‘Chak De’ hottie Vidya Malavade strikes again as a maverick widow in Netflix’s Mismatched 2

By Chaitanya Padukone

Multi-talented actress and yoga-instructor and fitness-enthusiast model-actress Vidya Malavade [of ‘Chak De’ movie fame] in Netflix’s teen romance Mismatched season 2 is being widely appreciated for her riveting performance. Where she plays the maverick character of Zeenat Karim.

While reading the script & constructing the character of Zeenat Karim in her mind, Vidya apparently developed an instant attachment with her and wanted to bring warmth, kindness & most importantly innocence to play this role. That’s because she knew she was the oldest out of the bunch but she wanted Zeenat to be the most innocent out of all. Malavade confides that she experienced an uncanny similitude between her real & reel-life personalities, Karim’s sense of freedom in the series after her husband’s sudden death deeply resonated with the actor’s intense quest for liberation herself which convinced her to be a part of Mismatched.

Vidya’s character of a Muslim widow woman from Lucknow who is trying to adapt to the modern world strongly resonates with most women. Despite the judgments, self-consciousness & nervousness, she makes every effort to befriend even the dourest of teenagers.

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Vidya’s dialogue ‘Shukriya LoL Zeenat’ where she misunderstands the millennial lingo was lauded, laughed & praised by the viewers for her innocence. It fetched the actress much-deserved applause & appreciation from the fans.  Vidya’s character of Zeenat in the second season is full of surprises “She is the most mismatched character in the setting of the show & yet her presence fits the plot to the point. Zeenat, older than her peers, tries everything to be accepted, to be acknowledged & welcomed, we’ve all been there, haven’t we? I hope, in some way, the character of Zeenat too will encourage some women to go back to college, if they so wish, and follow their long-lost dream”, enthuses Vidya.

Apart from the role, Vidya is thrilled for having acclaimed singer Rekha Bhardwaj lend her vocals to a beautiful romantic track titled ‘Aise Kyun’ starring Rannvijay Singha opposite Vidya herself which has stormed social media. The track which is trending on every social media platform happens to be the third most loved romantic track of Vidya’s career. Her last two songs ‘Mehram’ by Arijit Singh & Niladri Kumar & Khaalipan from Dr. Arora are two of her most loved songs.

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Vidya & Rannvijay’s much-loved & talked about chemistry has a name #SidNat which is given to them by their fans. #SidNat is a lovely hashtag for their character names ‘Sid sir & Zeenat Karim’. Soon after the first season, the web series had over 50 fan pages on social media, now after the second season, the count is only increasing.

It may be recalled that vivacious Vidya started her career as an air hostess. She then began modeling and was chosen by ad filmmaker Prahlad Kakkar for various ad films. Her acting debut was with co-star Ashmit Patel in director Vikram Bhatt‘s Inteha (2003) which did not score at the box office.  After a string of also-ran movies and several popular ad films, the vivacious Vidya acted in the National Award-winning YRF banner movie Chak De India [2007] She was cast in the riveting role of a goalie and captain of the Indian women’s national hockey team and her screen-character was also called “Vidya”. Her most recent movie was in Bengali titled Yaara Silly Silly. The exuberant model-actress has almost revolutionized the touchy taboo associated with a woman’s gender & age on Mismatched season 2 on Netflix.