I’ve no say in the release dates: Vidya Balan

The actor denies having anything to do with Kahaani's release being pushed by two months.

The first promo of Vidya Balan’s Kahaani was unveiled on Thursday. The film is scheduled to hit theatres on March 9. Reportedly, it was to release last October since it is set in Kolkata during the Durga Puja. But the actor, following the success of No One Killed Jessica (2011), coaxed director Sujoy Ghosh to push it to January 2012.

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Then, physically and emotionally drained by The Dirty Picture (2011), Vidya decided to give herself a ‘break’ before promoting it, resulting in the Kahaani opening two months later. Quiz her and she protests, “I have no say in the release date of my films. It was Viacom 18’s decision entirely. Every film is my baby.”

In Kahaani, Vidya plays a six-months pregnant woman in search of her missing husband on the streets of Kolkata. “Unlike other women-centric thrillers, it has nothing to do with the supernatural,” says Vidya, who after a start-to-finish 64-day schedule, returned home to the news that her sister, Priya, was pregnant.

The twins, Ira and Ruhaan, were born on August 15 last year. Vidya was waiting outside the labour room in the hospital and admits to being “overwhelmed” by the “little miracles” her sister had been carrying “squeezed into one stomach for nine months”.

Vidya has played a mother in Paa (2009) and will now be seen as a mother-to-be. She admits that earlier, she wasn’t experienced in maternal matters. “After spending all my free time with my niece and nephew, I understand babies better and I love them more today,” she says. “I’m sure today, I would have tackled those roles a little differently.”