Vidya Balan says Vidhu Vinod Chopra cast her as Parineeta after seeing anger in her eyes, thought she was giving him gaali: Parineeta turns 20

Over two decades ago, Vidya Balan was at an Enrique Iglesias concert in Mumbai when she got a call from producer Vidhu Vinod Chopra. He said he wouldn't wait till the concert was over and instructed her to walk out.

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When an irritated Vidya complied, she heard the words, “You are my Parineeta,” as Hero played in the background.“I can be your hero, baby” has been Vidya's motto ever since, as the actor has headlined films at a time when her contemporaries were happy playing the second fiddle. In fact, she’s the first female actor after Dimple Kapadia (Bobby, 1975) who was launched into the movies as the titular character. “I’m not complaining,” she says, laughing, in an exclusive interview with SCREEN on the 20-year anniversary of her debut film, late Pradeep Sarkar's 2005 period romance Parineeta.

Pradeep Sarkar had worked with you on three music videos before he launched you in his directorial debut Parineeta. He was your mentor, and wrote the script with you in mind. Did you feel then your debut would be a cakewalk?I didn’t know how it worked. I didn’t come from the business. I didn’t have any friends here who could tell me the producer also had a say. I didn’t know what the role of a producer is, besides putting in the money. Studios were new at that time, so I didn’t know what their contribution was. In Dada's very first meeting with Vidhu Vinod Chopra, he told him, “I want to cast a star. it’s the title role. Are you crazy? You want to cast a newcomer?” So Dada came back to the office. We were one big team and we had this shared dream. So when he told me, I was heartbroken, but I didn’t let him see that. I told him, “If you're going to make the film you wanted, you should go ahead.” Then I came out of the office and cried. It came so close, and it’s not happening again! They spoke to a lot of actors. They showed great interest, but Dada wasn't convinced. And Vinod Chopra is also a director, right? He understood Dada’s conviction and said, “Okay, I'll give you a chance to audition her.”

You gave quite a few auditions then. Did you get frustrated of why Vinod Chopra can't see what Pradeep Sarkar did in you?