Bollywood actress Vidya Balan recalls handling an unsettling incident in the film industry

Actress Vidya Balan started her acting career with TV and eventually made her way to the big screens, which makes her a self-made star in all true senses. Vidya said that while she is grateful that hasn’t experienced the casting couch herself, she had a rather uncomfortable experience once, where her female instinct kicked in and she entered self-preservation mode. Recalling what happened during the meeting with the unnamed man, Vidya said that she was ultimately dropped from the project.

In an interview she said, “I’ve actually not really had a tryst with the casting couch. I’ve been very, very fortunate, because I’ve heard horror stories, and that was my parents’ biggest fear, because they were resistant about me joining films. But the one incident I had… I remember, on one of my films that I had been signed to do, I was meeting with the director because I was visiting Chennai for an ad film shoot.”

Explaining further, the Bhool Bhulaiyaa actress added, “I didn’t understand, because I was alone. But I did a very smart thing. When we went to the room, I left the door open. And then he knew that the only way for him was out. So, I don’t really believe that I’ve had an experience with the casting couch”

The actress stated that while there was no 'suggestion' or 'proposition' made, she sensed a 'vibe' that prompted her woman instincts to kick in. ''Self-preservation kicks in,'' she added. After talking about how she handled the uncomfortable situation, Vidya Balan revealed that she was 'thrown out of the film'.

Vidya also reflected on the period in her life when she was declared to be ‘jinxed’ when a series of films flopped at the box office. She also revealed how a journalist offered to help her out by inventing fake movies that she’d been signed up for, only to disprove the superstitious beliefs surrounding her, but she refused. Vidya was last seen in the acclaimed film Jalsa, co-starring Shefali Shah.