After witnessing Vidya’s convincing work in Kahaani and Parineeta, most of the audiences believed that she’s a Bengali. But very few know that Vidya is a Tamil Brahmin.
Vidya Balan, the actress, who will always be loved for breaking the mold of picture-postcard beauties in the Hindi film industry. The Bollywood actress who created a niche for herself, turned 47 today. A performer who believes her work should talk, not words, she has been part of several successful films like Guru 2007, Lage Raho Munna Bhai 2006, Parineeta 2005, the critically acclaimed Paa 2009, The Dirty Picture 2011, and Kahaani 2012.
But do you know that Vidya Balan was born in Kerala but grew up in Mumbai? Read further to know everything about the actress here.
Vidya Balan’s birthplace
After witnessing Vidya’s convincing work in Kahaani and Parineeta, most of the audiences believed that she’s a Bengali. But very few know that Vidya is a Tamil Brahmin. Yes! Vidya was born on January 1, 1978 in the Palakkad district in Kerala to a homemaker, Saraswathy Balan and P R Balan, currently the chief mentor at MFA Consulting Private Limited. She was brought up along with her elder sister, Priya Balan, an advertisement professional.
Vidya completed her schooling from St Anthony Girls High School, Chembur, Mumbai and during her school days, she got selected to play the role of Radhika in the sitcom Hum Paanch produced by Ekta Kapoor. She completed her education with a bachelor’s degree in sociology from St Xavier’s College, Mumbai.
Vidya’s debut after several debacles
Persevering through tough times in the Malayalam and Tamil film industries, she finally launched her acting career with the independent Bengali film Bhalo Theko in 2003, with the aim of pursuing a career in Bollywood.
Her Hindi film debut was with Pradeep Sarkar’s Parineeta (2005) co-starring Saif Ali Khan, Sanjay Dutt and Raima Sen. She worked with several aclaimned directors in her initial days as Vidya shared the screen with Sanjay Dutt in Rajkumar Hirani’s comedy film Lage Raho Munna Bhai. She then worked in Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s Eklavya: The Royal Guard and Sajid Khan’s Heyy Babyy and Priyadarshan’s Bhool Bhulaiyaa co-staring Akshay Kumar.
But the movie that really brought her awards, acclaims, fame and name was Milan Luthria’s The Dirty Picture, a biopic in which she acted as the south Indian actress, Silk Smitha. The 2011 movie grossed a total of Rs 114 crore and was declared a blockbuster hit.
Vidya’s most hit films
Vidya Balan’s most successful films as far as the box office collection goes would be Mission Mangal, her highest-grossing film to date, and huge hits such as The Dirty Picture, Lage Raho Munna Bhai, as well as the critically acclaimed thriller films Kahaani and No One Killed Jessica. Her career-defining films that were successful both critically as well as commercially would also include Paa, Bhool Bhulaiyaa, as well as Tumhari Sulu.
A look at her personal life
She married Siddharth Roy Kapur, the CEO of UTV Motion Pictures, who is also the brother of actors Aditya Roy Kapur and Kunaal Roy Kapur, on December 14, 2012.
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