I believe my career is going to last as long as I'm alive. - Vidya Balan”

Jagan Shakti’s Mission Mangal, based on India’s Mangalyaan or Mars Orbiter Mission has crossed the Rs 100-crore mark within a week of its release.

It revisits India’s historic undertaking through the eyes of Akshay Kumar as the mission chief, along with Vidya Balan, Taapsee Pannu, Sonakshi Sinha, Nithya Menen, KirtiKulhari, and Sharman Joshi. Caught in a celebratory mood, Vidya Balan, believes her career has hit an interesting arc with prominent roles coming her way. After Mission Mangal, she’ll feature in the biopic on math genius, Shakuntala Devi. Reportedly, she’ll also be playing the late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in Ritesh Batra’s web series, based on Sagarika Ghose’s book Indira: India’s Most Powerful Prime Minister. Excerpts…

What was the excitement of playing Tara Shinde in Mission Mangal?

Tara Shinde is a project director on the mission to Mars. But she’s like any other professional woman in India, who’s handling both home and work. Her work is her identity. It gives her great joy. She’s fully committed to it but she also handles her home with as much dedication. The balancing act appealed to me. All around me, I see women like that. At some point or the other they’re told ‘Ghar mein gadbad hui toh tumhari wajah se’. It’s almost like you’re expected to be a superwoman. But the fantastic thing about Tara Shinde is she’s not trying to be a superwoman.

Taapsee Pannu, your co-star in Mission Mangal, mentioned that you’ve been an inspiration for her…