquoMismatchedrsquo There is this warm comforting feeling about Zeenat A certain level of curiosity brews with her charactermdashwhere is she coming from What has she been through Which city is she from What she eats how she looks how she talks and how she walks are all critical factors Everything is considered when building the character to look authentic with all the emotionsLooking back its been a while since lsquoChak De Indiarsquo got released Does it irritate you when people still call you or know you as the lsquoChak De Indiarsquo girl and not your real nameNot at all Everybody still remembers me as Vidya Sharma India still remembers me as the lsquoChak Dersquos captain and that I tell you is a blessing I remember once an elderly lady came to me and held me saying You saved India You made India win I just played a part in real life and I cant believe the films impact and the last goals impact on people Im forever grateful for that experience called lsquoChak Dersquo So yes bring it onAlso ReadThese pictures of Vidya Malavade doing yoga are sure to give you fitness goalsSpeaking of lsquoChak De Indiarsquo are there any incidents from the filmrsquos shooting that no one knowsLet me tell you an interesting incident which happened when we were shooting in Australia with Shah Rukh Khan He had just arrived and his film lsquoDonrsquo had just been released He was like You girls havent seen Don We had been shooting incessantly and I remember he said Okay Im going to take you girls out Theres going to be a night out Were going to watch a movie and then were going to party Everybody wanted to dress up because we had only dressed for a short time like a little over a yearSo suddenly we went to buy clothes and jewellery By the time we were ready we had made him wait almost an hour It was just wow He was like Guys and Ive never really waited for anyone so this is not done womenrdquo But I tell you that he was just adorable and sporty about it All of this felt and I still feel surrealNow that we are in New Year 2023 whatrsquos that one incident that you want the year 2022 to be remembered forTouch wood The year 2022 had been quite spectacular The year 2022 started with lsquoAbhayrsquo in January when I had my first outandout evil sorceress in the third season I had never played a character like that It was just incredible Post lsquoAbhayrsquo I was waiting for Dr Arora an Imtiaz Ali show that has my whole heart and soul following which we got the critically acclaimed lsquoMismatchedrsquo season 3Whatrsquos your New Years resolutions for 2023But I want to shift from a smartphone to an lsquounsmartrsquo phone because getting rid of intelligent devices around us is probably the smartest thing well do Its also the most significant luxury that we can afford At the same time Im still determining how much progress I can make toward minimalism But yes one step at a time Thats my mantra