There’s joy in finding a director who nudges you out of your comfort zone, pushes you to find the gumption in you. For Vidya Balan, Suresh Triveni could well be that director. After bringing the charming Tumhari Sulu (2017), the two have switched gears to tell a hard-hitting story in Jalsa. “Suresh has pushed me out of my comfort zone with this film,” smiles Balan. The actor is one of the fierce voices in Bollywood who doesn’t shy away from a brave story, but she admits that she was taken aback by her character in Jalsa. “Here, I delved into the grey zone the way I have never done before. When Suresh narrated the story, I wasn’t sure I wanted to do the film because it required me to embrace the grey shades. Like Maya Menon [her character], I want to be seen in a certain way. There has been an inner goodness to the roles I have done so far. Even Maya Menon is a good person, but you don’t know how you’ll react to a certain situation until you are confronted with it.”

A still from Jalsa