Meet National Award-winning actress, who delivered 10 flops, labelled ‘jinxed' after film with Mohanlal shelved, net worth is Rs 136 crore, still lives in rented house; She is…

India.com

11-07-2025

Vidya Balan, who came to Bollywood from the world of TV, has made a great identity for herself in a short time. She is always seen as a brilliant and talented actress. Vidya has always accepted challenging roles in films. Her roles have always been strong and tremendous. She has given great films like Bhool Bhulaiyaa and Parineeta, has appeared in over 40 films, and some of her blockbusters include The Dirty Picture, Kahaani, No One Killed Jessica, Paa, Heyy Baby and more. Vidya received a National Film Award for her performance in The Dirty Picture. She was also awarded the prestigious Padma Shri.
But there was a time in the actress' career when not one or two but 8 of her films flopped back-to-back. In a recent conversation with Rodrigo Canelas on his YouTube channel, the actress recalled crying herself to sleep every night after being called 'jinxed' during her early years in the industry. Why was Vidya Balan called Jinxed?
Mohanlal's Chakram was a dream film for Vidya Balan. 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. The actress said soon after the audition, the director wanted to meet her, and she went there with her sister and mother.
Balan 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.'
When she reached Mumbai, she got offers from 8-9 South filmmakers and she said yes to them. 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.'
It was movies like Parineeta, Lage Raho Munna Bhai, Guru, Bhool Bhulaiyaa, Paa, The Dirty Picture, and Kahaani, that helped her build her career in Bollywood. Some of her films that flopped big time were Kahaani 2, Begum Jaan and Tumhari Sulu, Shakuntala Devi and Sherni. Why does Vidya Balan live in a rented home?
Talking about her personal life, Vidya Balan got married to the CEO of UTV Motion Pictures, Siddharth Roy Kapur on December 2012 in a private ceremony. In one of her interviews, the actress revealed that she stills live in a rented apartment in Mumbai after her marriage. Vidya has a net worth of Rs 136 crore. She shared that 15 years ago, she was searching for a home with her mother to reduce the long commute from Chembur to her workplace in Bandra or Juhu. During this search, she found a suitable house, but it was beyond her budget. Her mother encouraged her to manage the EMI payments, leading Vidya to purchase the house. Upon entering, she felt an instant connection as if it was her own. She also mentioned that even after her marriage, Vidya is still in process of looking for a new home.