Vidya Balan made her acting debut in the Indian sitcom ‘Hum Paanch’ in 1995. In 2003, she made her big-screen debut in the Indian Bengali film ‘Bhalo Theko’ directed by Goutam Halder. Balan played the role of Anandi’ in the film which earned several awards including the ‘Anandalok Award’ and ‘Zee Cine Award.’ She was next seen in the 2005 Indian musical romantic drama film ‘Parineeta’ directed by Pradeep Sarkar. The film was a critical and commercial success. ‘Parineeta’ also marked the Bollywood debut of Balan and earned her the ‘Filmfare Award.’ The following year, she starred as ‘Jhanvi Sahni’ in the Indian Hindi-language comedy-drama film ‘Lage Raho Munna Bhai’ directed by Rajkumar Hirani. The film saw critical acclaim and received 4 ‘National Film Awards.’ In 2007, she was seen in the Mani Ratnam-directed Indian Hindi-language drama film, ‘Guru.’ The film garnered praise from critics and did decent business at the box office. That same year, she also starred as ‘Avni Chaturvedi / Manjulika’ in the Indian Hindi-language psychological horror-comedy film ‘Bhool Bhulaiyaa’ directed by Priyadarshan. The film was a major critical and commercial success. Balan also became a recipient of the ‘Anandalok Award’ for her role in the film.
She bagged the ‘Filmfare Award’ for her portrayal of ‘Dr. Vidya Arte’ in the 2009 Indian Hindi-language comedy-drama film ‘Paa’ directed by R. Balki. The film received positive to mixed reviews from critics and was a major financial success, grossing over ₹102 crores on a budget of ₹13 crores. The following year, Balan was seen playing the role of ‘Krishna Verma’ in the Indian black comedy film ‘Ishqiya’ directed by Abhishek Chaubey. While the film was warmly received by critics, it was a moderate success at the box office. Balan next appeared in films like ‘No One Killed Jessica’ (2011), ‘The Dirty Picture’ (2011), ‘Kahaani’ (2012), ‘Bombay Talkies’ (2013), ‘Ghanchakkar’ (2013), ‘Shaadi Ke Side Effects’ (2014), ‘Hamari Adhuri Kahani’ (2015), ‘Te3n’ (2016), and ‘Kahaani 2: Durga Rani Singh’ (2016).
In 2017, she starred as ‘Begum Jaan’ in the Indian Hindi period drama film ‘Begum Jaan’ directed by Srijit Mukherji. The film was panned by critics though it managed to come out as an average box office success. That same year, she was seen playing the Sulochana "Sulu" Dubey in the Indian Hindi-language comedy-drama film ‘Tumhari Sulu’ directed by Suresh Triveni. The film saw positive reviews upon release and was a financial success. Balan also became a recipient of the ‘Filmfare Award’ for her performance in the film. She next appeared in films like ‘Amoli’ (2018), ‘NTR: Kathanayakudu’ (2019), ‘NTR: Mahanayakudu’ (2019), ‘Mission Mangal’ (2019), and ‘Shakuntala Devi’ (2020). Balan was last seen in the 2021 Indian Hindi-language thriller film ‘Sherni’ directed by Amit V. Masurkar. The film received a positive response from critics.
Munna Bhai is a gangster who falls in love with Jhanvi, a radio jockey. In order to impress her, he hides his identity and lies to her about being a true Gandhian college professor. Although she is deeply hurt and leaves him when she learns the truth, he continues to fight a corrupt property dealer using Gandhian ways.
This drama film tells the story of Gurukant Desai, a simple young villager, whose father discourages him from having big dreams. He soon goes to Turkey and gets a job. Although he is offered a promotion, he refuses, saying that he wants to work for himself. He soon returns to India to start his own business and rises to become the biggest business tycoon in India.
Despite the warnings that it is possessed by spirits, Siddharth, after returning from the US, decides to stay in their ancestral house. Soon, due to strange occurrences, he is forced to call a psychiatrist.
Two criminals take shelter in the house of a kidnapper's widow who agrees to help them in return for abducting the man responsible for her husband's supposed death.
No One Killed Jessica is a crime thriller film which tells the story of Sabrina Lal, who joins forces with an investigative journalist named Meera, to seek justice for her sister Jessica, who was shot by Manish, the son of an influential politician. After Manish manages to get acquitted due to lack of evidence, Meera performs various sting operations, to expose the failure of law and order in the country. Eventually, the public decides to protest against the cover-up in order to bring justice to Jessica.
John Biswas is a 70 year old broken man who is still seeking help from the police to find the people who had kidnapped and killed his granddaughter several years ago. The case had shaken up the police force in such a way, that the investigating officer Martin Das had quit the force and turned to priesthood. Now, eight years later, a young boy is kidnapped and the case seems to be completely similar to the kidnapping of John Biswas' granddaughter.
Parineeta is a romantic drama film which tells the story of Lalita and Shekhar, childhood sweethearts who wish to get married one day. However, Shekhar’s father wants him to marry Gayatri, the daughter of his wealthy business associate. In order to separate Shekhar and Lalita, he turns Lalita and her family’s life upside down.
Auro, a witty 13 year old intelligent boy lives with his mother Vidya, a gynaecologist. His father, Amol Arte, is a politician with a mission. The bright boy suffers from progeria, an extremely rare genetic defect that leads to accelerated aging. He tries to know more about his father, but Vidya is adamant and tries not to reveal the truth.
Hamari Adhuri Kahani is a romantic drama film which tells the story of Vasudha, a single mother, who has been waiting for her missing husband for five years. After learning that her husband is actually a terrorist, she accepts a job in a hotel, and soon begins to fall for the wealthy hotel owner. Things get complicated when her husband, Hari, reappears in her life.
Reshma, a girl from a poor family in a village, decides that she wants to become a film star. She runs away to Madras, and tries to get noticed by the directors. She eventually manages to find success in a minor role. After her success, she begins to be known as ‘Silk’. But success and fame begins to change her.
This comedy drama film revolves around a father, who is forced to ‘borrow’ a Ferrari, belonging to Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar, in order to help his little son fulfill his dreams. The only problem is that he didn’t inform the car’s owner about it.
Three compulsive womanisers living in Australia are taken off guard when they find a baby on their doorstep. Chaos ensues as they go berserk in search for the woman who could possibly be the mother, contacting their ex-lovers to determine who could be the father.
Three friends commit a robbery, after which they decide to keep the loot with one of them, Sanju. Things get complicated when after three months, his partners return to claim their share of the loot, but Sanju claims to have lost his memory, leading to chaos.
Raj Malhotra is an architect who is having extreme bad luck in his life. He meets a social activist named Priya, who seems to be his lucky charm, as things go well for him whenever they meet. They soon both find themselves attracted to one another, but Priya is unaware of the fact that Raj is actually using her to obtain a contract that involves demolishing the community center that she is working for, in order to build a huge shopping mall.
Salaam-E-Ishq is a romantic comedy drama musical film which revolves around the lives of six different couples, as they try to deal with different problems that complicate their lives.
Raj, Yogi and Vikram are best friends who are business partners. Despite being married, they are also serial womanizers, but their wives have no idea that they are cheating on them. Eventually, when one of them begins to suspect that there might be something that she doesn’t know about, she hires a private detective named Kishan to find out more.
Shoaib becomes the leader of a mafia gang after killing his mentor Sultan Mirza. He soon finds a protégé in Aslam, but things get complicated when they both fall for the same woman, leading to an enmity between them.
