Beggars can never be choosers, says Vidya Balan

Not many know that Vidya Balan’s parents were apprehensive about her career choices. Coming from a strict South Indian family, she had a tough time convincing her parents to let her join films. Interestingly, Vidya revealed that she somehow feels that her mother harboured the dream of being an actor herself and passed that on to her. She also shared how she was eight when ‘Tezaab’ was released and she got bitten by the Madhuri bug, as she watched her dance on ‘Ek Do Teen’.

Vidya was speaking to a popular journalist about her journey and shared how she auditioned for TV shows while she was in college. Though unhappy, her parents let her pursue her passion. “However, the first show that I was signed for never worked out. That’s when I got ‘Hum Paanch’. My parents were okay as they felt that TV was a safer option and the show was a comedy and a clean family watch,” she revealed. However, the actor had to quit the show midway as her college attendance was affected. She shared how her parents warned her that she’d have to study if she wanted to stay in the house.

“In retrospect, I feel everything just worked out. After quitting the show, I started doing ad films and that worked in my favour. I think if I hadn’t left TV, I wouldn’t be doing other things,” she shared. The ‘Jalsa’ star added that her mother was still very hassled and would accompany her to every shoot. It took time for her to realise that the industry was not bad and also had educated people.

When Balan was asked why she decided to move to Bollywood and not do South films, she exclaimed, “Beggars can never be choosers”. The actor elaborated that she was signed for a Malayalam film with Mohanlal, but it got shelved. Before that, she was verbally confirmed for many other projects. However, as news of the film started spreading, she was labelled as ‘jinxed’ and that made her miss out on work.

“They did not realise that the industry was going through a tough time. I was called jinxed and because of that, I lost faith in myself. It was a tough time and I faced a lot of rejections. However, since I was still doing ads then, I met Pradeep Sarkar and the first day he told me, I will make a film with you. So, there was no question of choosing ‘Parineeta’, the film chose me,” she replied.