Vidya Balan says she never donates for building religious structures: ‘We didn’t have a religious identity before but now…’

“So, everything has become… Whether it is religion or this wokeness, with people saying, ‘This is who I am,’ but you don’t know who you are! Which is why you are going, looking for these things. We all need a sense of belonging and in this world, with the proliferation of social media, we are lonelier than ever. At a very superficial level, we are attaching ourselves to ideas and concepts conveniently… The world is polarised today, it is not just one country.”

 

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Vidya also opened up about why she never donates to people asking for funds to build a religious structure and said she would rather give her funds to areas involving healthcare, sanitation and education. This, despite the fact that she is a deeply spiritual person, who does her puja every day.

When asked which areas she would work on from a philanthropy point of view, she said, “Health, sanitation and education. If someone asks me for donation to build a religious structure, it can be anything, I never donate. I say if you are building a hospital, a school or a toilet, I will happily contribute. But not to anymore religious institutions.”

At the start of the interview, Vidya, however, said that she is wary of commenting on anything political as it leads to backlash and boycott calls against actors. She said people often take things out of context and are ready to slam actors on social media, which is no place for a nuanced conversation.

“Politics se bohot darr lagta hai, phir humko ban-van kardege toh… It hasn’t happened with me, thankfully, but now actors have are wary about talking about politics because you don’t know who will get offended. Especially around the release of a film, it is the work of 200 people at stake, so I just say keep me away from politics.

“This has been happening because of social media, people take offense over everything. They give their inputs even on matters they don’t know much about. So it’s best to zip your mouth and keep working,” she added.

Vidya is currently seen on the big screen in Do Aur Do Pyaar. The romantic comedy also stars Pratik Gandhi.