Did you know Vidya Balan said yes to her debut Marathi film, 'Ekk Albela' for THIS reason?-Exclusive

Bollywood actress Vidya Balan made her

Marathi

debut with Mangesh Desai starrer 'Ekk Albela'. 'Ekk Albela' was a biopic on the life of legendary actor Bhagwan Abaji Palav popularly known as

Bhagwan Dada

.

The 'Kahaani' actress portrayed the character of golden era actress Geeta Bali in a Marathi biopic. But did you that Vidya Balan's grandmother was a friend of legendary actor Bhagwan Dada?

Yes, you read it right! Today, (June 25) 'Ekk Albela' completed 5 glorious years. On this special occasion, we got in touch with Marathi star Mangesh Desai who portrayed the character of Bhagwan Dada in 'Ekk Albela'.

In an exclusive chat with Etimes, Mangesh recalls that how 'Ekk Albela' make-up artist Vidyadhar Bhatte's one phone call took him to share a screen with his dream actress Vidya Balan.

Mangesh said "It was my dream to work with Vidya Balan. During the shoot of Ekk Albela', I was with our make-up artist Vidyadhar Bhatte. He asked me, who is playing Geeta Bali's character. I said him that, we are yet to figure it out. So, Bhatte asked me which actress you think from Hindi cinema can be perfect for this role. I said Rani Mukerji, Parineeti Chopra, or Vidya Balan. He said are you sure about Vidya Balan. I said 'Yes'. I don't what he did, within 10 minutes, Vidya Balan messaged him that "I am at Kolkata and will be coming back after 8 days. I want to see the script of the film. When we narrated the script, she was ready for it."

Desai further added that "Surprisingly, I am sure nobody knows this, Vidya Balan's grandmother is a friend of Bhagwan Dada. There is one old poster of Bhagwan Dada at Vidya Balan's house and it is still there. I think it is just a co-incident.