Even though Vidya Balan has earned many awards in popular categories for her movies like ‘Paa’, ‘Ishqiya’ and ‘The Dirty Picture’, the National Awards eluded her.
But this year things have changed as Vidya Balan has won 59th National Award for the portrayal of a southern sex symbol Silk in her movie ‘The Dirty Picture’.
In an interview before the announcement of the award, the actress Vidya Balan wasn’t sure if she would be able to grab the award this year.
“In 2010, I was called and asked to keep my phone free around 2 pm on the day the National Awards were announced. The same happened with Ishqiya last year. This year, I will be in Dubai promoting ‘Kahaani’,” said Vidya Balan to a daily.
The actress had added that though she dint win the awards she was happy that her talent has been recognized time and again.
“The National Award is the biggest honor for any actor, not only because it comes from the government, but also because you are competing with actors from every language film made across the country. It’ll happen when it’s meant to be,” she said.
Vidya Balan had said that while growing up she wasn’t allowed to read film magazines and only it was in college that the actress was introduced to National Award through Shabana Azmi’s interview.
“The introduction mentioned that she had won five National Awards. That’s my first recollection of the Award, and in time, I’ve realized that’s some record!” she said.
“I've watched Arth (1982) repeatedly and wondered how Shabana did what she did. And Rekha proved that you can marry commercial and meaningful cinema with films like Ghar (1978) and the National Award-winning Umrao Jaan (1981) on one hand, and Khubsoorat (1980) and Silsila (1981) on the other,” she added.
Actress Vidya Balan has now earned the title of new hero of Bollywood as she is the only actress who seems to be capable of carrying a movie on her shoulders without a strong male lead.
Even in her recent release ‘Kahaani’, Vidya Balan is the main protagonist. She plays the role of a pregnant NRI woman, who comes to search for her husband in Kolkata.