Was wary of my parents' reaction on Dirty Picture: Vidya

Even though Vidya Balan, who turned a year older day before, is basking in the success of her latest film 'The Dirty Picture', the actress is more relieved that her parents liked her bold performance.

She went against her image to put on a cigarette-smoking, cleavage-baring act in the film inspired by South siren Silk Smitha, and Vidya says she was worried about her parents' reaction while working on the film.

"I am ecstatic with all the compliments that have come my way even though the film's release was a month ago. What touched my heart most was the acknowledgement coming from my parents.

"They said to me that within five minutes of 'The Dirty Picture', they forgot that the girl on screen was their daughter and instead took home Silk. It was a big relief when my parents said that since right through the film's making, I was wary of their reactions," Vidya told PTI.

While the Milan Luthria-directed film is one of the biggest successes of 2011, the first woman centric one to do such huge business, Vidya says that the film was not intended to be such in the first place.

"During the making of the film none of us ever thought that 'The Dirty Picture' was a woman-oriented film being made. The central character was a woman but then we didn't want that to put any limitations or restrictions in our story telling.

"We believed that we all were working towards making a good film and that's about it. In fact Mahesh Bhatt said to me that 'The Dirty Picture' showed how much respect Milan and I had for women due to which we could tread a fine line and still come out unscathed."

After the hectic work and promotions for the film, it is now time for the 34-year-old to relax a little. With the festive season on, Vidya is finally chilling out and going through all the compliments that have accumulatedso far. "Now I just want to sit back and enjoy for a while. It is so gratifying and humbling to go through all the messages from family, friends, industry and media. The phone continues to ring and that is such a blessed feeling. I felt bad that I hadn't responded to all of them but I am doing that now."

The actress is on a small break before kick-starting the promotion of her next film 'Kahaani', directed by Sujoy Ghosh.