Vidya Balan, who made a dramatic entry into Bollywood, knows how to cock a snook at her critics in the South Indian film industry. Unfortunately, Prabhu Deva had to bear the brunt of the lady's ire against the Tamil film industry, as she refused to play the heroine's role in
Shankardada Zindabad, despite the promise of a hefty remuneration and an equal footing along with Chiranjeevi in the promos.
Going into the details of the story, before she made her forays in Bollywood, Vidya Iyer, who later became Vidya Balan, was signed for the Malayalam film
Chakram, which was shelved. She was then signed in Tamil by Lingusamy for his
Run, but she was dropped after the first schedule and replaced by Meera Jasmine. God knows the reason. But it was being whispered that she was a bad actress. And soon word spread about her "acting potential", and while she was trying to recover from rejection and shock, came the second major jolt. Vidya was dropped from another Tamil movie
Manasellam, and replaced by Trisha. But, this time she was told the reason: you can't act, please don't waster our time.
She then turned to advertising. She appeared in numerous television ads, many of which were directed by Pradeep Sarkar. She also did supporting roles in music videos, appearing with singers and bands such as Euphoria, Shubha Mudgal, and Pankaj Udhas, and acted in Hindi soap operas like
Hum Paanch.
Then
Parnieeta happened, followed by
Lage Raho Munnabhai, and the actress got critical acclaim and there was no looking back. Interestingly, after the success of
Parineeta, the same producer who dropped Vidya Balan from
Manasellam on the grounds that she had a non-photogenic face and was a poor actress, sought to sign her opposite Kamal Hassan for
Dasavatharam. But Vidya Balan rejected the offer, which went to Asin.
Of course, we can see why the actress has such a grouse against the Tamil filmmakers, but we couldn't understand why she refused to do a film with Chiranjeevi, or the Telugu film industry, who had nothing to do with her jinx story in the south.
But, sources tell us, that the actress was miffed with the very attitude of the southern filmmakers for treating her so badly, and has decided not to do a film in the south. Even if it is in Telugu. That is why despite repeated pleadings, she refused to budge an inch fromer position. And that was when Karishma Kotak was signed on as the heroine.
We understand your situation Vidya, but isn't it time you let bygones be bygones?
