Vidya Balan on not winning any awards for Manjulika in 'Bhool Bhulaiyaa'

Actor Vidya Balan who returned to the Bhool Bhulaiyaa franchise with the recently released third part says the success of the first film helped change the perception of her as filmmakers realised that she could handle more complex and unconventional roles Balan who starred as AvniManjulika opposite Akshay Kumar in Priyadarshans 2007 hit Bhool Bhulaiyaa said the movie opened up new opportunities for herPeople realised that there was another facet to me I dont know if it was prompted by that but Ishqiya came to me after that When people see you do different things their minds open up with possibilities It was a huge commercial success so Im sure it must have impacted peoples decisions Balan told PTI in an interviewThe actor said her father still has a complaint that Balan didnt win any awards for her performance in the movie I was like Its okay But four years in a row after that I picked up the Best Actress awards in most places So things always balance out Balan said referring to her wins for Paa 2010 Ishqiya 2011 The Dirty Picture 2012 and Kahaani 2013Despite the popularity of the first part Balan and Kumar did not appear in the sequel Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 which was released in 2022 Directed by Anees Bazmee the movie featured an almost entirely new cast with Rajpal Yadav being the exception and became a major box office hit upon its release Balan made a comeback to the franchise with Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3 which debuted in theatres on November 1 and has minted over Rs 160 crores at the domestic box officeBoth Priyan and Anees bhai are directors who trust their actors When I read it I thought it was so fun With Anees bhai as director I knew it could only get better she saidHaving worked with the two filmmakers the actor said both of them are similar in a lot of ways yet they are differentBoth of them do comedy very well I think Anees bhai is the kind of director who knows how to grab the audiences attention and keep them engaged in every scene Ive enjoyed watching him work on every scene Even in the edit he is so gentle he knows how to keep it tight and how to keep the audience engaged and entertained Its been great she addedBalan revealed that she rewatched Bhool Bhulaiyaa after she was offered the third film I was like Let me revisit this It had been 10 to 15 years since I watched Bhool Bhulaiyaa and I enjoyed it I do watch my films once in a while I watched my films before and after the release I watched Tumhari Sulu and Parineeta last year after Dada Pradeep Sarkar passed away she saidAsked about the mixed reviews to Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3 Balan said it is not a critics film Someone told me Have you read the reviews I said No Anyway I didnt read it and this time Im not reading it because its not a film that you read reviews for she added Post Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3 the actor said she is looking for a comedy as she is a fan of the genre She also wondered about the lack of comedy films driven by womenWhen was the last time Tanu Weds Manu Piku and Tumhari Sulujust three films Weve had films like Seeta Aur Geeta and Chaalbaaz Im dying for those films Balan said adding that these days women are not comfortable making fun of themselves Especially given the culture that we are in today the sensitivities are so high I think comedies require you to bend the rules youve got to make fun of yourself and therefore of others We need to take ourselves less seriouslyBalan also called for a shift in the way womencentric films are approached She believes the current landscape has become somewhat repetitive We girls are having fun and that should be seen on screen We are stuck in a rut sort of thing in that space it requires some reinvention I want us to own our space I hope theres lots of exciting content varied characters and genres for us to be able to tell our kind of storiesThe actor also said that she often doesnt enjoy seeing women in action avatars If its part of the story then its fine Anyway I dont enjoy action films Womenled action films have to have more substance Some things are unique to us and we should embrace that she saidThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever