Vidya Balan: The perception that female-centric films do well on OTT bothers me

Pune, February 8, 2023: “There are lots of exciting and varied roles for female actors nowadays. The roles for female actors are very well written but the perception that female-centric films do well on OTT platforms bothers me,” opined well-known actress Vidya Balan.

She was speaking on the topic 'The Challenges of Female Actors in Entertainment World’ during the Masterclass at the 21st Pune International Film Festival organized by the Pune Film Foundation and Maharashtra Government today evening at PVR Icon in Pavilion Mall on Senapati Bapat Road. Dr. Jabbar Patel, Director of PIFF interacted with the actress on the occasion.

“Nowadays, female actors are doing great and female-centric films can do well as people are hungry for different content. On the other hand, roles for male actors are stereotyped. I always tell the director to give me what I have not done before. The roles might be great but most of them are inflections and variations of old roles. I want to do something, which I cannot imagine doing,“ said the actress, while stating that she however doesn’t like doing issue-based films as cinema is for entertainment and not for preaching.

Vidya Balan who decided to pursue her career in acting after watching Madhuri Dixit’s famous song ‘Ek Do Teen’ from Tezaab, recalled that during the initial phase of her career, she was ‘thrown out’ of the 12 films in Malayalam and Tamil she was signed for and it was something that shattered her.

“But I did not give up and it was Director Pradip Sarkar, who showed faith in me. It was after I did a video for the band Euphoria, things started changing for me and I started getting offers. Similarly, my career also changed after the film Ishqiya in 2010 ,” said Balan.

The Mumbai girl who was vorn in Palghat in Kerala who is married to the well known producer Siddharth Rou Kapur signed off by saying “Everyone should live their lives well, observe people and their surroundings and learn from it to grow in their careers.”

Box- The closing film ‘The Final Cut’ of 21st PIFF by Michel Hazanavicius will not be played at Sakal Lalit Kalaghar after the closing ceremony. Instead it will be played at Screen No.  3 and 4 at INOX, Bund Garden at 4 PM on February 9.

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