Vidya Balan Said Yes To Bhool Bhulaiyaa Role Without 'Seeing The Script'

Vidya Balan is all set to return in the third instalment of the horror comedy franchise Bhool Bhuliayaa. The actress played Manjulika in the 2007 hit Bhool Bhulaiyaa which was headlined by Akshay Kumar. Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3 is currently in the works and scheduled to hit the big screens in Diwali 2023. Apart from Balan, the film stars Kartik Aaryan and Triptii Dimri. Ahead of the release, the Hey Babyy actress reflected on her role in the first film. 

Vidya Balan recalls saying ‘yes’ to Bhool Bhulaiyaa in jest 

Vidya Balan had seen the original Malayalam movie Manichitrathazhu and when Priyadarshan offered her the role, done by Shobhna in the original, she jumped at the chance. The Hindi version featured Akshay Kumar as a pyshcharatist and Balan as Avni, who suffers from dissociative identity disorder. Shiney Ahuja played her husband in the movie. "I remember I went to meet Priyan sir. He was shooting an ad with Sunny Deol in Mumbai, so he said, ‘Can you come to the set and meet me?’ I had watched the original Malayalam film Manichitrathazhu as a kid, and I loved Shobana but I was also scared of her, and I've not watched the film ever again,” Vidya said in an interview with PTI. 

She added, "But when he offered the film to me, I said, ‘Wow, are you offering me that film?’, and I said yes instantly. There was no script or anything because I had seen the original. It was probably the shortest meeting I had for a film and that was the shortest time I took to say yes to a film because I loved the original.” Balan said she relied completely on Priyadarshan to play the role of Avni, who starts to believe in the legend of Manjulika, a Bengali dancer.

Vidya Balan credits Priyadarshan for effortless direction in Bhool Bhulaiyaa 

Narrating the story behind a famous scene in the movie where Avni momentarily transitions into Manjulika and ends up lifting a heavy bed, Balan credited Priyadarshan for his effortless direction. “We made the film 'haste khelte' and the director knew exactly what he wanted and he knew how to get that work out of us. People talk about that scene from the film... I went to set and we were doing a scene and Priyan sir said this is the next scene, I said, ‘okay, so what am I supposed to do?’

"When I think back, I'm like, ‘We didn’t even realise how we did it’. But again, no one was taking themselves seriously. I think that's Priyan’s direction for you, he just gave me the right kind of cues, I knew the lines, it was a small scene, so actually, I just read it up there.” Directed by Anees Bazmee, Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3 stars Kartik Aaryan and Triptii Dimri. The second film in the franchise was made by Bazmee and it had Aaryan, Kiara Advani and Tabu in it.
(With inputs from PTI)