Vidya Balan On Playing Amitabh Bachchan's Mom In Paa: 'I Thought R Balki Had Lost It'

News18

5 days ago

Vidya Balan says she was warned against playing Amitabh Bachchan's mother in Paa but trusted her gut and said yes anyway.
Vidya Balan was warned it could be the end of her career. Saying yes to playing Amitabh Bachchan's mother on screen wasn't exactly the 'safe" choice — especially at a time when most actresses were chasing lead roles in big-budget romances. But 15 years after Paa hit theatres and as she marks two decades in Bollywood this August, Vidya has no regrets about trusting her gut. In a new chat with Filmfare, the actor looked back at the moment she agreed to take on the bold, unusual role — and the doubts she had to silence before saying yes.
When R Balki first approached her with the idea, Vidya's initial response was honest and blunt. She recalled, 'I thought R Balki had lost it. He said he wanted Abhishek (Bachchan) and me to play Mr Bachchan's parents. It sounded absurd. But then he read me the script of Paa, and something shifted. I kept revisiting it, and the actor in me kept saying, 'Do it.' I was scared, though."
The pressure from people around her didn't help. 'Everyone warned me that playing an older woman would end my career," Vidya said. But she took the script to a few trusted friends for a second opinion. 'I got a writer and an ad filmmaker friend to read it, and both insisted I do it. That's when I stopped listening to the noise and started listening to myself. I'd already done films that didn't speak to me. Though they worked, I hadn't enjoyed them. I never wanted to feel that disconnect again."
Paa was released in 2009 and turned out to be both a critical and commercial success. Directed by R Balki, the drama featured Amitabh Bachchan as Auro, a 12-year-old boy living with progeria — a rare genetic disorder that causes rapid ageing. In an ironic twist on real life, Abhishek Bachchan played Auro's father, and Vidya, his mother.
The film went on to win multiple awards, including Best Actor for Amitabh Bachchan and Best Hindi Feature Film at the National Awards, and remains one of Vidya's most standout performances in Bollywood.
First Published:
July 31, 2025, 10:30 IST
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