Vidya Balan: Husain's latest pick

By Hindustan Times

New Delhi, July 5 -- After Madhuri Dixit, Tabu and Amrita Rao, painter MF Husain has found a new muse. The 94-year-old has reportedly watched the film Ishqiya 12 times already and is "fida" over Vidya Balan, the film's leading actress. Husain, also a filmmaker, now wants to paint her and also wants her to act in his next directorial venture.

"A painting by Husain saab would immortalise me, though I don't know how to react to him calling me 'gorgeous'," Balan laughs.

She admits that though she has seen his art, she hasn't watched his films - Gaja Gamini and Meenaxi - A Tale of Three Cities. "I will definitely watch both the films before we meet," she says. "I'd love to work with him and I'm hoping we can get started on the movie by next year."

Meanwhile, Balan has almost wrapped up No One Killed Jessica in which she is playing a character reportedly inspired by the late model Jessica Lall's sister Sabrina, who, for 11 years, crusaded for justice for her sister's murder.

Balan says she hasn't met Sabrina yet. "She's never visited the sets, I'd have known if she had, but she's definitely the face of the Jessica Lall case," Balan says. "Her fight has proved that you have to be the change you want to see in the world." Balan points out that she, too, has fought to live and work on her own terms. It wasn't easy to choose non-conventional films such as Paa and Ishqiya