Vidya Balan’s Parineeta Re-Releases After 20 Years
Vidya Balan’s Parineeta Re-Releases After 20 Years (Photo Credit – Prime Video)

Bollywood movie lovers have known the effect Parineeta has over the audience since 2005. It’s a cult classic, and even now, people enjoy the beauty of the movie. It’s been 20 years since Hindi cinema gave us a movie like Parineeta featuring Saif Ali Khan, Vidya Balan, and Sanjay Dutt. To celebrate the milestone, the film is getting re-released in selective Indian theatres on August 29, 2025, only for a week, as per Hindustan Times.

This was Vidya Balan’s debut movie, with which she made her name in the industry and established herself as an actress. But did you know she was not the first choice for the movie? There were other actresses as well in the race to become the titular character, Lolita. So, before the movie could hit the theatres, here’s a small trivia for you.

Parineeta: Which Actresses Were Considered For The Role Of Lolita?

Based on Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay’s Bengali novel of the same name, the movie was directed by Pradeep Sarkar. Although Vidya Balan was Pradeep Sarkar’s choice, Vidhu Vinod Chopra didn’t want her to be cast in such a grand-scale film. Rather, he wanted to cast someone who is established and can pull off the character of Lolita with the right amount of intricacy.

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Rani Mukerji, and Manisha Koirala were in talks to play the character Lolita, but when Vidya screen-tested for the role for six months, Vidhu Vinod Chopra was satisfied enough to rope her in for the movie. In a press conversation in 2012 (via News18), Vinod Chopra said, “When we thought of Parineeta, I immediately thought of a face like Aishwarya Rai. The character of the girl is like two men falling in love with her…so the heroine has to be bigger. But Pradeep Sarkar (director) told me about her (Vidya), I was like let me see what she can do. But then we tested and tried her (Vidya) and she cleared it.”

Other Casting Choices Of Parineeta

Not only Vidya Balan, but Vidhu Vinod Chopra didn’t want to cast Saif Ali Khan as Shekhar Roy as well. As per reports (via IMDb), Akshaye Khanna was initially approached for the character. However, he had declined the offer and later regretted it. On the other hand, the producer of the movie wanted Aamir Khan to play Girish Sharma (Sanjay Dutt), but he refused to play the second lead to Saif Ali Khan in the film. This is how the role went to Sanjay Dutt, and we all know how that turned out. Now, we cannot imagine these characters, be it Lolita or Shekhar Roy or Girish Sharma, without Vidya Balan, Saif Ali Khan, and Sanjay Dutt.

A day ago, Vidya Balan shared a post on her Instagram handle with a caption that says, “In full Bengali bloom today considering my very first Hindi film #Parineeta is re-releasing on 29th Aug in theatres and TODAY is the premiere.”

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Vidya Balan (@balanvidya)

Are you ready to get immersed in the beautiful world of Parineeta?

For more such stories, check out Bollywood Features

Must Read: From Stree To Thama: Maddock Horror Comedy Universe Explained In Detail

Follow Us: Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | YouTube | Google News

RELATED ARTICLES

Check This Out