Vidya Balan says she lost 9 films, was labelled ‘jinxed’ after film with Mohanlal got shelved: My parents prayed that…

Vidya Balan reflected on the frustration of being labelled 'jinxed' after her early project, Chakram, was shelved.

Bollywood actor Vidya Balan had several unsuccessful attempts at starting her film career. However, she eventually made her mark in the film industry with hits like Parineeta, Lage Raho Munna Bhai, and Bhool Bhulaiyaa, among others. In a recent conversation with Rodrigo Canelas on his YouTube channel Something Bigger, Vidya recalled crying herself to sleep every night after being called "jinxed" during her early years in the industry.

Vidya Balan recalls losing 8-9 films after being called jinxed.

Vidya said that Chakram was a dream film for her. She recalled how she went for an advertisement shoot in the South, where they were auditioning for the film, and she was asked to audition. She revealed that her mother said yes because she was a Mohanlal fan. Vidya added that soon after the audition, the director wanted to meet her, and she went there with her sister and mother.

Vidya Balan on shooting for Chakram 

She continued, "I started the film, the shoot went off well and after 15 days, they sent me back to Bombay. We did a scene, and they said schedule wrap and we were supposed to shoot the whole film at once. They said, Mohanlal sir had some date problems so we'll take a pause and come back next month. The director and Mohanlal were having problems and so we were not shooting for most of the days, so I thought this is how it's supposed to be. So I came back to Bombay happy."

Vidya recalled that by the time she reached Mumbai, the word had spread that there was a South Indian girl doing a Malayalam film at a time when most South actresses were Punjabis. She said that because of this, she got a lot of offers. "People would call me and narrate the story, discuss remuneration and dates," and in this way, she said yes to 8–9 films.

Vidya recalls being called jinxed

She added, "I was thinking to myself, I was a star. Little did I know that this Mohanlal movie Chakram got shelved. After it was shelved, I lost each of those 8, 9 films I was offered. They thought the actor and director had delivered 8 hits together, and they were doing their 9th film. So they said maybe it is the energy of this girl, and she is jinxed. It was a crazy time. It was a frustrating period. My parents began to pray that just one film would work out for her. They could see the kind of rejection and frustration I was facing. I would go to bed crying, but I didn't lose hope."

Vidya finally made her Bollywood debut with the movie Parineeta in 2005 and earned critical acclaim for her performance. She followed it up with films like Lage Raho Munna Bhai, Guru, Bhool Bhulaiyaa, Paa, The Dirty Picture, and Kahaani, among others. She was last seen in Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3, which was a major success at the box office, earning ₹389.28 crore worldwide. She is yet to announce her next project.