Vidya Balan opens up about the depressive phase of her career before ‘Parineeta’ where she was replaced in a dozen South films. 

By Our Correspondent

Edited by Ruchika Shah

Even stalwarts like Vidya Balan aren’t spared of some ugly functioning of the film industry. Though she made her mark with her debut Hindi film, Parineeta in 2005, it wasn’t that rosy before. Balan had tried her luck down South as well, however it was an ugly experience. 

The Kahaani (2012) actor has revealed that there was a phase of three years in her career when she was replaced in a dozen South films. So depressive was it that she has stated that her dream of becoming an actor seemed inconceivable at that point.

As reported by Mid-Day, Balan has mentioned that she confides in her husband and film producer Siddharth Roy Kapur, when she feels low. “Ups and downs are part of life, they don’t happen only when you’re struggling for your first break, even after becoming an actor, I’ve been through very deep lows. I talk to Siddharth about whatever I’m going through”, says the actress.

When asked about the low phase in her career, Vidya continued, “Sometimes you don’t even need anyone to tell you something, you just want to share what you’re going through. So I think, various, various ups and downs. Maybe before I got Parineeta, there was a period of about three years when I got replaced in a dozen South films and nothing I did seemed to be working. I thought maybe my dream of becoming an actor will remain an unrealised one. So that was probably a really low ‘low’. The lowest ‘low’!”

The actor also sounded bitter about some friendships in the industry. Vidya stated that she used to feel dispirited when she heard her so-called friends saying negative things about her. “I would get hurt by comments from people who I thought were my friends. You know sometimes they’ll say things to put you down and I never understood that. Then I realised they weren’t my friends, they were people I was working with. That realisation comes from experience and maturity. I’ve enjoyed working with a lot of those people but they are not friends”, states the Kahaani actress.Vidya’s upcoming film ‘Shakuntala Devi’ (2020) which is the biopic of the ‘Human Computer’ Shakuntala Devi is set to release on 31 July, 2020 on Amazon Prime.