|
Vidya
did her schooling from St Antony's School and later on joined St
Xavier's College from where she graduated in sociology.
When
she was doing her MA from Mumbai University, she was offered a role
in a Malayalam film titled Chakram with Mohanlal, one of Vidya’s
favorite actors. However, the project was shelved mid-way and Vidya
had to wait for few more years to make her movie debut.
She
made her debut as a model in a Surf Excel advertisement in 1998.
She has acted in scores of ad films, most of which were directed
by Pradeep Sarkar.
A couple
of months later, she featured in three music videos (again directed
by Sarkar) for ‘Euphoria’, Shubha Mudgal and Pankaj Udhas.
Vidya
also acted in Ashok Pandit’s TV serial Hanste Khelte and Ektaa
Kapoor's Hum Paanch.
In
the meantime, she acted in Bengali movie Bhaalo Theko with actor
Joy Sengupta. She even won the ‘best actress’ Anand Lok
Puraskar in Kolkata for her performance in the movie.
It
was in Mumbai, during a pop concert, when filmmaker Vidhu Vinod
Chopra approached her to play the female lead in his movie Parineeta,
to be directed by Pradeep Sarkar.
Vidya
had to go through 40 screen tests and 17 make-up shoots before she
was finally chosen for the lead role in the film
|
