‘Na tu kisi angle se mehbooba dikhti hai, na bibi. Badi feeki dikhti hai tu.’

These lines were said to an aspiring actress Reshma by the casting director in recent blockbuster ‘The Dirty Picture’. Little did the poor chap know that this ‘feeki’ girl would go on to become every man’s heartthrob in the southern film industry.



It has been rightly said that harsh words often yield an opposite effect, and who knows better than a film devotee than me. 

2005. I was in tenth standard, when this actress of the above mentioned film had made a sensational debut in Parineeta . Till then, she had mostly confined herself to television commercials wherein she mostly played the role of an Indian housewife. Unimpressed by her ordinary looks and healthy figure, I had openely declared that I won’t watch her films in theatres even if offered to watch it for free. Six years later, I had to wait for six days to be able to buy tickets for ‘The Dirty Picture’ that ran successfully and impressed trade pundits along with the critics.

Vidya Balan is the name. Be it the voluptuous and seductive Krishna in Ishqiya or the brave Sabrina fighting for her sister’s killers in No One Killed Jessica, 34 year-old  Balan has played her characters with complete honestly and determination. With a spree of commercially successful films like The Dirty Picture and recent hit Kahaani, this actress from Palakkad has shown that a film can ring cash registers by her name. In an industry dominated by the might of Khans, she has carved a star presence of her own and has a fan following growing in large number day- by-day. By her stupendous feat, she has silenced the claims of Hindi film industry being male dominated, to some extent.

Critics often complain that our industry thrives on superstar culture wherein a film is mostly a ‘circus’ consisting of colossal stars with exotic locations and glitzy songs set in expensive sets. Add to this, you have shirt ripping action sequences and a tinge of sleaze to generate revenues. However, with the flicks like Ra.One and Agent Vinod biting the dust, this myth of stars-run the film has somewhat shattered. Contrary to this, you have films like Paan Singh Tomar becoming a hit sans promotional drive and Kahaani becoming a success with only a promotional drive in Balan posing as a pregnant woman along the crowded streets of Kolkata for Kahaani. Another important thing to notice is that Vidya has mostly donned traditional and sober attire, refuting the claims of wearing skimpy attires in order to become a sex symbol. However, ‘The Dirty Picture’ was an exception as the role demanded her to be scantily clad, yet she looked sensuous and not vulgar as many had thought it to be otherwise.

With a National Award in her kitty, we hope that she will add more feathers to her crown and surprise us with more such excellent work in the years to come. And I would never mind standing in queues or sitting for prolonged hours in front of the computer to book the tickets for her film instantly when it is released.