Trigger Warning: This article contains mention of death.
Vidya Balan is one of the most successful and influential actresses in Bollywood. She is credited for changing the course of how female-led stories were told in the industry with films like Kahaani and The Dirty Picture. However, it was not an easy task for her to bag her first Bollywood film, Parineeta. Lyricist Swanand Kirkire recently revealed.
Vidya Balan underwent tests to bag her Bollywood debut film
In an interview with Mashable India, actor-writer and lyricist Swanand Kirkire spilled beans on how Vidya Balan got her first debut Bollywood film Parineeta. He revealed that Pradeep Sarkar took his song ‘Raat Humaari Toh Chaand Ki Saheli Hai’ and shot it on his ad film with Balan. Sarkar then showed it to Parineeta’s producer Vidhu Vinod Chopra.
Swanand recalls, “Vidhu Vinod Chopra was quite impressed with it, and he told Sarkar, ‘This is amazing. You will direct my film. Shantanu Moitra will be the music director, and Swanand Kirkire will be the lyricist. But the girl will be somebody else.’ So, he rejected Vidya in the first place.” However, Sarkar was adamant about casting Balan in the film. “Dada (Sarkar) did her several tests for Vidhu Vinod Chopra and finally cast her. Her journey was quite difficult and dynamic in comparison to ours. But she was so good,” said Swanand.
Prior to entering films, Balan had done the television serial Hum Paanch. She had also done several ad films and a music video for Euphoria titled ‘Kabhi Tu Meri Gali Mein’ with Sarkar.
Vidya Balan paid tribute to Pradeep Sarkar
Pradeep Sarkar passed away earlier this year due to health complications. Balan took to her Instagram to share a video to pay him a tribute. The video featured several unseen glimpses from the film’s set. She captioned it, Until I can say it to you in person again,Thank you Dada for Parineeta and for believing in me even when I didn’t. 18 years to Parineeta today.”
About Parineeta
Parineeta was directed by Pradeep Sarkar and produced by Vidhu Vinod Chopra. It was based on Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay’s 1914 Bengali novella of the same name and starred Vidya Balan, Saif Ali Khan, Sanjay Dutt, Raima Sen and Dia Mirza. Upon release, it became a critical and commercial success and Sarkar bagged the National Award for Best Debut Film of a Director.
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