If things had worked out as per plan a decade ago, Bollywood would have probably lost Vidya Balan to the muscular and moustached heroes of the South. Not everyone knows that the actress was signed for over a dozen South Indian films before Parineeta happened.
Fortunately or unfortunately, those films never took off, but now it looks like things are coming a full circle for the star. Apparently post the success of The Dirty Picture, Balan has been inundated with scripts from the Malayalam industry, a place that once deemed her as an unlucky heroine.
Change of opinion
Says a source, "Everyone knows that she was cast opposite big stars like Mohanlal, Mammooty and Dilip from Kerala, but those projects never materialised.
There was a point when filmmakers thought she was the one who brought bad luck to the films. But now there are prominent filmmakers from Kerala who want her back."
Many acclaimed names including veteran Malayalam filmmaker Sathiyan Anthikkad have approached Vidya for their films and chances are that you would soon see her in her first Mollywood feature. This was evident at the Asianet awards function the actress recently attended where she was given a rousing welcome.
Vidya spoke a few lines in Malayalam while getting nostalgic about her early days. She said, "I was supposed to work with many of the brilliant actors sitting here. Today if I would ever do a full-fledged Malayalam film,
it would be as a gift to my parents."Realise her potential
The actress however isn't completely alien to Malayalam cinema as she was seen in a guest appearance in Santosh Sivan's Urumi last year. Says Sivan who isn't surprised at South filmmakers wanting to cast her, "Who doesn't want a good actress? It's sad that many people did not rely on her potential then.
She was absolutely graceful and spared some time for Urumi and I would always want to work with her yet again, " Earlier, reports suggested that that Vidya would be starring opposite Mammootty in Mathilukalkkappuram, a sequel to Adoor Gopalakrishnan's Mathikul. However, the film did not materialise due to time constraints.
