Actress Vidya Balan was rejected 75 times for her role in the film Parineeta, if music composer Shantanu Moitra is to be believed.
“The fondest memory I have about Parineeta is that of an incredible girl who was sitting with us at Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s office… We slowly became friends. I asked her what she was doing and she said she was here for audition. I’m talking about Vidya Balan,” he said, adding: “The girl auditioned about 75 times and got rejected every single time. Can you imagine her self-worth? Then Pradeep would tell Vinod to try a new look because the previous one wasn’t working.”
Moitra further added, “I still remember the day after getting rejected for the 75th time, there was a Bryan Adams concert in Mumbai and she said that she was going for it. At that time, Pradeep said that ‘let’s do one last audition’ and around 3:30, she quickly came and gave the test with the belief that it won’t happen and after her test, she left for the concert.”
Moitra continued, “The next part, I was the witness to since I was there to present our song — ‘Piya bole’. The song happened and things were going smooth when suddenly Pradeep opened the laptop and told Vinod that there is one more test. Vinod just took a look at it and said that they have finally found her, they found Parineeta. Now the deal was to call Vidya from the concert. Pradeep was calling Vidya but she was thinking about switching off the phone, thinking that the call was about a rejection. Someone texted her: ‘Dude it’s over, you are Parineeta.’ I think she got the message and she walked outside, crying.