On Vidya Balan's birthday, take a look at her most iconic performances

Vidya Balan proved her mark as an actor with her first Bollywood film `Parineeta`. Her finest performances as Lalita impressed both critics and audiences alike. The romantic musical film starring Saif Ali Khan and Sanjay Dutt was helmed by Pradeep Sarkar. 

The film based on Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay`s 1914 Bengali novel of the same name, revolves around childhood friends Shekhar and Lalita.

Although the film's plot received mixed reviews, but Balan's performance was unanimously appreciated. For her performance, Balan earned her first Filmfare trophy in the Best female debut category. 

Vidya Balan has always made an ordinary story extraordinary with her charm and wit. In 2017, Balan played the role of a middle-class housewife Sulochana Dubey or Sulu ( Vidya Balan), who is a housewife and becomes a famous radio jockey.

Balan once again told the simplistic story of a middle-class family, a woman with a dream, and aspirations. Her innocent performance as an innocent middle-class housewife made the ordinary story extra special.

With 'The Dirty Picture,' Vidya proved that she can do anything. Helmed by Milan Luthria, the film was based on the life of Indian actor Silk Smitha and showed Balan in her boldest avatar.

The actress pushed all her limits to get into the skin of the character.

Vidya Balan won the Best Actress National Award for her finest performance.

One of the strongest roles, Vidya Balan has essayed on the screen to date. 

Directed by Sujoy Ghosh, in the film, Balan played the role of Vidya Bagchi, a pregnant woman alone in the new city of Kolkata looking for her missing husband during the festival of Durga Puja.

Balan gave her careers best performance as a fearless lady who can go to any extent to take revenge.

Vidya proved that she can shine in every single role that has been offered to her. In 'Paa', she played the roles of a doctor and a mother who take care of a 12-year-old boy with a genetic disorder known as progeria.

Vidya's performance as Auro's mother will leave you with mixed feelings.

The film starring Vidya Balan and Rani Mukerji in the lead, was based on the real-life murder of Jessica Lal. Directed by Rajkumar Gupta, the thriller told the story of a Jessica, played by Rani, who dies after being shot by a politician's son, and her sister Sabrina who fought a year's long battle to get her sister justice.

Vidya, as usual, delivered another flawless performance of her career.