Vidya Balan Recalls Nervous Moments on Jailer 2 Set Alongside Rajinikanth

The excitement surrounding Rajinikanth’s return as Tiger Muthuvel Pandian is building ahead of Jailer 2, the much-awaited sequel to the 2023 blockbuster directed by Nelson Dilipkumar. Adding to the buzz is Bollywood star Vidya Balan, who is making her first full-fledged appearance in a Tamil film with the action entertainer.

At the recently held Jailer 2 Super Show, Vidya opened up about her experience working with Rajinikanth and Nelson, sharing a few amusing moments from the sets and explaining why she was drawn to the film.

When asked what convinced her to join the project, her answer was simple: “It is both a Rajinikanth film and a Nelson film.”

The event also featured her co-stars Ramya Krishnan, S.J. Suryah and Suraj Venjaramoodu, who joined her in reflecting on their time filming the highly anticipated sequel.

While Vidya was enjoying her time with the cast, learning lengthy Tamil dialogues proved to be a different challenge.

S.J. Suryah playfully recalled how her mood would change whenever she received a long stretch of dialogue to memorise.

“She will be having so much fun with us, but as soon as she gets lengthy Tamil dialogues, she will immediately go silent and start learning them by heart like a schoolgirl,” he joked.

Vidya agreed, recalling how she would completely immerse herself in memorising her lines before a scene.

“I won’t talk to anyone until the shot was over,” she said.

According to her, Suryah would even joke that watching her learn the dialogues were giving him stress. But once the shot was completed, she would return to her usual relaxed and talkative self.

It was a glimpse into the effort behind her performance, as she worked to deliver her lines in a language, she was still getting comfortable with.

Vidya also recalled how Nelson’s tendency to improvise scenes sometimes left her scrambling to prepare, particularly because she was not entirely fluent in Tamil.

“One day, right before the shoot, he gave me one and a half pages of new dialogues. I stood there, wondering how I was going to do it, given that I also had to smoke a cigarette while delivering the lines,” she recalled.

Nelson joined in with his own version of the incident, remembering how nervous she appeared during the smoking scene.

“As I was looking through the monitor, I saw her hands shaking and voice trembling. After a point, the smoke started going into her eyes,” he said.

Vidya revealed that she became increasingly anxious as she tried to manage the cigarette while delivering her lines, especially with Rajinikanth present on set.

“Vidya told me, ‘I am not doing anything; the cigarette is shaking on its own,’” the director recalled.

The moment offered a humorous glimpse into the challenges actors sometimes face on set, even when they are experienced performers. Despite the unexpected challenges, Vidya had plenty of praise for Nelson and his approach to filmmaking.

She described him as a talented writer who knows how to bring humour into different situations while balancing the many elements of commercial cinema.

“He balances humour, entertainment, drama, song and dance, action, and everything else. His movies are like Bhel Puri, they have everything. Nelson’s vision is very clear. I just followed what he asked me to do,” she said.

Her comparison to Bhel Puri captured the mix of entertainment, humour, drama and action audiences have come to associate with Nelson’s filmmaking style.

Vidya also shared that S.J. Suryah became her source for all the latest gossip in the Tamil film industry during the shoot. She added that veteran actor Mithun Chakraborty, affectionately known as Mithun da, also had plenty of stories to share.

Source / Image Credit : Indianexpress