Vidya Balan’s Topless Act Copied by Rituparna Sengupta

Posted by admin on Sep 19th, 2011 | 0 comments

Vidya Balan’s backless scans in FHM magazine won maximum eyeballs. But the visual treat comes back to our memories when we see the similarity in Rituparna Sengupta’s backless picture which is shot as a sensuous look for her bold Bengali movie ‘Charulata’

Vidya Balan’s broad back, her sensuous posture and curled hair has been replicated by Rituparna Sengupta, the only difference being the color of the sarees. When film-maker Agnidev was asked about the similarity, he said, “My film is about a new-age Charulata. We wanted a contemporary look. The emotions are strong and bold. Rituparna’s character is into a reasonably successful marriage — except for the fact that she is sexually starved in the relationship. This look is from a dream sequence when she is hospitalized after a miscarriage. During the dream, she feels undressed. Rituparna and I sat together and decided on this look.”

But is he aware that Vidya’s look is quite similar to Rituparna’s? The director says, “No, I am not aware of that. References might be there. Please speak to my photographer, Somnath Roy.” The photographer was also clueless. “I was given a brief and I merely executed it technically. The styling was done by Sandy. I’ve no idea about Vidya’s photo-shoot. I’m in Visakhapatnam now and if I can get Internet access, I’ll take a look at the magazine cover. I was under the impression that the shoot was being conceived on the lines of Raja Ravi Varma’s paintings.”

Sandy, the stylist says, “My brief was to create a look of a daring Bong woman. I was asked to stick to the red-and-white colour scheme. As for resemblances with Vidya’s shoot, it’s purely coincidental. I’ve only seen one Vidya photo from her backless shoot where she’s standing wearing a green choli. I’ve not seen the other photos.”

Ritparna said that she was also unaware of Vidya’s topless look. “This look is very artistic. It’s part of a dream sequence and will be used in case of some specific parts of the film. The makers had brought a sketch of the kind of look they wanted. I knew that my hair would be curled. But, I’m not aware of Vidya’s shoot. I’ve never seen that. Even if anyone used that as a reference, I am unaware of it.”

When contacted with Vidya’s manager, she said, “We’ve seen both the photos. The look is exactly similar. There was a time when Vidya was criticized for her look and now people are following her. It’s flattering to note that Vidya has become such a style icon that her look has inspired a Bengali movie.”