Vidya lonely & waiting for Love

Vidya lonely & waiting for Love


With two bumper hits in her kitty Vidya Balan's career is going great guns. Lots of commercial successes. Plenty to smile about. "I was very happy about all my five releases in 2007, though some of them didn't do well.

From the very start when Dada (Pradeep Sarkar) showed so much faith in me by giving me Parineeta the industry has made a substantial space for me. By the grace of God, there're lots of interesting roles happening.

I'm in the process of signing some more. Since I came to cinema my criteria for signing a role remains unchanged. I've never been in a hurry to get anywhere.

Things are happening at a pace I'm enjoying. And I'm not insecure. Jo hoga achcha hi hoga."

She ponders for a few seconds as kids approach her for her autograph at the airport. Then she says, I don't regret anything. I'm a hopeless optimist. I feel what I've to go through will happen regardless of how much I fight it."

The industry is looking at Akshay Kumar and Vidya as a hit jodi after Heyy Babyy and Bhool Bhulaiya. "I'd love for us to be seen that way.

Even Katrina-Akshay too look great together. I'd love to work with Akshay again. Yes, we've offers together. He's a great co-star. The icing on the cake is our films together have worked."

In Bhool Bhulaiya Vidya invested demoniacal energy.

"Yes, it was a frightening experience. My director Priyadarshan handled the last 20 minutes of the story when I get into a supernatural rage of dance, very intelligently. I love Priyan. He's a man of few words.We even converse in Malayalam."

This year Vidya was supposed to do another film with Priyan. "But there's a problem with the leading man. I'd love to work with Priyan again. I've been fortunate in the fact that directors have signed me more than once."

So is she doing her Heyy Babby director Sajid Khan's film? "There's been no formal talk on this. Sajid hasn't offered me the role. I've been reading reports that I'm doing the film.

Right now he's writing his next film…I'm lucky to be a part of the movie industry when leading ladies are no longer decorative. It's providential that I started with Parineeta."

She gets sentimental about Pradeep Sarkar. "Staying away from his second film Laga Chunari Mein Daag was unbearable for me. I want to be part of his next film for sure.

Any hopes for 2008? "Add some spice to my own life and not wait for others to do it for me. I would like love to happen. But I'm not holding my breath for it. Yes,there're times when I get lonely. But most of the time I'm quite happy being with my family and myself."

Unlike Preity Zinta Vidya has made no pledge to stay away from actors in her personal life.

"Some people are doctors, others are actors. My companion can be from any walk of life. If he's an actor we can both carry our own mirrors to the sets and be narcissistic individually.

And we can have mirrors all over the house. Instead of looking into each other's eyes we can look into the mirrors," Vidya jokes and flies off to another destination.

Beware the Bollywood pranksters!

Beware the Bollywood pranksters!

Filmmaking is serious business. Even so, all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy, remember?

And so pranksters like Akshay Kumar and Ajay Devgan turn the atmosphere, on the sets, all fun and games with their treasure trove of never-ending practical jokes.

On April Fool's Day, rediff.com thought it appropriate to list instances when stars made bakras out of their colleagues.

We start with Akshay Kumar and Vidya Balan, who make quite a hit team on screen. Both their films together -- Heyy Babyy and Bhool Bhulaiyaa hit the jackpot.

Ditto for the Khiladi's super-successful prank on the gullible actress.

During the making of Bhool Bhulaiyaa, Akki discovered Vidya's mobile phone unattended. He grabbed this perfect opportunity to send a mischievous, not-so-nice SMS to the dance director.

The latter gave a stinging reply, which irked the Parineeta beauty no end. She gave the poor choreographer a dressing down, only to later realise this was Akki's idea of a joke.

Vidya Balan unveils Apsara, looking like one!

She is high on our Most Favored Actress (MFA) list but that is not why we are saying she looked like an 'apsara' at the Taj Lands End, Bandra, Mumbai, Friday noon, March 14, where she announced the Producer's Guild Awards 2008 nominations and unveiled the Apsara trophy. read more

I'm single for George Clooney: Vidya

Vidya Balan has decided to take all criticism and snide remarks about her so-called bizarre sense of dress with a smile. You know, don’t you, that she was ripped apart for what she wore in Guru and Hey Babby, and was plunged into controversy for being possibly the most unfashionable actress in Bollywood. Now Vidya said of her appalling clothes, “They’re just a piece of cloth on my body, yaar. Maybe I had a bad hair day. It’s okay, I’ve learned to take criticism. I guess I was little blase earlier. But I’m glad no one is finding fault with my work. And I’m not under scrutiny for talent.” read more

Is too much being made of Vidya Balan's bad dress sense?

It all began at the Filmfare Awards when actor Vidya Balan was given the na-real award for her horrendous clothes in Heyy Babyy . However, the issue has gone a bit too far. And now there are blame games. While Vidya Balan holds fashion designer Manish Malhotra and director Sajid Khan also responsible for her avatar in Heyy Babyy , Manish says, how can she justify what she was wearing at the Filmfare Awards then? read more

Vidya's late night chats

Vidya's late night chats
Vidya Balan is known to be one helluva chatterbox, and can chat nineteen to a dozen.

Now that she is in films and mostly interacting with filmi folks, we wonder if the actor is still in touch with her old pals?

“I know I am busy shooting, but I try to catch up with friends late night after shoots,” she tells us. Here we have another actress who still believes ‘old is gold’.

Vidya’s Konnection: Exclusive

Vidya’s Konnection: Exclusive


Vidya Balan has simple tastes. And one such simple taste is yapping on the phone. The actress confesses, “I can talk for hours.” And so the Heavens must have heard her earnest plea because Vidya Balan is now the brand ambassador of a telecom brand.

And her co-star in this commercial is none other than her hubby from Guru, Madhavan. “We were meeting after the shoot of Guru and I really enjoyed doing this commercial’.

Vidya began her career as a model before she caught the critical eye of adman turned director Pradeep Sarkar. Sarkar cast her in pop group, Euphoria’s music video and then in his highly acclaimed, Parineeta. But this is the first commercial Vidya has done after coming into films.

The Parineeta actress laughingly adds ‘This is a perfect fit for me because I love chatting on the phone, as I tend to catch up with friends and family on my drive home after shoots, which invariably is late at night, most times.”

To this we can only add “Miss Balan your calls are always welcome- to whom ever and when ever!!

Vidya: Dressed to kill!

Vidya: Dressed to kill!



Shah Rukh and Saif said much about Vidya’s bad sense of dressing at the Filmfare Awards this year and also presented her with the infamous nariyal award.

And though Vids passed the buck (or should we say muck) on to Sajid Khan and Manish Malhotra, the irony of it all was her hideous orange outfit on the day of the awards as well. We nearly died when we saw it! Talk about being dressed to ‘kill’!

Honey, you need a better designer than the one who designed the kesari outfit for you. Else, be prepared to be nominated for the popular nariyal award next year yet again!

Vidya Balan: I thought kids would hate me

Vidya Balan: I thought kids would hate me




At the moment, Vidya Balan has only one assignment, Aziz Mirza's Kismat Connection. "And it's very different from every thing I've done so far. That's how I like it. I don't want to get repetitive so early in my career."

She played Ajay Devgan's supportive wife in the recently-released Halla Bol and feels proud of the work, no matter what its box-office outcome. "Whether it's the amnesiac wife in Salaam-e-Ishq, the schizophrenic wife in Bhool Bhulaiyaa or the fiercely supportive wife of a philandering star in Halla Bol, I'm equally proud and possessive of all my films, no matter how they perform at the box-office."

Vidya Balan who started her career with a Bengali film, is returning to her roots. "I feel I was Bengali in my last life. In fact, when Ritu-da offered me a Hindi film I shocked him by requesting him to do a Bengali film with me."

Though Vidya's film with Rituparno Ghosh opposite Akshay Kumar didn't work out, Vidya and Akshay have become a hit jodi. "Inshan Allah, if all goes well, Akshay and I will sign another film together this year. But my big kick in 2008 is the Bengali film. And it's with Gautam Haldar, the same director with whom I did my career's very first film Bhalo Theko in Bengali. I really wanted to do another Bengali film because that's where my acting career started. Even my first Hindi film Parineeta was very Bengali in ambience."

Vidya is excited about the return to her a cinema she loves dearly. "I play a character called Hashi. And Tanujaji is also in the film with me. I'm aware she has done loads of Bengali films in the past. And she's one of the actresses I truly admire. So I'm really excited about the film."

"My first release before even Parineeta was a Bengali film. It's like coming home for me. Kolkata is home for me. I sincerely wanted to do it. This is my way of saying thank you to the film industry. It welcomes me at a time when I had no place in the Hindi film industry. I've always been fascinated by the land of Ray. It was a dream to have done a role in a Bengali as my very first film." Even her character in Bhool Bhulaiyaa was eminently Bengali. "Yes and I worked so hard on the character…Awards nominations? I'd love to get the awards. I thought the kids would hate me after that frightening role. It did scare them. And I'm glad as I was meant to do that. Fortunately, they recall me by the breezy radio-jockey's character in Lage Raho Munnabhai."

Why isn't she in any of the big banners in Bollywood? "I crave to work with all of them. And I'm sure it'll happen at the right time. Sometimes you strive hard for something and it doesn't happen. Like I wanted to do another Bengali film. While I was trying it didn't happen. When I stopped trying it happened."

The one wish she'd like granted this year? "You mean apart from doing another Bengali film? I'd like to be loved all the time. And can I get one more wish? I wish all my films would do well. In my recent lot Salaam-e-Ishq and Halla Bol didn't. But I really loved working in both. And I'm proud of them."

Akshay Kumar: Bollywood Film Heyy Babyy

Funny man Sajid Khan has been spoofing films regularly on television, but when it was his turn, he wasn't able to skip the cliches of Hindi films. Sajid made a career out of laughing aloud at DVD adaptations of popular Hollywood cinema, but when he made a film he did just that - Indianise and adapt Hollywood winner Three Men And A Baby!
The story is predictable to the end. Arush (Akshay), Al(Fardeen) and Tanmay(Riteish) are forced to take into their custody a baby left at their door-step saying, "Look after your baby, you @#$!" From baby food, soiled nappies flying about the place and a bawling infant, Sajid infuses bawdy humour with scenes where Arush goes to pick up baby-food and seeks instructions from a young mother who cautions him to boil the nipple before feeding the baby and Arush appears all bewildered as he massages his nipples!

Read more about the Film Heyy Babyy

Bollywood Film : HEYY BABYY breaks box office records!

Sajid Nadiadwala's HEYY BABYY, directed by debutant Sajid Khan, starring Akshay Kumar, Fardeen Khan, Riteish Deshmukh and Vidya Balan has taken a block buster opening worldwide with a record shattering opening weekend collection of Rs. 41 crore.

HEYY BABYY breaks box office records!