MUMBAI MIRROR (January 2, 2016)

Vidya Balan, who had to cut short her vacation abruptly and return to Mumbai from Abu Dhabi after she complained of shooting pain in the back, was discharged from the Hinduja hospital on Thursday and could bring in her 37th birthday at home. "She celebrated with an intimate family dinner including Siddharth's family and her's," informed a source close to the actress.

Besides playing a cop in TE3N, Vidya will also be seen in another cameo in her first Marathi film, Ek Albela in which she plays Geeta Bali. "Geeta was charming and effervescent, I don't know if I captured that quality and danced as well, though I've tried really hard," she had told Mirror earlier, admitting that a collaboration with Kahaani director Sujoy Ghosh was also on the cards.

MUMBAI MIRROR (December 31, 2015)

Last Sunday, en route to Mumbai from Kolkata after wrapping up her portions for Ribhu Dasgupta's TE3N, Vidya Balan had been excited about bringing in the New Year and her birthday on January 1 with husband Siddharth Roy Kapur at an undisclosed destination. Pointing out that it was the first time she'd be spending her birthday away from her family, she had laughed, "I have finally grown up!"

The couple had flown to Abu Dhabi and boarded the connecting flight when the actress was felled by a shooting pain in the back. The plane was taxing for take-off but the pain was so excruciating that paramedics were called on board and the duo was deplaned. Vidya's temperature had shot up and she was rushed to a clinic at the airport. Once the fever stabilised, they returned to Mumbai where she was admitted to the Hinduja clinic. After a few tests, a kidney stone has been suspected.

Vidya is being treated and should be discharged soon. So now, she will end up bringing in her birthday with not only hubby but family too!

Vidya Balan, for the first time, will bring in her birthday with husband Siddharth, away from her family on January 1
Roshmila Bhattacharya (MUMBAI MIRROR; December 29, 2015)


On Sunday, having wrapped up her portions for Ribhu Dasgupta's TE3N in Kolkata, Vidya Balan was on her way to Mumbai with nolen gurer rasgullas for her sister. Early on Monday, she left for an unrevealed destination with husband Siddharth Roy Kapur to bring in the New Year and her birthday on January 1.

"This is the first time in 36 years that I will not be celebrating my birthday with my family. Even if I was shooting I'd be back in town by December 31, and if I was at a party, I'd be back before midnight, to drag my parents out of bed and my sister from her bash to wish me. This year I feel I've finally grown up. My parents can sleep undisturbed and my sister and brother-in-law can do what they want as I will be away with Siddharth," she laughed.

Speaking to Mirror from Kolkata airport the actress was on a creative high after working with seasoned actors, Amitabh Bachchan and Nawazuddin Siddiqui, in the City of Joy. "Kolkata is always so warm and welcoming, I feel so blessed. It's only a special appearance but Ribhu's script is fantastic. And and I'm playing a cop for the first time," she said.

Sujoy Ghosh, who's the creative producer of TE3N, was with her on the sets. Vidya admitted that they are working on something. "Sujoy and I are doing a film which will roll early next year, I'm hoping it will be Kahaani 2 but Sujoy has other interesting scripts too," she said.

This year, Vidya got a little too picky-choosy, fueling speculations of an early retirement. No, she's not ready to hang up her boots yet and was only taking it easy to tide over health issues.

Also, none of the scripts she was offered challenged her creatively, carrying a 'been there, done this' hangover. Even the TV show she had given the nod to, turned out to be "routine" after the concept was developed. She had just one release, Hamari Adhuri Kahani, whose trailer and music impressed, but the film couldn't live up to the expectations raised from The Dirty Picture duo. Vidya wouldn't get into postmortems, preferring to dwell on her first Marathi film, Ek Albela, in which she plays Geeta Bali and danced to two evergreen hits, including her favourite song,"Sham Dhale Khidki Tale". "Geeta was charming and effervescent, I don't know if I captured that quality and danced as well, though I've tried really hard," she admitted.

Vidya is high on the list of every filmmaker making a biopic. She still has her fingers crossed that Rajiv Menon's life story on Carnatic singer, MS Subbulakshmi, will get made someday, and the film on Indira Gandhi too will get the requisite permission. "I also want to relive Meena Kumari on screen. I've been offered two films on her, one immediately after The Dirty Picture. But after playing Silk Smitha I wasn't sure if I wanted to do another true-life drama next. But Meena Kumari's story has always intrigued me," signs off the Parineeta actress.

Vidya Balan, who has completed nine years in Bollywood, reveals what keeps her in love with films 
Nayandeep Rakshit (DNA; January 1, 2015)


Birthday plans?
Nothing special actually. Like every year, I will spend my birthday with my family. My husband, mom, dad, sister, brother-in-law, my nephew and niece - everyone will be there. That's how usually it always is.

Your last three films didn't fare well. Does that make you review your choices?
It was disappointing for sure. I was devastated after Ghanchakkar! I had five huge hits back-to-back which not only brought in money but critical acclaim as well. I was not used to this. But when Shaadi Ke Side Effects released and did not do as expected, I guess I dealt with it better. And with Bobby Jasoos, I dealt with it even better. I also realised that by the time Bobby Jasoos released, nothing could have been done anymore. You cannot really do anything about it. It is heartbreaking when a film does not do well, but I am okay with it now. Maybe I needed to go through these experiences too. (Smiles)

So you are more accepting of failures now?
No. That's not what I meant. But I feel it has helped me realise now that acting is not about failures or successes, hits or flops. I am doing it just for pure passion. But I am not stepping down anyway. I want all the films of mine to do stupendously well at the box office. I have been in films for nine years and experiences of all types make you realise that it is not the end of the road. I am as passionate as I was during Parineeta and will continue to be so.

You being the pioneer of women centric films, do you think other actresses too are vying for that slot now?
There is no slot that needs to be filled. I believe that I have always occupied a certain space where I was doing things all alone. I was not competing with anyone. I didn't see anyone as competition. I just did the films I wanted to do. I did not set out to create this women-centric-film trend or prove a point to anyone. I have just followed my heart and it has worked well for me. But there are pros and cons to that too - somethings work, somethings don't! But probably with time, with experiences, the failures don't shake you up that much. Even if they do, it's human enough for you to bounce back.

You are doing fewer films now. Is that a post marriage thing?
No, marriage has not brought in any changes I believe. I have always done one film a year and at the max, two films a year. So I don't think all these has anything to do with marriage. But with marriage, the changes which have come in are all internal. That much I guess everyone changes. Even when I started living with Sidharth, things changed a bit. And then you are married, so there are further changes. But that has not altered my career choices or my style of working. I am doing Humari Adhuri Kahani now and I am as involved and as neck deep into it as I always was. In terms of work, marriage has not yet changed.

You went missing for a long time.
Yes, it was probably much before Bobby Jasoos, just after Shaadi Ke Side Effects got released. I was going through some major health issues. So I was not getting out that much. I was focusing on sleeping on time, eating on time and just keeping calm and happy. The most important thing for me was to avoid any kind of stress, which is why I had to opt out of a film also.

And there were so many conjectures about your marriage and pregnancy. Comment?
I have been here for nine years and there have been lots of conjectures about me in the past too. So it does not really bother me. It upset me for a bit when they said something about Siddharth and my marriage. But it took me about a day to get over it. I was upset and stopped mulling over it after a day. This is how it has always been in the industry. But this time, I got a little protective about Siddharth because he is not an actor and his life is not open to conjectures or speculations. It's not fair on him. The fact that he laughed it off made it easier for me to deal with. Because of health reasons, when I opted out of a film, people could not believe that. People were asking me whether the issue was that grave that I needed to take a break by opting out of a film. My point is that grave or not grave is very relative. For someone else, it might be wrong but I wanted to give my health a priority - something that I have not done all these years. If someone had to explain me opting out of a film and pregnancy seemed to be easiest reason, then they could. But they eventually looked foolish.