Vidya Balan recalls how she handled unsettling incident where director called her to his room: ‘Self-preservation kicks in’

Vidya said that the filmmaker had asked her to let him know whenever she was in town, and since she’d been confirmed for the film, she told him that she’d be there for the ad shoot. But when they met in a coffee shop, he kept insisting that they go to his room. “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. There was no suggestion made, there was no proposition made. But this was a sense, a vibe I picked up. And I reacted to it. Self-preservation kicks in, and a woman’s instinct…” she said, and added with a laugh, “And then I got thrown out of that 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. Because of this tag, she was dropped from several projects. A journalist even 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.