Vidya moves into new home, plans series of sit-in dinners

By Subhash K. Jha

Mumbai, Feb 18 (IANS) Vidya Balan, who recently moved into her new four-bedroom place in Khar here, says instead of throwing a housewarming party she will invite her friends in different groups for dinners so that they can enjoy themselves thoroughly.

"I think it's imprudent to invite all your friends all at once for one party. This makes the gathering unmanageable - guests who don't know one another get uncomfortable," Vidya told IANS.

"So I'm having a series of sit-in dinners in my new house where groups of friends who know one another can come together for cosy comfortable conversations and food," added the actress who won accolades for her unconventional roles in "Paa" and "Ishqiya".

Before that Vidya wants every little detail in her new house to be perfect.

"I'm fastidious about cleanliness to the point of being obsessive about my home. If I feel a drawer is messy, I will clean it up at 3 in the morning after a hard day's shooting. So before my house-warming parties start, I need to make sure everything is in place," said the actress.

Vidya admits the home is now her proudest possession.

"It's virtually been built brick by brick by me in the middle of my busy schedules. I wasn't able to give the house time at a stretch. That's why it took time to be put together.

"Shifting into it after the release of 'Ishqiya' is a conscious move. I think after 'Paa' and 'Ishqiya', I've earned myself a place of my own," she said.

Vidya earlier stayed in a much smaller place in Chembur. The new place has been done up by a friend of her father.

"Not familiar to the film fraternity... He had done up our earlier place as well."