Vidya Balan's "First Salary" Was Rs 500. All She Had To Do Was...

Vidya Balan shared this photo. (Image courtesy: balanvidya)

Vidya Balan, who awaits the release of her upcoming film Sherni, revealed in an interview with Times Now Digital that she got Rs 500 as her "first salary" and you know what was her job? She just had to "stand beside a tree and smile" for a state tourism campaign. Vidya began her career in the entertainment industry as a television actor and went on to feature in critically acclaimed movies like Parineeta, Guru, Paa, Bhool Bhulaiyaa, The Dirty Picture, Kahaani and Shakuntala Devi. Recalling her "first-ever" job, Vidya told Times Now Digital that it was a print campaign for state tourism and added: "My first ever salary was Rs 500 for a state tourism campaign. Four of us - my sister, me, and a cousin and a friend I think went along - and each of us got paid 500 bucks. We had to just stand beside a tree, a swing, and just smile."

In the same interview, the actress also shared her memories of her "first audition" and recalled that it was for a television show. She said there were around 150 people who auditioned for the role that she got at last - the role of Radhika, a bespectacled teenager, in the 1995 show Hum Paanch.

"My first ever audition was for a television show, my very first television show. I remember I had gone to the film city with my mother and sister, and we had to wait all day. There were some 150 people that were being tested, it was crazy," said Vidya in the interview and added: "By the end of it, I thought okay forget it, I am not going to do this... At that time, I got called."

Vidya Balan made her Bollywood debut with 2005's Parineeta, in which she co-starred with Saif Ali Khan ad Sanjay Dutt. She has starred in films like Lage Raho Munna Bhai, Heyy Babyy, Bhool Bhulaiyaa, Kahaani 2: Durga Rani Singh, Mission Mangal and The Dirty Picture, all of which fared well at the box office.

Her new film Sheni will premiere on Prime Video this Friday.