Oh Mamma!

Playing Amitabh Bachchan’s mother in Paa has turned Vidya Balan’s career around

After receiving flak from critics, Vidya Balan has now managed to impress them with her performance in Paa. The actress is now looking forward to Ishqiya and Chenaab Gandhi to strengthen her position and says she won’t do roles she doesn’t identify with.

“Isn’t that amazing? It’s taken a lot of getting used to. But I feel blessed. I’m done with trying to be someone I’m not,” Vidya, who will be seen as Amitabh Bachchan’s daughter in Chenaab Gandhi, said. “I went through a period of tremendous turmoil when I was struggling to do roles that didn’t come naturally to me. But now in hindsight I think that confusion helped me pick Paa, Ishqiya and Chenaab Gandhi. It’s gratifying to know that today directors think of me for specific roles and not just as one of many choices.”

Vidya, who received rave reviews for her debut film Parineeta, later earned flak for her dressing sense in Heyy Babyy and for doing a film like Kismat Konnection. Thanks to director Balki’s film, Paa, in which she plays a single mother whose son suffers from progeria, she has regained past glory.

Though she played a perfect mother in Heyy Babyy and Paa, Vidya can’t get along with kids in real life. “If I hold a baby for a while, I get stressed. In Heyy Babyy, the baby would bawl every time I had to carry it. In Paa, I had to mother a man who was far older. It took a lot of getting used to.”