Vidya Balan to step into the shoes of MS Subbulakshmi

Vidya Balan paid a long-overdue tribute to the ingenious Carnatic musician MS Subbulakshmi through meaningful photo shoot where the actress wore the traditional attire of the music legend. Working with costume designer Anu Parthasarathy, they saw Vidya in Subbulakshmi’s evergreen looks, one of India’s finest classical music singers known for much more than her sublime voice. Referred to as Nightingale of India, Subbulakshmi became the first musician to receive the Bharat Ratna, the country’s highest civilian award.

Acting, as always, like a ‘good girl’, Vidya ran to her Instagram to express her love towards Subbulakshmi and to share her excitement about fully achieving her long-time goal of being the onscreen representation of the iconic singer. “On her 108th birth anniversary, this is my tribute to the ‘Bharat Ratna’ M.S. Subbulakshmi (M.S. Amma), the Queen of Music as referred to by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and the Nightingale of India as referred by Sarojini Naidu, I feel privileged and overjoyed,” Vidya wrote.

Paying Tribute to Subbulakshmi’s Signature Look

For the tribute, Vidya stepped into four sarees that Subbulakshmi made popular in her inglorious period. “If those elegant and lively rich unique sarees wore one half of M.S. Amma, the other half was the simple wearing accessories that included the normal kumkum and vibhuti on the forehead, the flat and round nose stud, the dainty jasmine flower on the hair bun,” she explained her post in detail appreciating the elegance of Subbulakshmi’s styles, ‘Then and now’ to her, by M.S. Vidya’s turn by turn description.

Similarly, Vidya expressed her appreciation to further several others who contributed in making the tribute possible in the first place, like Anu Parthasarathy for the conceptualization and Sikkil Mala Chandrashekar the flutist, grandson-in-law of the legendary singer. In this tribune, Vidya not only sought to pay respect to the musical contribution of Subbulakshmi, but also the unique and elegant features and style she possessed.