Bollywood actress Vidya Malavade is best known for her work in the Shah Rukh Khan hit Chak De! India. Over the years, the actress has been seen in various roles, across formats. In a recent interview with Bollywood Bubble, the actress opened up about her career, including the rejections she has faced along the way. Vidya Malavade shared that she had lost opportunities on grounds of being “too young, too old, too pretty, not-so-pretty, too glamorous, not glamorous”. She also spoke about a “weird” role she was offered – to play actor Sidharth Malhotra’s mother. Vidya, 51, is only 12 years older than the Shershaah actor. Recounting the experience, Vidya said, “I remember I got this call for… This is really weird… Some casting people who were casting for Sidharth Malhotra’s mother in some… I am not going to say where but in something and they called me and I was just… Really? Do you have no clue about what you must do? Some casting person, she was probably a new assistant or whatever. But I am like, ‘How? What is it? How is the brain working?’”

In the same interview, Vidya Malavade also revealed that Imtiaz Ali once almost rejected her for being “too glamorous”. Referring to her role as Vaishali in Dr Arora, Vidya said, “When Imtiaz’s casting team – when they were casting, he kept saying, ‘No she can’t do it. She’s too glamorous for this part.’ He wanted somebody to look like a housewife from the heartland of the country. He was like, ‘How will she carry it off? I don’t think she will.’”

Explaining how she convinced the filmmaker to not “take the part away from” her because of her looks, Vidya Malavade added: “I remember Mukesh Chabbra’s team was casting and he’s like do you have any photos like the character they want so I can show it to the team and show. And I sent pictures. He was like, ‘Not these, I want something more.’ I was at a shoot. I packed up early, called my house help and told her I needed a saree and blouse of hers. I wore that saree, wore some kajal and styled my hair. I made her only take pictures. I sent the picture and a message to Imtiaz Ali sir telling him, ‘Sir, please don’t take a part away from me because of the way I look. Because I know I can transform and do what it takes to be Vaishali. And he said just give me a few days. A couple of days later I got a call saying that you’re on. For me, that was a transformation.”

Vidya Malavade will be seen next in Ruslaan.

 Vidya Malavade rose to fame with her role in Chak De! India