Vidya Balan

began her career starring in many music videos, soap operas and commercials, made her acting debut in the Bengali film, Bhalo Theko (2003), for which she won critical acclaim. She later made her Hindi film debut with Parineeta (2005), for which she received a Filmfare Best Female Debut Award, and received her first commercial success with Rajkumar Hirani's Lage Raho Munna Bhai (2006). Balan has thus established herself as one of the most promising actresses of the industry

She was born to a Palakkad Iyer
family in Kerala. Balan grew up in Mumbai and attended St. Anthony's Girls High School in Chembur. She later attended St. Xavier's College, where she graduated with a sociology degree, and the University of Mumbai.

Her movie career started when she was signed to appear in the Malayalam film Chakram, alongside superstar Mohanlal but the movie was shelved. After that, she was signed for a Tamil film, Run, but for reasons undisclosed, she was dropped after a first schedule and replaced by Meera Jasmine.[When Chakram was restarted with Prithviraj in the lead, Meera Jasmine was chosen ahead of Balan again. Balan was dropped from her second Tamil movie Manasellam opposite Srikanth, on the grounds of 'non-performance' and was replaced by Trisha Krishnan.

She then turned to television advertising. From 1998 onwards, she appeared in numerous television ads, many of which were directed by Pradeep Sarkar. She also took supporting roles in music videos, appearing with singers and bands such as Euphoria, Shubha Mudgal, and Pankaj Udhas. Balan also portrayed the role of Radhika Mathur in a few episodes of the first season of Hum Paanch, but was later replaced by Amita Nangia at the end of the first season.

Answered by Kalim Khan , an ibibo Citizen, at 9:59 PM on November 29, 2008

Vidya Balan born on January 1, 1979, in Palakkad, Kerala is an award-winning Indian actress who appears in Bollywood movies. She is a Malayali from Kerala.

Vidya Balan, who began her career starring in many music videos and soap operas, made her acting debut in the Bengali film, "Bhalo Theko" (2003), and had her Hindi film debut with "Parineeta" (2005), for which she received a Filmfare Best Debut Award. She received her first commercial success with Rajkumar Hirani's "Lage Raho Munna Bhai" (2006), and thus has established herself as one of the most promising actresses in the industry.

Although born in Palakkad to Tamil Iyer parents in Kerala, Vidya Balan grew up in Mumbai and attended St. Anthony's Girls High School, St. Xavier's College, Bombay and later the University of Mumbai. She graduated from college with a Sociology degree. She speaks several languages including Tamil, Malayalam, English, Hindi, and Bengali.

Vidya Balan, then Vidya Iyer, was signed to appear in the Malayalam film Chakram, which was shelved. She was then signed in Tamil by Lingusamy for his Run, but for reasons undisclosed, she was dropped after a first schedule and replaced by Meera Jasmine.

She then turned to television advertising. From 1998 onwards, she appeared in numerous television ads, many of which were directed by Pradeep Sarkar. She also took 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". She portrayed the role of Radhika Mathur in few episodes of season 1 of "Hum Paanch" which was first aired in 1995. Since she is obviously older than 15 in these episodes, her repeated claims to have been born in 1982 is believed to be false.In 2005, she finally made her appearance on the big screen, in two movies.

Answered by NIVEDITA , an ibibo Master, at 2:57 PM on November 29, 2008

After a series of false starts, Vidya Balan finally had the industry taking notice of her after role in ‘Parineeta’ (2005), for which she received a Filmfare Best Female Debut Award. She followed this up with ‘Lage Raho Munna Bhai’ (2006) which was immediately declared to be a hit. Vidya started her career acting in commercials, music videos and television serials. She also worked in a Bengali film, ‘Bhalo Theko’ (2003), which won several accolades. Her portrayal of a physically handicapped girl in Mani Ratnam's 'Guru’ was well-received. ‘Salaam-e-Ishq: A Tribute To Love’ (2007) and ‘Eklavya: The Royal Guard’ (2007) did not do well at the box office, but ‘Eklavya’ was sent to the Oscars and got Vidya noticed. ‘Bhool Bhulaiyaa’ (2007) in which she stars, has done well at the box office.

Answered by Vipan Thapar , an ibibo Master, at 1:48 PM on November 29, 2008

Vidya Balan is 29 years old(though some of her fan sites say she is 25). She is a Palaghat tamil Iyer. She lived in Mumbai for most part of her life. She has acted in a number of advertisements, a Bengali movie, and hindi movies. Her debut movie is Parineeta opposite Saif Ali Khan.

Answered by AGASTYA , an ibibo Advisor, at 10:48 AM on November 29, 2008

Vidya Balan is a Tamilian from Kerala. She is from the Iyer community. She comes from a middleclass family from Palghat, on the border of Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

Vidya did her schooling from St Antony's School and later on joined St Xavier's College from where she graduated in sociology.

When she was doing her MA from Mumbai University, she was offered a role in a Malayalam film titled Chakram with Mohanlal, one of Vidya’s favorite actors. However, the project was shelved mid-way and Vidya had to wait for few more years to make her movie debut.

She made her debut as a model in a Surf Excel advertisement in 1998. She has acted in scores of ad films, most of which were directed by Pradeep Sarkar.

A couple of months later, she featured in three music videos (again directed by Sarkar) for ‘Euphoria’, Shubha Mudgal and Pankaj Udhas.

Vidya also acted in Ashok Pandit’s TV serial Hanste Khelte and Ektaa Kapoor's Hum Paanch.

In the meantime, she acted in Bengali movie Bhaalo Theko with actor Joy Sengupta. She even won the ‘best actress’ Anand Lok Puraskar in Kolkata for her performance in the movie.

It was in Mumbai, during a pop concert, when filmmaker Vidhu Vinod Chopra approached her to play the female lead in his movie Parineeta, to be directed by Pradeep Sarkar.

Vidya had to go through 40 screen tests and 17 make-up shoots before she was finally chosen for the lead role in the film.

Answered by Beekay , an ibibo Advisor, at 8:24 AM on November 29, 2008