Vidya Balan recalls losing out on ‘8-9 films in South' after being considered a jinx in Mohanlal's shelved movie

Pink Villa

09-07-2025

Vidya Balan was recently seen conversing with Rodrigo Canelas on the Something Bigger Show. In her interaction, the Parineeta actress detailed how she missed out on 8-9 South films after her Malayalam movie with Mohanlal got shelved.
Vidya Balan on considered a 'jinx' in Malayalam cinema
In her conversation, Vidya Balan recalled her early days in cinema and how she was offered a role opposite Mohanlal. According to her words, 'In my Malayalam movie, I must have shot for 6-7 days. The director and actor Mohanlal were having problems, and due to this, for a lot of days we weren't shooting.'
'I didn't know how it was in a film back then, and thought this is how it all works. Suddenly, they told me the shoot was paused, and I came back to Mumbai. By now, the word spread that there is a South Indian girl who was doing a Malayalam film at a time when most South actresses were Punjabis.'
In this period, Vidya Balan reveals that she received various offers from South Indian films, with filmmakers calling her up, narrating the story, and discussing remuneration.
Vidya added, 'In this way, I perhaps said yes to 8-9 films in South. I was thinking to myself, I was a star. Later on, I learned that the Mohanlal movie Chakram got shelved. After it was shelved, I lost each of those 8, 9 films I was offered.'
Concluding her words, the actress underlined that the filmmakers from South deemed that it was her 'energy' that led to Chakram being shelved, considering her to be a jinx.
Mohanlal and Vidya Balan's shelved movie
For those unversed, Mohanlal and Vidya Balan were set to collaborate on a movie back in the day titled Chakram. The film was being helmed by veteran director Kamal with Dileep playing a supporting role.
However, following the movie being shelved, the late director AK Lohithadas revived the project with a cast change. Instead of Mohanlal, the protagonist's role was played by Prithviraj Sukumaran with Meera Jasmine as the female lead, replacing Vidya.