Vidya Balan recalls panauti label, post Malayalam film shelved

Vidya Balan is riding high on the success of her latest released horror-comedy Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3 alongside Kartik Aaryan and Madhuri Dixit. In the film, she reprised her iconic role as Manjulika. The actress recently talked about the rejection that she has faced in the initial years of her career. She revealed how she was termed ‘panauti’ after her Malayalam film was shelved.

Vidya Balan talks about being labelled ‘panauti’

Vidya recalled that the initial days of rejection were tough. “I started shooting for a Malayalam film, which had stopped in the middle, and then they said, ‘Nahi, nahi, yeh ladki panauti hai. Jab se woh iss film se judd gayi hai, problems shuru ho gaye hai and ab yeh film band padd gayi hai‘,” she said while speaking to Instant Bollywood.

Furthermore, Vidya also revealed that she was removed from several films after being labelled as ‘panauti’. She added, “You begin to believe that ki ‘Acha, mein kahi panauti toh nahi hu?’ Insecurities aa jate hai and yeh lagta hai ki mera sapna kabhi poora nahi hoga. I think that was probably the toughest phase for me.”

Her latest film, Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3, also stars Triptii Dimri, Vijay Raaz, Rajpal Yadav, Sanjay Mishra, and Ashwini Kalsekar in pivotal roles. This horror comedy is the third installment of Akshay Kumar’s Bhool Bhulaiyaa, released in 2007, and Kartik Aaryan’s Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2, which was released in 2022.

Also Read: Vidya Balan teases Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3 co-star Kartik Aaryan about his girlfriend; asks, “What’s her name?”