Heroines don’t need to hide their age now: Vidya Balan

Actor Vidya Balan says heroines don’t need to hide their age anymore in Bollywood as times are changing.

Age has always been a sensitive point for heroines with most of them not being comfortable revealing their age publicly, but actor Vidya Balan says that this is changing slowly in the industry.

Actor Vidya Balan during the photo shoot at the Taj Man Singh. (Hindustan Times)

The 36-year-old adds that times have now changed and heroines are under no pressure to look a certain way in order to bag big roles on screen. “I think that a long time ago, I went through a lot of pressure to dress a certain way as we are a youth-obsessed society and industry but that is changing now. As an actor, there was more pressure to play down your age because only then you could get lead roles but that is changing. So now I can see there is less pressure to hide your age,” says Vidya.

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The actor adds that she has never been apologetic of her age and says that it only adds to her credibility as an actor. “I am proud to be the age I am. I have a body of experiences as an actor and an individual and I would not want to hide my age for anything. And life is getting more and more exciting,” she says.

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Vidya, who has been appreciated for her roles in films such as The Dirty Picture (2011) and Kahaani (2012), says she doesn’t have fixed factors to consider while coming on board with a project. “There is no set parameter that I use to decide which role I want to play. I go purely by instinct. It depends on how I react to the character that I am being offered and then the overall film. After that I look at the director and the producer,” she says.

Vidya Balan in her favourite piece of clothing, the saree.