69 Facts About Vidya Balan

1.

Vidya Balan was awarded the Padma Shri by the Government of India in 2014.

2.

Vidya Balan made her film debut by starring in the Bengali film Bhalo Theko and received praise for her first Hindi film, the drama Parineeta.

3.

Vidya Balan went on to establish herself by starring as headstrong women in five consecutive commercial successes, which earned her critical and awards recognition.

4.

Vidya Balan has since starred in the Amazon Prime Video films Shakuntala Devi, Sherni, and Jalsa.

5.

Vidya Balan promotes humanitarian causes and supports the empowerment of women.

6.

Vidya Balan is a member of the Indian Central Board of Film Certification and has hosted a radio show.

7.

Vidya Balan is married to the film producer Siddharth Roy Kapur.

8.

Vidya Balan was born on 1 January 1979 in Bombay, into a Tamil Brahmin family.

9.

Vidya Balan, is the executive vice-president of Digicable and her mother, Saraswathy Vidya Balan, is a homemaker.

10.

Vidya Balan grew up in the suburban neighbourhood of Chembur, Mumbai and attended St Anthony Girls' High School.

11.

Vidya Balan's parents were supportive of the decision but encouraged her to complete her education first.

12.

Vidya Balan 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.

13.

The postponement of a film starring Mohanlal was an unheard occurrence in Malayalam cinema and producers blamed Vidya Balan for bringing "bad luck" to the project; labelled her as a "jinx"; and replaced her in the films that she had been contracted for.

14.

Vidya Balan was replaced by Meera Jasmine in Bala.

15.

Vidya Balan cast her in the central role of Aanandi, a young woman reminiscing about her past, for the combination of innocence and experience that he found in her.

16.

Vidya Balan was ecstatic about her involvement in Bengali cinema, later calling it a dream come true and highlighting its contribution to her subsequent progress.

17.

Vidya Balan was awarded an Anandalok Purashkar for Best Actress for her performance.

18.

Vidya Balan's performance received praise from critics; Derek Elley of Variety found her to be an "acting revelation", adding that her "devoted but dignified Lalita is the picture's heart and soul".

19.

Vidya Balan played a radio jockey and the title character's love interest, for which she met up with radio hosts and watched them at work.

20.

Vidya Balan began 2007 by accepting the supporting role of a multiple sclerosis patient in Mani Ratnam's drama Guru, starring Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai, citing her desire to work with Ratnam.

21.

In 2008's Halla Bol, based on the life of activist Safdar Hashmi, Vidya Balan played a supporting role opposite Ajay Devgn.

22.

Vidya Balan next took on a glamorous role in the romantic comedy Kismat Konnection, co-starring Shahid Kapoor.

23.

Vidya Balan explained her choice of this part as a deliberate attempt to move away from her comfort zone, but she found it difficult to dance alongside Kapoor.

24.

Vidya Balan played a single mother struggling with her son's progeria.

25.

Vidya Balan was initially skeptical about playing the part, wondering if she could be maternal towards an actor of Bachchan's stature, who is over 30 years her senior.

26.

Vidya Balan has said that the film's reception gave her "courage to stick to my conviction".

27.

Vidya Balan described her next role, in Abhishek Chaubey's black comedy Ishqiya, to be "an epitome of grey".

28.

Vidya Balan proves that she is miles ahead of the cookie cutter Barbie dolls that clutter Bollywood and that sensuality has very little to do with showing skin.

29.

In No One Killed Jessica, a thriller based on the murder of Jessica Lal, and co-starring Rani Mukerji, Vidya Balan played the real-life character of Sabrina, who seeks justice for her sister's murder.

30.

Vidya Balan was styled in men's dresses and loose-fitted clothing; several scenes were shot on location using hidden cameras, and she was pleased with the anonymity that her styling provided.

31.

The New York Times reported that with her role in The Dirty Picture, a drama based on the controversial Indian actress Silk Smitha, Vidya Balan had "redefine[d] the Hindi film heroine".

32.

Vidya Balan gained 12 kilograms to look the part.

33.

Vidya Balan won another Filmfare and Screen Award, in addition to the National Film Award for Best Actress.

34.

Vidya Balan next starred in the thriller Kahaani, directed by Sujoy Ghosh.

35.

Vidya Balan drew media attention for wearing a prosthetic belly while promoting the film.

36.

Pratim D Gupta of The Telegraph wrote that Vidya "gets into the physicality of a pregnant woman with unfailing mastery".

37.

Vidya Balan won a fourth consecutive Best Actress Award at Screen and a third Best Actress Award at Filmfare.

38.

Vidya Balan then provided the voice of Draupadi for Mahabharat, an animation film based on the Indian epic of the same name.

39.

Vidya Balan began 2014 with Shaadi Ke Side Effects, a romantic comedy about a married couple, in which she was pitted opposite Farhan Akhtar.

40.

Vidya Balan was next drawn to the title role of an aspiring detective in the comedy-mystery film Bobby Jasoos, after connecting with the character's struggle to prove herself.

41.

All of these films were commercially unsuccessful, which led Vidya Balan to admit that she felt "devastated" by their reception.

42.

Vidya Balan was drawn to playing a woman who commands respect and identified with her "silent aggression".

43.

Vidya Balan then portrayed the actress Geeta Bali in multiple songs for Ekk Albela, a Marathi-language biopic of Bhagwan Dada.

44.

In Srijit Mukherji's period drama Begum Jaan, a remake of the filmmaker's own Bengali film Rajkahini, Vidya Balan played the title role of a procurer from the 1940s.

45.

Vidya Balan worked with Mukherji to provide a backstory to her character and researched the era by reading The Other Side of Silence; filming in the barren landscape of rural Jharkhand was physically daunting for her.

46.

Vidya Balan next played Sulu, a spirited housewife who moonlights as a talk radio host of a relationship counseling show, in the comedy-drama Tumhari Sulu.

47.

Vidya Balan identified with her character's lively personality and was pleased to play a rare comic part.

48.

Vidya Balan drew on her experience of playing a radio jockey in Lage Raho Munna Bhai and listened to late-night radio shows.

49.

Vidya Balan liked the idea of playing a seemingly ordinary homemaker who balances her family life with her work as a scientist, and she was pleased to work with four other leading ladies.

50.

Joe Leydon of Variety found Vidya Balan to be "drop-dead perfect from wire to wire", and she was awarded with another Best Actress nomination at Filmfare.

51.

Vidya Balan then portrayed the mental calculator Shakuntala Devi in an eponymous biopic, which due to the COVID-19 pandemic could not release theatrically and instead streamed on Amazon Prime Video.

52.

Vidya Balan received two more Filmfare nominations for her performance in it.

53.

Sukanya Verma opined that Vidya Balan's "refreshingly subdued portrayal" was a departure from the "self-aware feminist" roles that she had previously played.

54.

Vidya Balan was awarded with another Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actress for her performance.

55.

Vidya Balan next starred alongside Shefali Shah in the thriller Jalsa, which marked her third consecutive film to release on Amazon Prime Video.

56.

Vidya Balan played a journalist involved in a hit-and-run, a morally ambiguous character that she was initially hesitant to play.

57.

In 2009, Vidya Balan was involved in a controversy when she mentioned a previous relationship in which "caustic remarks" were made at her due to her weight.

58.

Vidya Balan is trained in Carnatic music and briefly studied the dance forms of Bharatnatyam and Kathak.

59.

In March 2011, Vidya Balan endorsed World Wildlife Fund's Earth Hour campaign in India.

60.

Vidya Balan campaigned for the cause of nutrition in India for Child In Need Institute, a non-profit organisation based in Kolkata.

61.

In September 2012, Vidya Balan visited a village in Mirzapur, Uttar Pradesh, where she participated in a campaign to promote children's education and the empowerment of women.

62.

In 2013, Vidya Balan served as the grand marshal of the India Day parade held in New York City.

63.

Also that year, Vidya Balan featured as the host of No More Kamzor, a television special on women empowerment.

64.

Vidya Balan's starring roles in Heyy Babyy and Kismat Konnection led to considerable attention in the media for her "questionable wardrobe".

65.

The major commercial success of the latter two earned her the title of a "female hero" and Kalpana Nair of Firstpost noted that with these two films Vidya Balan spearheaded a change in the roles that were offered to actresses over 30.

66.

Vidya Balan was featured by Forbes India in their annual Celebrity 100 list in 2012 and 2013.

67.

Vidya Balan featured in the list for the years 2005,2006,2009,2012, and 2016.

68.

In 2018, The Economic Times considered Vidya Balan to be one of the most prominent celebrity brand ambassadors in India.

69.

In 2014, Vidya Balan was awarded the Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian award in India, for her contributions to the entertainment industry.