Actress Vidya Balan, who is riding high on the success of "Lage Raho Munna Bhai", says she and John Abraham make an unusual pair in their upcoming film "Salaam-e-Ishq".

"It does feel like a very different kind of pairing, doesn't it?" says Vidya Balan about her latest co-star.

But Vidya feels very glamorous of late. "For a song in 'Lage Raho Munna Bhai' in Goa with Sanjay I had to go through 16 costume changes in the course of the song. Isn't that cool?"

Vidya sounds as excited as yesteryears actress Mumtaz who changed into dozens of costumes for a film called "Roop Tera Mastana".

After acting with sizzling divas like Bipasha Basu and Priyanka Chopra, John goes for a complete about turn in Nikhil Advani's "Salaam-e-Ishq" and teams up with Vidya.

There is no commonality between them but she seems to be very happy to have John as her partner in the film.

"No two actors could be more different in personality. John is very cosmopolitan and I'm very Indian in look and attitude. I think that friction in our personalities is essential to our onscreen compatibility. That's how our director Nikhil Advani saw us," Vidya told IANS.

"We're two completely antithetical souls from the outside. I'm the simple homely girl, while he's the cool dude. But scratch the surface and we're a perfectly compatible couple. Isn't that how it is in real life too?"

Advani wants to show Vidya's maturity in matters of the heart on screen.

"That's the quality I want to bring out in their on-screen chemistry. The Vidya-John pairing is so fresh just like east meeting west. The two are so different in all aspects - their body language, their approach to a scene - everything is so different," said Advani.

"I'm really excited about how their pair looks on screen," added Advani, whose film already has a chalk-and-cheese pair - Govinda and South African actress Shanon.

Vidya had 30 whole days to get acquainted with the finer points of John's personality.

"He's so hassle-free and so much fun to work with. I may look like this demure Indian girl. But I like my share of fun. I think John and I are going to make a great on-screen couple," she said.

Other chalk-and-cheese pairs in Bollywood:

1. Manoj Kumar-Saira Banu in "Purab Aur Paschim"

2. Govinda-Sushmita Sen in "Kyunki Main Jhooth Nahin Bolta"

3. Saif Ali Khan-Sonali Kulkarni in "Dil Chahta Hai"