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Buying a dream home is all about ‘kismet connection’, says Bollywood actor Vidya Balan

Sep 26, 2024 10:13 AM IST

After looking at ‘25 houses, we could not decide’ on buying one and so ‘we took one on rent,’ Vidya Balan said at the 22nd Credai-NATCON event held in Sydney

Bollywood actor Vidya Balan believes that ‘ghar is all about kismet’, it’s ‘kismet connection’ that helps you zero in on the house of your dreams.

Buying a dream home is all about ‘kismet connection’, Bollywood actor Vidya Balan said at the 22nd Credai-NATCON event held in Sydney
Buying a dream home is all about ‘kismet connection’, Bollywood actor Vidya Balan said at the 22nd Credai-NATCON event held in Sydney

“You walk into a house and you know it’s yours,” Balan told an audience of 1,100 real estate developers at the 22nd Credai Natcon event held in Sydney.

She recollected that she had gone house-hunting with her mother some 15 years back. “I wanted to live in Bandra or Juhu” as it was closer to work and going all the way up to Chembur took a lot of time to travel “back and forth.”

“We looked at various places, but there was one particular house we liked, but it was far above our budget,” said Balan, who was born and brought up in Mumbai but has roots in Palghat, Kerala.

When her mother found out from the property dealer that only one flat was available and that it was the “last flat”, she asked her to work “towards paying the EMI" and it happened.

Also Read: Vidya Balan shares heartfelt note as Shabana Azmi completes 50 years in Cinema, calls her ‘strongest influence’

“I actually bought the house and that is why I say it is a kismet connection. When I walked into the house, it felt like my home,” she told the audience.

Currently, the actor and her husband reside in (Vidya and her husband Siddharth Roy Kapur) a rented house.

“We looked around 25 houses but could not agree on any house. And all my life I have lived in my own house with my parents. This is a rented house and I was always like I don’t want to stay in a rented house. We loved the house (the rented one). After looking at 25 houses, we came back here as we liked it but decided to take it up on rent. Our landlord is happy as he is earning a fat cheque,” the actor, whose film Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3 is expected to be released soon, said.

The rented house on Carter Road has a garden, a luxury in Mumbai, and faces the sea, she revealed.

Also Read: Take a look into Vidya Balan’s minimalistic home in the beachy suburbs of Mumbai

Asked what she would have named her own real estate firm, in case she would have started one, she said it would be known as ‘Mission Mangal’.

She also revealed that she is very particular about cleanliness. “I often end up cleaning the surface over and over again. Mujhe dust se nafrat hai. I am house proud and I do a lot of housework,” she said.

She also said that she does not like wearing shoes and loves to walk bare feet.

Bungee jumping is on her bucket list and she would love to work with Hollywood actor George Clooney.

Advice to women: Don’t underestimate yourself. Remember, “actions speak louder than words.”

“If a male actor is paid a certain amount, why should it be different for me. We (women) are shy, scared of demanding our pound of flesh but unless we demand, we are not going to get it. Besharam hoke pooch lo, ask for what you think you deserve,” she said.

She said that women should not feel guilty about wanting more from life. “We feel guilty about making inroads in male-dominated spheres, we feel guilty about earning as much or more than our spouses, we feel guilty when we have to make financial decisions, we feel guilty about focusing on our careers, about not being able to give much time at home.”

Also Read: Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3 First Look: Kartik Aaryan and Vidya Balan twin in black, fans call them ‘Stree ka tod’

“We have to work towards feeling less guilty. We have to realise the power within us…we just have to work on letting go of our guilt. That will make us realise our inner power. People ask me about shattering the glass ceiling and I say where it is. I cannot see it. I only see the sky,” she said.

On the Bollywood roles that she has acted in, Balan said that “some part of me does percolate down into the roles that I play. Most importantly, who I am influences the roles that I choose to play. And the way I interpret them and the way I play them. Undoubtedly, I have one face, one body, one laughter, one way of crying. A lot of me are the characters that I play. That’s why it is exciting to have tools such as makeup, hairdo, costumes that help you try and make you look a bit different each time,” she said.

“I realise that I have to believe in what I am doing and still end up doing it differently but I am fully convinced of what I am doing. And one’s true self will always shine out. I am hoping it does,” she added.

Challenges in life

Balan said that one faces challenges at various points in life. “It’s probably tougher when you are not doing well.”

She recollected that when she was working in a Malayalam film in the early 2000s that never got completed, the talk was that the director and the actor had done eight films together and delivered success, but they suddenly had a fallout on this film. They said "this girl’s energy has jinxed this project, so I got labelled as jinxed. I had been signed off for close to a dozen films and in a span of three years, I got replaced in every single project and I did not know what wrong I had done. My career had ended even before it could take off,” Balan recalled.

That is definitely one time when her confidence was fully shaken but “I so wanted to be an actor that I would cry myself to sleep. But every morning, I told myself to try for one more day. It was my self-belief and never-say-die attitude that helped me sail through,” she added.

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