Vidya Balan born on 1 January 1978) is an Indian actress. She has established a successful career in Hindi films (Bollywood) and is the recipient of several awards, including a National Film Award, five Filmfare Awards, and five Screen Awards, and was awarded the Padma Shri by the Government of India in 2014. She is known for portraying strong female protagonists and has been acknowledged in the media for breaking stereotypes of a Hindi film heroine.
Vidya aspired to a career in film from a young age, and had her first acting role in the 1995 sitcom Hum Paanch. She pursued a master's degree in sociology from theUniversity of Mumbai and simultaneously made several unsuccessful attempts to start a career in film. She subsequently featured in various television commercials and music videos, and in 2003 made her feature film debut as the protagonist of the independent Bengali drama Bhalo Theko. In 2005 Vidya garnered praise for her first Hindi film, the musical drama Parineeta, and followed it with a leading role in the highly successful 2006 comedy film Lage Raho Munna Bhai. This initial success was followed by roles in the romantic comedies Heyy Babyy (2007) and Kismat Konnection (2008) which met with negative comments from the critics.
The year 2009 marked the beginning of the most successful period in Vidya's career as she portrayed five consecutive roles to wide critical acclaim in the 2009 drama Paa, the 2010 black comedy Ishqiya, the 2011 semi-biographical thriller No One Killed Jessica, the 2011 biopic The Dirty Picture, and the 2012 thriller Kahaani. These roles established her as a leading actress of Hindi cinema and earned her the tag of a "female hero". In addition to acting in films, Vidya promotes humanitarian causes and supports the empowerment of women. She initially drew criticism for her fluctuating weight and "questionable" dress sense, but was later credited in the media for "not morphing herself to fit into any conventional slot". She is married to the film producer Siddharth Roy Kapur.
Early life and background:
Vidya Balan was born on 1 January 1978 in Poothamkurussy, Puthur, a town in the Palakkad District of Kerala, to P. R. Balan, currently the Executive Vice-President of Digicable, and Saraswathy Balan, a homemaker. According to Vidya, they speak a mix of Tamil and Malayalam at home; she is also well versed in Hindi, Marathi, English and Bengali. Her elder sister, Priya Balan, works in the field of advertising. South film actress Priyamani is her cousin.
Vidya grew up in the suburban neighbourhood of Chembur, Mumbai and was schooled at St. Anthony Girls' High School. From a young age she aspired to a career in film and was inspired by the work of actorsShabana Azmi and Madhuri Dixit. At the age of sixteen, she starred in the first season of Ekta Kapoor's sitcom Hum Paanch as Radhika, a bespectacled teenager. Following the success of the show, Vidya refused director Anurag Basu's offer to star in a television soap opera, as she wanted to concentrate on a film career. Her parents were supportive of the decision but encouraged her to complete her education first, so she attended St. Xavier's College to pursue a bachelor's degree in sociology and later earned a master's degree from the University of Mumbai.
Career:
While pursuing her master's degree, Vidya was cast as the female lead in the Malayalam film Chakram, opposite Mohanlal and was subsequently signed on for twelve other Malayalam language films. However, due to production difficulties, Chakram was shelved. The postponement of a film starring Mohanlal was an unheard of occurrence in Malayalam cinema and film producers blamed her for bringing "bad luck" to the project; labelled her as a "jinx" and replaced her in all the films that she had been contracted for. She then shifted focus to Tamil cinema. In 2001, she was cast as the female lead in N. Linguswamy's Run (2002). However, after completing the first shooting schedule of the film, she was unceremoniously dropped and replaced by Meera Jasmine. She was signed up under false pretences for a sex comedy, a genre she was then uncomfortable with, and thus decided to leave the project. Thereafter, she signed on for a third Tamil film, Manasellam (2003), but was replaced by Trisha Krishnan as the director was dissatisfied with her work. Kalari Vikraman (2003), a Malayalam film that she completed work for, failed to get a theatrical release.
After failing to start a film career, Vidya appeared in approximately sixty television commercials and in music videos for Euphoria and Shubha Mudgal; a majority of these were directed by Pradeep Sarkar. In 2003, she was signed on by Goutam Halder for his independent Bengali drama Bhalo Theko; her first film release. Her portrayal of Anandi, a young woman reminiscing about her past, won her an Anandalok Purashkar for Best Actress.
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