Vidya Balan became a star in the Hindi film industry with Vidhu Vinod Chopra production Parineeta. However, the role didn’t come easy to the actor as she had to give almost 75 auditions to bag it. In fact, Vidya wasn’t even the first choice for the role — Chopra initially thought of offering the role to Aishwarya Rai Bachchan.
During a press meet, Chopra admitted to visualising Aishwarya in Parineeta’s character. He said, “When we thought of Parineeta, I immediately thought of a face like Aishwarya Rai. The character is one that two men fall in love with…so the heroine has to be bigger.” However, after he watched Vidya’s audition, he decided to give her a chance. “I was like let me see what she can do…she cleared it,” he said.
Talking to IANS, composer Shantanu Moitra recalled how Vidya Balan gave 75 auditions and got rejected each time for the role of Parineeta. “I asked her what she was doing and she said she was here for audition. I’m talking about Vidya Balan. This story is for those people who think that enough is enough, let’s give up. The girl auditioned about 75 times and got rejected every single time. Can you imagine her self-worth?”
Shantanu revealed that Parineeta’s director Pradeep Sarkar wanted to try a new look on Vidya after several auditions. “At that time, many top actresses were giving the same auditions as well and calling him for the role. Think about the pressure on that girl! I still remember the day after getting rejected for the 75th time, there was a Bryan Adams concert in Mumbai and she said that she was going for it. At that time, Pradeep said that ‘let’s do one last audition’ and around 3:30, she quickly came and gave the test with the belief that it won’t happen and after her test, she left for the concert,” he said.
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However, it was during that Bryan Adams concert that Vidya got a call saying she had bagged the role. “Pradeep was calling Vidya but she was thinking about switching off the phone, thinking that the call was about a rejection. Someone texted her – ‘Dude it’s over, you are Parineeta.’ I think she got the message and she walked outside, crying. She just kneeled and was sobbing because she had got the role. After that film, she became this amazing actress, strong woman but I have seen her in that vulnerable state when she was rejected 75 times.”
