Mangesh Desai is all praise for his ‘Ekk Albela’ co-star Vidya Balan

Vidya Balan will be portraying the role of Geeta Bali in Bhagwan Dada’s biopic ‘Ekk Albela’. The actress has a special appearance in film, but the makers have been promoting her like a lead actress. The movie stars Mangesh Desai as Bhagwan Dada and recently when we interviewed him, he was all praise for the actress.

When Mangesh was asked what values Vidya added to the film, he said, “After she came in the film, it became big. The movie is about Dada, so it was going to be big, but even if some other actress would have been in it, especially a Marathi actress, still the film would have not been so big. Due to Vidya’s presence, the film has not just reached in Maharashtra, but all over the country and has also reached overseas. Since the past few days, we are getting calls from Australia, UK, that when the film is releasing. Because of Vidya this project has become very big.”

Talking about his first reaction when he came to know that Vidya is there in the film, Desai said, “Actually we were thinking whom we want to cast as Geeta Bali. We took auditions of a lot of actresses, but no one was finalized. Then one day our make-up artist jokingly questioned our producer, ‘do you want Vidya Balan or what?’ So the producer said ‘okay if you can get her’. So, he messaged Vidya that there’s a Marathi film and this will be your character in the movie. Vidya called the makers and she was finalised for the film. Director called me to inform that Vidya is on board, but I told him ‘stop lying; she is a superstar of Hindi film industry, why will she come in a Marathi film’. The director told me that she has given her dates. So I told him till the day Vidya comes and does a scene with us, I won’t believe. After her look test happened, the director sent me the pictures of her. But still I was like… she won’t do the film.”

“So on the day of shoot, she came from behind, tapped me and said ‘Namaskar, I am Vidya Balan’. So, I just kept looking at her. Before this I had not seen such a beautiful actress. She is very nice. We shot for 8-10 days, but she never made me feel that she is a superstar of Hindi cinema and I am a Marathi cinema actor. I have learnt how to be patient from Vidya,” he added.

When Mangesh was asked if he feels insecure as Vidya Balan, who has a cameo in the film, is being promoted more than him, the actor said, “No, not at all. If there would be any other Marathi actress we both would have been promoted well. But, because of Vidya this film has become huge and the producer will promote his trump card. Once the film releases everyone will see me more in it. I am very happy that my name has been attached with Vidya Balan.”

‘Ekk Albela’ is all set to release on June 24.

Also Read: Here’s ‘Ekk Albela’ actor Mangesh Desai’s view on CBFC’s tussle with ‘Udta Punjab’

Murtuza Iqbal

‘Eat Sleep Bollywood Repeat’ is his life Mantra. Dance is his first love and Rani Mukerji is his eternal crush. He is someone who loves being himself, and as for the ones who don’t agree, his reply? “Talk to my hand!”