Vidya Balan carries Auro piggyback

While Abhishek Bachchan has carried his dad playing the progeric Auro piggyback in Paa, Vidya Balan had to carry another actor playing the younger version of Auro. This physically-challenged 3-footer was almost the same weight as Vidya.

She tripped and fell while doing the scene. She suffered an acute back-ache for a long time. Says Vidya, "It's a passing shot. But I don't think any actress in the world has done it. Carried a 53-year old man playing her son. But then which other actress my age gets to play Mr Bachchan's mother?" Vidya says she might have hesitated in playing a mom if it was to a real child. "But with Mr Bachchan it was a straight yes."

This man's name is Little Kiran. But he's anything but little age-wise. Though height-challenged 3-feet nothing, Little Kiran who has played parts in a number of Hollywood films including segments of Narnia, The Lord Of The Rings and Star Trek was brought to Mumbai for Paa.

"At first the idea of carrying a 53-year old man who happened to be a very warm and talented Gujarati artiste from London was very discouraging. But when you're doing a film that you know somewhere is creating an unprecedented world, you tend to get defiant as an actor."

The effort has paid off. On Saturday night Vidya's family saw Paa for the first time along with the Bachchans. "And my sister Priya howled all through. To her I'll always be the little baby of the family and she the protective Didi. She couldn't believe the trauma of a mother that I was projecting in Paa."

The best part comes now. Vidya, with all her nurturing personality can't get along with kids in real life. "If I hold a baby for a while I get stressed. In Heyy Babyy, the baby would bawl every time I had to carry it. In Paa I had to mother a man who was far older. It took a lot of getting used to. The fact that Mr Bachchan kept referring to me as 'Maa' as soon he entered the sets, sure helped." Incidentally, the next project has Vidya playing his daughter in Sanjay Leela Bhansali-produced Chenaab Gandhi.

"Isn't that amazing? It takes a lot of getting used to. But I feel blessed. I'm done with trying to be someone I am not. I went through a period of tremendous turmoil when I was struggling to do roles that didn't come naturally to me. But now in hindsight I think that confusion helped me pick Paa, Ishiqya and Chenaab Gandhi. It's gratifying to know today directors think of me for specific roles and not just as one of many choices."

There's a lot of talking about Vidya's aesthetic clothes in Paa. "All thanks to Sabysachi Chakraborty. I think he understood my body language and my personality perfectly. And he dressed me up beautifully without overstepping the parameters of my character."