My father felt bad: Vidya Balan on not getting nominated for Bhool Bhulaiyaa

Vidya Balan will soon reprise her iconic role of Manjulika in Anees Bazmee’s horror comedy Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3. In an interview with Galatta India, she opened up about how she didn’t even receive any nominations for her memorable performance in the first part, helmed by Priyadarshan in 2007. (Also Read – Vidya Balan reveals why she rejected Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2: ‘If something goes wrong, everything will be in vain’)
“At that time, I was told that it’s a remake of a Malayalam film so my performance wasn’t eligible for a nomination. So I said, ‘Okay, fine.’ But I remember my father felt very bad. You move on. Kabhi hota hai, kabhi nahi hota (it happens sometimes, sometimes it doesn’t), but your parents, your family feel bad. He used to say, ‘Kitna achha performance hai, award dena chahiye tha’ (It’s such a great performance, they should’ve given you an award). But I said, ‘Sirf mera performance nahi tha saal mein’ (there wasn’t just my performance in the entire year). Because it’s always relative. Someone else got it because their performance was loved more than mine. But he would feel damn bad,” said Vidya.
In 2008, Kareena Kapoor walked away with most awards for Best Actress for her iconic role of Geet in Imtiaz Ali’s romantic comedy Jab We Met. However, Vidya went on to redeem herself when she won the Best Actress awards post that for four years in a row – for R Balki’s Paa in 2010, Abhishek Chaubey’s Ishqiya in 2011, The Dirty Picture in 2012, and Kahaani in 2013. “I feel that I’m very blessed. I’ve always focused on my work, not on the result. And I’ve been adequately rewarded, actually more than I imagined. So I’m very grateful always. But yes, it was surprising because everyone told me you deserved a nomination (for Bhool Bhulaiyaa), but I was like, ‘Let’s move on,’” Vidya added.
Seventeen years after the original, Vidya will now reprise her role of Manjulika, a Bengali ghost, in Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3, also starring Kartik Aaryan, Triptii Dimri, Rajpal Yadav, Sanjay Mishra, Vijay Raaz, and Madhuri Dixit, who also plays another version of Manjulika. The film will release in cinemas this Friday on November 1 on the occasion of Diwali.