Indian actress Vidya Balan made her acting debut in 1995 with the sitcom Hum Paanch , following which she made several unsuccessful attempts at a film career. [1] Vidya then appeared in music videos for Euphoria, Pankaj Udhas, and Shubha Mudgal [2] [3] all directed by Pradeep Sarkar. She had her first film release with a leading role in Goutam Halder's Bengali film Bhalo Theko (2003). [4] In 2005, she starred in Sarkar's Parineeta , an adaptation of Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay's novel, [5] which won her the Filmfare Award for Best Female Debut. [6] Rajkumar Hirani's Lage Raho Munna Bhai (2006), a successful comedy sequel, saw her play a radio jockey opposite Sanjay Dutt. [7] [8]
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Vidya played a variety of roles in 2007, including a woman suffering from multiple sclerosis in Mani Ratnam's drama Guru , [9] a single mother in the comedy Heyy Babyy , [10] and a dissociative identity disorder patient in the thriller Bhool Bhulaiyaa . [11] [12] All three films were commercially successful and established her as a leading lady. [13] This was followed by two commercial failures in 2008. [14] From 2009 to 2012, Vidya starred in five consecutive films that garnered her critical and commercial success. [15] She played the mother of a child afflicted with progeria in Paa (2009), a seductive widow in Ishqiya (2010), and the real-life character of Sabrina Lal in No One Killed Jessica (2011). [16] [17] [18] For portraying the actress Silk in the biopic The Dirty Picture , Vidya won the National Film Award for Best Actress. [19] [20] She next played a pregnant woman seeking revenge in the thriller Kahaani (2012), directed by Sujoy Ghosh. [21] She was awarded the Filmfare Award for Best Actress for her roles in Paa, The Dirty Picture, and Kahaani, and the Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actress for Ishqiya. [22] [23] [24]
Vidya failed to replicate this success in the next few years. [25] This changed in 2017 when she played a radio jockey in Tumhari Sulu , for which she won another Best Actress Award at Filmfare. [26] [27] She also starred in the top-grossing ensemble drama Mission Mangal (2019). [28] She then starred in the Amazon Prime Video streaming films Shakuntala Devi (2020), Sherni (2021), and Jalsa (2022), [29] winning another Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actress for playing an Indian Forest Service officer in Sherni. [30] Her highest-grossing release came with the comedy horror sequel Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3 (2024). [28] [31]
