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Dropped from 12 films as bad luck, Vidya Balan now takes on Rajinikanth
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News18•16-10-2026, 08:01
Dropped from 12 films as bad luck, Vidya Balan now takes on Rajinikanth
- •Vidya Balan revealed that she was dropped from over a dozen films early in her career due to superstitious rumors labeling her as unlucky.
- •Her early struggles included being abruptly removed from Malayalam and Tamil projects like Chakram, Run, and Manellam.
- •Overcoming past setbacks, Vidya is now making her Tamil film debut alongside superstar Rajinikanth in Jailer 2, playing the primary antagonist Kanta.
- •She shared an incident about how her hands shook while shooting a smoking scene in front of Rajinikanth for the first time in 15 years.
- •Vidya expressed that she is thoroughly enjoying breaking away from good-girl roles to play badass grey and negative characters.
Key Questions Answered
At the start of her career, Vidya Balan's Malayalam film 'Chakram' opposite Mohanlal was abruptly halted midway, triggering superstitious rumors that blamed her for the failure and led to her being dropped from over a dozen films.
Vidya Balan makes her Tamil film debut playing the primary antagonist named 'Kanta', going head-to-head with Rajinikanth's iconic character Muthuvel Pandian in the Nelson Dilipkumar-directed action thriller.
It was the first time she had held a cigarette on screen since 'The Dirty Picture' 15 years prior, and the sudden nicotine touch caused her body to react strangely and her hands to tremble during the first take.
