MUMBAI: Actor Vidya Balan, who has worked across film industries in India, said that she feels the South Indian industries are more disciplined than Bollywood. While she is predominantly known as a Hindi film actor, Vidya has appeared in movies in Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam. But for all her appreciation for the South Indian industries, Vidya has, in the past, spoken about the many prevalent issues as well. 

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She was set to make her film acting debut in a Malayalam movie called Chakram, but when the film was shelved, she was labelled a bringer of bad luck, and subsequently removed from a dozen Malayalam movies that she’d signed. She also spoke about having experienced the casting couch while having a chat for a Tamil-language movie.

In a chat with designer-actor Masaba Gupta on the How I Masaba podcast, Vidya said that her South Indian upbringing also helps ground her. 

Speaking about her experiences in the South industries, she said, “I feel that they are far more disciplined about their work, that’s for sure. Though I will say that in the kind of films that I do, there’s a lot of discipline, because we can’t afford not to be. They’re made on smaller budgets; they’re medium-sized films, and therefore, there is a certain rigour with which you work. I’ve never been on a mega film in Hindi, so I don’t know how it works, but there is a… So many things aren’t working, and we are asking ourselves questions, but I think it’s about being authentic. They are being authentic to who they are. What is authentically a Hindi film? Do we know that anymore.”

Asked how she keeps herself grounded, and if her family values are a big reason for this, she said, “It’s my family, of course, but it’s also being a South Indian. I’ve met a lot of South Indian actors also, who I feel treat it as a job. It’s great that you’re doing this, it’s great that you’re shining, and we’re proud of you, but it’s a job. And when your job is done, you come back home, and at home, you’re Vidya, you’re a daughter, an aunt, a wife, whatever it is. I’ve always had that grounding.”

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Vidya was last seen in the murder mystery Neeyat, and before that in Jalsa and Sherni. She will also star in a film titled Lovers, starring Sendhil Ramamurthy in the lead role, and is rumoured to have been cast alongside Shah Rukh Khan and Suhana Khan in an upcoming film.

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Credits - The Indian Express