Vidya Balan made a remarkable entry into Hindi cinema with Parineeta, an adaptation of Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay’s 1914 Bengali novella. Directed by the late Pradeep Sarkar and produced by veteran filmmaker Vidhu Vinod Chopra, the film marked the beginning of her Bollywood journey. While she fondly remembers her association with Sarkar, who believed in her talent even as a newcomer, Vidya recently opened up about a moment that left her shaken just before filming began. In a candid conversation with Filmfare, the actor recalled how producer Vidhu Vinod Chopra suggested she undergo plastic surgery.
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“He told me, ‘Tera naak bohot lamba hai, surgery karwate hai.’ Main dar gayi (He told me, ‘Your nose is too long, let’s get a surgery done.’ I got scared). And I was like, ‘I’m not going to do this’. And I’ll tell you why, because to this day I have not touched my face. I get a facial done once in a while, and that’s about it. I’m very particular, ki jaisa hai waisa hai, Bhagwan ne diya hai, bohot achha diya hai (The way it is, that’s how it is. God gave it to me, and He gave it beautifully).” She also shared another difficult episode from her early years, before Parineeta, when she was working on a Malayalam film. The makers had asked her to change her surname, something she was deeply uncomfortable with.
“During my Malayalam film, they told me there is Manju Warrier, there is Samyukta Varma, who used their community names as their surnames. So you should also be called Vidya Iyer, not Vidya Balan. I changed my name and I cried, but my parents told me, ‘You will always be Vidya Balan.’ But again, they didn’t know, right? The director and producer wrote to everyone saying, ‘You’re an Iyer anyway, so it’s okay.’ And then that film didn’t happen. So I was very sure—if there is something I’m not comfortable doing, then it will definitely not work out. So when Mr Chopra told me, I was like, main dar gayi, and I came back and spoke to Dada (Pradeep Sarkar). I told him, ‘Dada, aap sambhal lo…’ and he was like, ‘Nahi nahi, main manage kar lunga (‘Dada, you handle it…’ and he said, ‘No, no, I’ll manage it)’.”
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Despite the pressures, Vidya reflected warmly on her experience working with Chopra’s production house, calling it a “protected environment” that helped her grow. “I did my first three films with Vinod Chopra Films, so that’s like my alma mater. I came from a protected environment, very disciplined, very professional. All the prep was done beforehand, you didn’t waste time on set at all. These are things I learnt early on, and of course they added to my South Indian discipline anyway.”
Last month, Parineeta completed 20 years, marking two decades of Vidya Balan in the Hindi film industry. She was last seen in the blockbuster horror-comedy Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3.
