Talk:Vidya Balan/Archive 1

Official site
Vidya balan does not have an official site. the site listed is a fansite as the disclaimer of the site clearly states. Now she has an official website "http://www.vidyabalan.net/"

Fan Sites
Hi

I was wondering if the fan sites rule includes fan sites that have no adverts or sources of income what so ever. For example this site as opposed to this one.

Thanks!


 * Wrote something about the topic on Amrita Rao's page. If you wish to raise a discussion over the use of fan sites, I suggest you ask the editors which work on this article to contribute.


 * Problem with adding own fansites is:


 * "A website that you own or maintain, even if the guidelines above imply that it should be linked to. This is because of neutrality and point-of-view concerns; neutrality is an important objective at Wikipedia, and a difficult one. If it is relevant and informative, mention it on the talk page and let other — neutral — Wikipedia editors decide whether to add the link." (Policy for external links here at WP:)


 * Not to mention copyright violations and POV.
 * Best regards, --Plum couch Talk2Me 01:15, 30 September 2006 (UTC)


 * Okay, thank you. :)


 * I see the other site there now... added by our new editor. --82.37.25.233 17:43, 6 October 2006 (UTC)

Urdu
User:Zora and U-Company, Can you please explain the rationale behind inserting urdu script in Vidya Balan's biography.-Bharatveer 09:07, 8 November 2006 (UTC)
 * I'm slightly confused by this edit war too. Could somebody please explain the necessity of adding Urudu to this biography article?--thunderboltz(Deepu) 13:29, 9 November 2006 (UTC)
 * It makes no sense, especially considering her ethnicity (Malayali) to have Urdu. Malayali Urdu ka orru sambandho ille. Bakaman Bakatalk  20:24, 18 November 2006 (UTC)

Guys, Bollywood movies are made in HINDUSTANI -- they stick to language that is understood in the widest possible area of Northern India and Pakistan. That's a commercial decision, to maximize box-office receipts. That's why the titles, on screen and in the advertising, are given in both Devanagari and Nastaliq script. Those are different ways of writing the same thing. If it's necessary for the Devanagari to be there, so that people who know both Hindustani and English can figure out how to pronounce the name, then it's just as necessary for the Nastaliq to be there. Insistence on coding these as Hindi and Urdu, and as separate languages, is just plain wrong-headed. Removal of Nastaliq script is a political ploy. It implies that North Indians and Pakistanis who read and use Nastaliq script are enemies, don't count, shouldn't be considered in writing this encyclopedia. So far as I can tell, you guys are trying to censor information that would be useful to some readers because you don't like those readers. Zora 22:50, 18 November 2006 (UTC)


 * User:Zora, You have a habit of making these kind of meaningless political accusations.
 * See your post on User:Anupam's page : You're stepping into a minefield here and I may not be the best person to advise. For whatever it's worth, I'd suggest that you limit the supplementary Devanagari to material that is sold and advertised in India, and perhaps phrase it thus: "When appearing in India, or sold in India, rendered as XXX in Devanagari." That makes it very clear that you aren't attempting to claim the material for India, that you're just trying to reach out to Indian fans who might not be able to read the Urdu script. Take it slow and don't act as if you're a tank division heading for Islamabad! :) Zora 02:32, 1 November 2006 (UTC)
 * UserZora, wikipedia is not the place to do this kind of things.-Bharatveer 04:04, 19 November 2006 (UTC)


 * NAstaliq is absolutely unnecessary, the language of her ehtnic group is probably all that is needed. There should be an urdu wiki article written on Vidya Balan. On that article users can read the nastaliq script. You make amazing assumptions of bad faith, Zora, even I cant accuse users of "political ploys". Bakaman Bakatalk  05:01, 19 November 2006 (UTC)

When people started putting up script, the point was NOT to pigeonhole the actor/actress by "ethnicity," whatever that means in a country that has been intermarrying for millenia, but to put up names and titles in a form that would allow people who can read the scripts to pronounce the name or title correctly. The point was usefulness to readers, not categorizing movies/actors/actresses. Well, there are millions of people who read and write in Nastaliq who watch Bollywood movies. They count. It's the same reason that many Shi'a-related articles give a name in both Arabic and Persian scripts (which are slightly different) -- many Shi'a are much more familiar with Persian, even though the subject of the article (Husayn ibn Ali, say) was an Arab. Zora 05:39, 19 November 2006 (UTC)


 * Your arguments read together with your  tank division comment will clearly show your political motives .Pls desist from using Wikipedia for such political purposes.Indian film articles should not be treated in anyway different that Indian biographies-Bharatveer 05:54, 19 November 2006 (UTC)


 * User Zora - There are millions who read and write in Kannada, tamil, telugu, oriya etc., scripts who watch bollywood movies. They also should count.  So please add those scripts also or remove the urdu one.  I have been observing this trend of infesting urdu script on all hindi movie related pages.  This is bad.  Either remove the Urdu scripts from these articles or just simply say that the movies are infact Urdu movies and remove the Hindi(devanagari) script.  Sarvagnya 01:40, 20 November 2006 (UTC)


 * Can someone explain why we should have any vernacular scripts in an English language wikipedia? Dozens of articles (AFIK) are suffering from tit-for-tat edits on which scripits to have. This pracitce has introduced a flavour of communalism and regional prejudices into WP. It is wasting numerous editors' valuable time and effort. What useful purpose is served by transcribing a name in numerous scripts? - Parthi talk/contribs 01:55, 20 November 2006 (UTC)
 * For example, Harrison Ford's movies are watched by people all around the world speaking hundreds of different languages. His movies are even translated and dubbed into numerous languages as well, I remember seeing a Tamil version on Satellite TV a few years ago. Does this mean we need to insert numerous scripts into the Harrison Ford article? I see no logic in this. - Parthi talk/contribs 02:22, 20 November 2006 (UTC)


 * Hey, I agree with you. I didn't want to have the darn scripts in the first place, but the other editors all disagreed. When I have time, I'm going to try to work up a general "script" policy that would apply to all WP articles, as to how non-Roman scripts should be chosen and displayed. Right now, I'm thinking that the scripts should be moved out into an infobox somewhere near the bottom of the article, and that there should be a limit of five or so. Criteria is going to be the hard part. I totally and absolutely reject the idea of using the scripts as ethnic or religious tags or codes. Better to have none at all than to play the ethnic/religious tagging games that have consumed so much time on WP. Zora 02:54, 20 November 2006 (UTC)

Political motives? Sheesh! I live in Honolulu. I've never been to India OR Pakistan. I'm not FOR one side or another; I think the whole business of "sides" is ridiculous. I'm an anti-nationalist. I didn't want non-Roman scripts in the articles in the first place, but since other editors want them, I'm just trying to be fair to the Bollywood audience that uses Nastaliq. Zora 06:30, 19 November 2006 (UTC) Zora, could you please be fair enough to Indians by placing a Devnagari or a Gujrati transliteration in Mohammad Ali Zinnah's page here?
 * I see that long discussions have already taken place regarding this on Talk:Bollywood. IMO, adding Urdu to pages of actors makes little sense. True, a large Urdu-speaking fan following might exist, but the diversity of fans is not the criteria which we use to normally decide such things. The article on bollywood can use both Devanagiri and Urdu script in the lead. There your point holds very well.
 * Also, I dont think we are being biased in any way by not providing Urdu script on an actor's page. George bush is more popular among Indians than Americans (according to many surveys). So should his article contain his name in Devanagiri? In short, there simply isnt any reason for a biography page on a non-urdu speaking person to contain urdu (or any other language for that matter), for the sole reason that the person is popular in Bollywood.--thunderboltz(Deepu) 08:48, 19 November 2006 (UTC)
 * Urdu and Hindi are separate languages only in their upper registers. At the man-in-the-street level, Hindustani is the same whether it's written in Devanagari or Nastaliq. And Bollywood films are written for the man in the street. They wouldn't be so immensely popular in Pakistan if the Pakistanis didn't understand them. Please don't cover up the real linguistic complexity and disenfranchise many Indian (as well as Pakistani) fans. Zora 09:40, 19 November 2006 (UTC)
 * User:Zora, Pls stop your meaningless politic rant.Wikipedia is not the place to do these kind of things.-Bharatveer 10:32, 19 November 2006 (UTC)
 * The sorry part of this discussion is that this user is not having the faintest clue of the topic under discussion.-Bharatveer 10:44, 19 November 2006 (UTC)
 * User:Bharatveer must cease his habitual personal attacks and start contributing usefully to WP. Thanks - Parthi talk/contribs 22:33, 19 November 2006 (UTC)
 * I agree with Parthi. User:Bharatveer should focus on arguments and logic rather than his denigration of other users in violation of WP:CIVIL, WP:AGF, WP:NPA. Ad hominem attacks are always bad, and should never be tolerated. Thanks. --Ragib 00:44, 20 November 2006 (UTC)
 * Sorry Zora, wikipedia is not about pandering to certain groups its about presenting valuable info. Writing a Sanskrit derived name in Urdu (unless the person is Sindhi or Kashmiri) is just plain stupid. Anyway my suggestion that an Urdu language wiki article can be linked to this is a viable solution. There is a reason why we have interwiki links. I can even ask some users on ur (read as urdu) wiki to write the urdu script while I give Hindi transliteration. Vidya Balan should have Tamil script though as well (she is part Iyer) and Hindi only because she speaks Hindi and is in Hindi movies. Bakaman Bakatalk  17:00, 19 November 2006 (UTC)


 * Bakaman, thanks for inviting me to this discussion. I'll try to offer whatever advice I have for this situation. In my opinion, Urdu should stay on the article because it is a script used for the language in Bollywood films -- Hindustani. For Bollywood related articles, we've had a policy- that if someone adds Devanagari, thats okay. If someone adds Perso-Arabic, that's okay too. Neither script is required, but when they are added, they should not be deleted. For this article in particular: Vidya Balan stars in Salaam-e-Ishq, a movie whose script is written by Javed Akhtar, an Urdu script writer. Also, Vidya Balan has read Urdu with perfect pronounciation as well (see Vidya Balan reads Mo ka Tara in Urdu and Telgu Portal: Vidya Balan). However, I do see that many individuals here are opposed to Urdu on this article. I'm going to make a compromise between the two parties and present the language using the word Hindustani instead. This should be agreeable to everyone here. I hope this helps. Thanks, AnupamTalk 05:23, 25 November 2006 (UTC)


 * Your edits were not helpful. Hindi is the "rashtra bhasha" and it will stay in devanagari.Fortunately or unfortunately Hindustani is not mentioned anywhere in the Indian Constitution.Regards.-Bharatveer 05:40, 25 November 2006 (UTC)


 * Bharatveer thanks for your comments. I understand and respect that fact the Hindi is the "rashtra bhasha". However, in this situation, we're not discussing the Indian government, but Bollywood. I only made the change to Hindustani as others were objecting to the use of the word Urdu. I can re-add the word Urdu if you would like based on my comments above and those at Bollywood talk. However, I'd like to wait on some more comments before doing so. I'm going to revert to my "compromise version" for now and see what others think. Could you please honor this compromise and not revert until we have more input? Thanks, I really appreciate it. Shanti, AnupamTalk 05:48, 25 November 2006 (UTC)


 * Sorry Anupam.There is no way nastaliq can be written in this Indian Biography.The only unibiased compromised situation will be the article without any scripts.I am going to revert to its Hindi version. If you want ; you can remove both the scripts for the time being.-Bharatveer 05:53, 25 November 2006 (UTC)


 * Bharatveer, thanks for your concern. The only reason I kept my compromise version was so others could see it and give their comments on it. I'm not going to revert to my version myself, but if you understand this, I'll let you revert it. Also, I just wanted to let you know that Urdu is indeed an Indian language. It was formed in India, has the most number of speakers in India, and is a Sanskrit based (Indo-Aryan) language. In fact, before the Partition of India, Delhi, Lucknow, Aligarh and Hyderabad used to be the four literary centers of Urdu — none of which lie in present Pakistan. I hope you understand the reason I reverted to the compromise version. I await yours and others valuable comments. Thanks, AnupamTalk 06:06, 25 November 2006 (UTC)

Bharatveer's objection seems to be to the mention of Urdu, or Nastaliq, in connection with India. Since many Indian nationals do speak an Urdu-leaning Hindustani, and use Nastaliq, the only conclusion I can draw is that he considers those Indians not "real" Indians. They're "real" enough that the Indian government is considering dealing with discrimination against them by including them in the Scheduled Castes. I don't like discrimination in real life and I don't like discrimination on Wikipedia. Bharatveer, is this really the impression of India that you want to give to foreigners? Zora 06:17, 25 November 2006 (UTC)


 * User:Zora, Pls try to understand things properly.You are attacking me personally here making false accusations.
 * "They're "real" enough that the Indian government is considering dealing with discrimination against them by including them in the Scheduled Castes."


 * This shows that you dont have a remotest idea of what you are writing about.Pls try to read something about India before you make these kind of "funny comments".
 * User:Anupam, Pls dont try to divert the discussion.This is an indian biography and should be treated like one.Hindi is the language and not "hindustani" as you say.Regards.-Bharatveer 06:29, 25 November 2006 (UTC)


 * Bharatveer, the only reason I brought up the comments about Urdu's status in India is because of your comment (in italics): There is no way nastaliq can be written in this Indian Biography implying that Urdu is incompatible with India. I think Zora interepreted your comment in the same manner. Once again, I realize that Hindi is the official language of the Union of India. However, here we are discussing Bollywood. Bollywood films and their actors speak the nonstandardized Hindustani language to cater to the widest possible audience: the 180,764,791 Hindi speakers and the 60,503,579 Urdu speakers. In this way, Bollywood will maximize its potential customers. Native Hindi speaking actors/singers are encouraged to use neutral language in films/songs. For example, they will not say subjee but subzee (vegetables) or sir but sar (head). I hope this helps, AnupamTalk 06:53, 25 November 2006 (UTC)


 * You are just drawing wrong conclusions of your own.I have never made such nonsensical accusations .-Bharatveer 08:16, 25 November 2006 (UTC)


 * Zora, Indian politics has little to do with this person. Anupam, I think your math is a little bit off. There are closer to 400 million Hindi speakers in India (337 is the norm on wiki). Anyways perhaps more energy should be spent writing Hindu/Urdu wiki articles on the person, rather than bickering over which scripts to include. Its more convenient to read the article in Hindi than it is to have a Hindi script on an article otherwise in roman script Bakaman Bakatalk  05:03, 26 November 2006 (UTC)


 * Please see my query above regarding the value of any vernacular script in an English language, especially in a bio article. I had asked the question giving Harrison ford as an example. This dispute is totally non-productive. These scripts IMO are merely utilised to label someone's ethnicity rather than provide any useful information to the reader. - Parthi talk/contribs 07:22, 25 November 2006 (UTC)

The script should be where the person is from and what he/she speaks. I don't think urdu belongs in such a place unless the person is muslim indian or pak.--D-Boy 07:16, 26 November 2006 (UTC)


 * Is there a WP policy stating this? How would you know what language someone speaks? One may be proficient in many languages? Do you include all of them? Or did you mean 'the language the person'sethnicity represents'? - Parthi talk/contribs 07:33, 26 November 2006 (UTC)

I'm yet to come across a Muslim who insists on having Urdu in Bolly articles... Zora dunno why are your pandering to imagined sensitivities,

'''Guys, Bollywood movies are made in HINDUSTANI -- they stick to language that is understood in the widest possible area of Northern India and Pakistan. That's a commercial decision, to maximize box-office receipts. That's why the titles, on screen and in the advertising, are given in both Devanagari and Nastaliq script.'''

Its been a long time since I've seen usage of Urdu script in Bollywood movies in adverts or otherwise (obviosly Urdu-fied bootleg Bolly DVDs from Pakistan we get in England dont count)... Hindustani is essentially dead. Higher forms of Urdu is Greek to my Rajasthani-Marathi ears. You are exagerating use of Urdu or Persianised Hindustani (if you like) in modern Bollywood movies. For a person who has never been to subcontinent, can you even differentiate between Urdu and Hindi?

Whats more in this Urdufication campaign you guys seem to have negelected the quality of articles themselves. Kajol article for one doesnt even mention her Marathi ethnicity. अमेय आर्यन DaBroodey 17:51, 26 November 2006 (UTC)

'''Bharatveer's objection seems to be to the mention of Urdu, or Nastaliq, in connection with India. Since many Indian nationals do speak an Urdu-leaning Hindustani, and use Nastaliq, the only conclusion I can draw is that he considers those Indians not "real" Indians. They're "real" enough that the Indian government is considering dealing with discrimination against them by including them in the Scheduled Castes. I don't like discrimination in real life and I don't like discrimination on Wikipedia. Bharatveer, is this really the impression of India that you want to give to foreigners?'''

Given your views of anybody right of Prakash Karat, this is unsurprising. I really dont know what sort of notions about Hindus you've cooked up in your head. Surely Government of India commitees are no gold standards on objectivity and impartiality. You are in effect 800 million Hindus of India of being racists. Obviously this is no space to discuss the merits and demerits of Sachar committee (which has been blown to smithrens on Blogosphere).

Lastly to be frank, i've spent some time with hardcore RSS chuddiwallahs last July. I can affirm they are not half-as paranoid as you. Stop seeing Hindutvadis everywhere. Indian Nationalism does NOT equal Hindutva. अमेय आर्यन DaBroodey 18:07, 26 November 2006 (UTC)

Just a random Zora rant on Anupams talk page:

'''Please have a look at the talk page there. This is yet another instance of a certain cadre of editors replacing references to South Asia with the term "Indian sub-continent." Laying claim to the whole sub-continent'''

For one term, sub-continent has academic patronage. South Asia is nothing more than a politically correct term. I find it hypocritical of you to go that far to accomodate Pakistani sensitivities, while denying same to us on topics relating to our (Indian) cultural icons. I'm not a man to mince words. 'hanging around' at Sepia Munity hardly makes one qualified auhtority on Desi issues. Given the masochist slant of a few writers over there, Abhi in particular! (For records i write for Sepia Munity's sister blog Pickled Poltics from across the pond). Morever Sepia Mutiny isnt exactly the alpha and omega of desi blogopshere. Desipundit is... Most Indians regardless of faith or ideology would find term South Asian, exteremely irritating.

All I'd say, Zora come out of the closet, tell us what we already know, tell us about your extent of distaste for Indians and Hindus. अमेय आर्यन DaBroodey 19:20, 26 November 2006 (UTC)


 * I'd like to recommend AMBBroodey to assume good faith. I see no valid reasons given for the inclusion of any vernacular scripts other than to mark the person as belonging to a certain community. This invariably leads to communalistic and chauvinistic behaviour. What value do these scripts add to an English language encyclopedia?- Parthi talk/contribs 19:27, 26 November 2006 (UTC)

Well neither do I. But if you are gonna rid them on Indian articles, do it on all the articles, which will be a pointless exercise. As for Assuming Good Faith, its not as if i dont value Zora's cotribs to Wikipedia or something, but she definitely has her POVs which she refuses to acknowledge. Moreover I havent seen Zora extensing same courtsey to Hindu and Indian editors. She is very quick to denounce us as Hindutvadis. अमेय आर्यन DaBroodey 19:50, 26 November 2006 (UTC)

The purpose of *This* talk page is to discuss *this* article, not the editors who edit this. Let us stick to that please. Thank you. --Ragib 19:59, 26 November 2006 (UTC)


 * Malayali, Tamil, Devanagari (for Hindi films). Besides English (the article is in eng) Hindi is the only other official central government language. If I want to address the assembly in Trivandrum in Hindi I can, I cannot do that even in Tamil (though more people are bound to understand Tamil). Bollywood are Hindi language films, and experiences in the blogosphere and original research dont meet WP:RS.  Bakaman Bakatalk  03:31, 30 November 2006 (UTC)
 * What has Hindi being the "official" (sic) language of the Indian Government has anything to do with an English language Wikipedia article? This website is not a Government of India website (thank God!) - Parthi talk/contribs 07:32, 30 November 2006 (UTC)
 * It is because Hindi is the "Rasthra Bhasha" of India. This website is not the property of Govt Of Ooze land either.(thank Ooze dog).-Bharatveer 07:50, 30 November 2006 (UTC)
 * Nice see the usual personal abuse from the most useless editor on WP. - Parthi talk/contribs 09:33, 30 November 2006 (UTC)
 * Nice to see this coming from one of the worst anti-indian,anti-hindi POV-PUSHER  in wikipedia .-Bharatveer 09:44, 30 November 2006 (UTC)Bharatveer 09:45, 30 November 2006 (UTC)

(resetting indent)Bharatveer and Parthi, please refrain from commenting on each others. Let's just focus on the issue rather than applying various adjectives to each other. Thank you. --Ragib 10:01, 30 November 2006 (UTC)


 * Hindi is not the "Rashtra Bhasha" of any country I know of. If the Northie cow-dung belt wallahs are going to tell me what language I should speak, then the country can go and blow itself up for all I care. Gamesmaster G-9 07:58, 30 November 2006 (UTC)
 * That speaks much of your "knowledge". "Blowing up" is all too common now. Pls keep Wikipedia free from terrorism.-Bharatveer 08:05, 30 November 2006 (UTC)
 * Please keep it free from narrow minded linguistic bigotry. 08:53, 30 November 2006 (UTC) —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Gamesmasterg9 (talk • contribs).


 * First off, I would like to say I don't like Hindustani or Hindi or urdu or whatever. I want just native scripts.  Many of us don't even want Hindi scripts on on say bollywood bio articles.  As for Rashtra and that unity stuff is concerned, India should speak English, Sanskrit, and the root of all south indian languages.  Makes things a hell of a lot simplier.--D-Boy 02:58, 1 December 2006 (UTC)

protected until script issues resolved
As usual, this article had to be protected until the script issues are solved. Very sad, but I hope that the users will arrive at a consensus. Some of the edit-warring editors are on the verge of breaking WP:3RR as well. Please be careful about that. Thanks. --Ragib 07:30, 25 November 2006 (UTC)

Starting a new section, to continue the same old same old
Urdu IS one of the official languages of India. See List of national languages of India. It is not one of the two languages of central administration (English and Hindi), but it is an official language in many states. Why try to get rid of Nastaliq and Urdu, but leave Tamil or Malayalam? They have exactly the same status as Urdu.

As for Muslims and Scheduled Castes, see this article from Outlook India:. The Sachar report recommends reservations for Muslims. Zora 09:18, 25 November 2006 (UTC)
 * Even after repeated requests, You are just bringing up your Political Povs here.Malayalam script exists here because she is from Palakkad ,Kerala and hindi, because its her national language.-Bharatveer 09:44, 25 November 2006 (UTC)

Even if we assume that Hindi is the 'national' language of India for a microsecond, why do we need any scripts on a bio page? Is it for pronunciation? If so the speakers of these languages already know how to pronounce her name. WP is not India. It doesn't care what language someone speaks. - Parthi talk/contribs 19:45, 25 November 2006 (UTC)
 * Reply - Its not assumption its fact and official. Bakaman Bakatalk  04:37, 26 November 2006 (UTC)
 * Minor matter. Hindi is one of the official languages of India (among 20 odd) and not the national language. Cheers Parthi talk/contribs 04:57, 26 November 2006 (UTC)
 * minor for oozies perhaps!!!-Bharatveer 05:43, 26 November 2006 (UTC)
 * Nothing useful to offer. As usual indulging in personal attacks. - Parthi talk/contribs 05:47, 26 November 2006 (UTC)
 * So are you, continuing your anti -Hindi rants here.Bharatveer 05:52, 26 November 2006 (UTC)
 * Hindi is one of the official languages (with English) for all of India. That means if I'm in Trivandrum with my aunt and we go to the government office, the proceedings can proceed in Hindi even though the official lang of Kerala is Malayalam. If I go to Imphal the govt proceedings can be done in Hindi, even though the official lang of Manipur is Meitei. Parthi please re-read Official languages - Central Government. ACtually I'll cquote the needed part.

The Constitution of India has stipulated the usage of Hindi and English to be the two languages of communication for the Central (Federal) government. and The state governments use their own language along with English for communication with the Central government. For example, the central government sends its information in Hindi and English to the state of Karnataka and this state communicates back in Kannada and English. Information from the center to Tamil Nadu is in English and Hindi and this state communicates back in Tamil and English.. Its not minor, lol Bakaman Bakatalk  15:43, 26 November 2006 (UTC)


 * I would be happy to drop all the scripts except the IPA pronunciation guides, which could be of use to everyone. However, I'd have a hard time convincing all the other editors who insist on adding scripts. Parthi, you want to work with me on coming up with a script policy? I'm thinking right now of putting all non-Roman scripts in teeny teeny type in a box at the bottom of the article and for a criterion -- how about whether or not there's an article on the same subject in the relevant non-English Wiki? The scripts could be the links to the articles. We wouldn't have to worry about ethnic/religious tagging or arguments about which scripts are relevant. Zora 20:24, 25 November 2006 (UTC)
 * IMO IPA alone would suffice for any article. I don't mind links at the bottom of the page linking to interwiki articles. However again this could lead to behaviour fuelled by regional chauvinism as seen here. I'd be happy to assist where I can. - Parthi talk/contribs 21:18, 25 November 2006 (UTC)

If we only have links to wikis where there's a matching article, and don't add the links automagically, then there's no room for ethnic/regional chauvinism. I think. The problem isn't so much adding the links (it's information, if potentially much too much) as the desire to remove them. Zora 22:48, 25 November 2006 (UTC)

I urge User:Bharatveer to keep within the limits of civility; edits like this are not really helpful in having a civilized, friendly discussion. Let's not launch ad hominem attacks, and keep commenting on other editors without actually commenting on the issue. Thank you. --Ragib 06:00, 26 November 2006 (UTC)

Just to weigh in with my two bits - I think the issue is an important one because the decision taken here will affect other pages too. So far, the options for choice of sripts seem to be as follows: 1) No vernacular script - only IPA 2) Only Devanagri. I think we all agree that this is an incorrect choice. 3) Devanagri and Nastaliq. The argument for this is that "Hindi" movies are essentially in Hindustani, which can be written in either script. The argument against this is that these movies are always referred to as being in Hindi, never in Hindustani. The other argument that Urdu-speakers watch Hindi movies too is irrelevant because this is true of speakers of many other languages. 4) The person's native script. Makes intuitive sense. The downside is that many actors act only in movies made in other languages. What do you do for someone like Simran - a Punjabi who is most famous for acting in Tamil movies - for example? 5) The script of the languages which the person speaks. Impossible to determine with certainty. 6) The script of all languages in which movies have been made featuring this person. Problematic - someone like Riya Sen should have her name written in Devanagri, Bengali, Tamil and Malayalam in that case. 7) Some combination of the above.

Lets have a straw poll here. Gamesmaster G-9 08:15, 26 November 2006 (UTC)

I was told (at the Village Pump) that the results of the previous poll weren't enough to constitute an enforceable policy, so it's unlikely that a new poll would constitute something an admin could enforce. We need a UNIVERSAL policy, not just one for cinema or India-related articles. Zora 10:04, 26 November 2006 (UTC)


 * Only English and IPA - Parthi talk/contribs 08:30, 26 November 2006 (UTC)
 * Only English and IPA on top, small box on bottom with scripts if articles in those wikis exist. Zora 09:58, 26 November 2006 (UTC)
 * Malayali and Tamil at top (in addition to english and IPA). Bakaman Bakatalk  15:43, 26 November 2006 (UTC)
 * Given the problems with all other options, I believe only English and IPA is the best option, if we are to have a UNIVERSAL option. Again, as an example, what would you propose we do in the case of Simran Bagga and Riya Sen? Gamesmaster G-9 16:37, 26 November 2006 (UTC)
 * Reply - Riya Sen is Tripuri/Bengali. According to the only active tripuri user on en wikipedia, the Tripuris use Bengali to write their names (the old Kokborok script is extinct). What ethnicity is Simran Bagga? Anyway, just like we do with normal bios, we might as well stick to ethnicity. Apart from users making bad faith accusations of "political ploys/ethnic hatred/etc" and anti-Hindi rants from others, the scripts are hardly controversial. The world is divided by ethnicities who use different scripts to express their words, and wiki merely should reflect the world. Bakaman Bakatalk  01:31, 27 November 2006 (UTC)
 * As Zora says below, ethnicity is notoriously difficult to pin down. In fact, I was the one who put Riya Sen's name down in Bangla script, but after this discussion, I am actually thinking of removing it - remember that Riya (unlike her sister, for example), has done most of her work in movies made in languages other than Bangla. Similarly, Simran's chief ethnicity is Punjabi, but she is most well known for her work in Tamil cinema. In both cases, it makes most sense to just stick to English plus IPA. After all, we must ask ourselves what the purpose of including alternate scripts is. Gamesmaster G-9 05:45, 27 November 2006 (UTC)
 * But why is it important to display the ethnicity of the subject though the use of vernacular scripts? What value do you add to the English language encyclopedia? Why is ethnicity, race and religion of the subject is important? - Parthi talk/contribs 01:39, 27 November 2006 (UTC)

Ethnicity is NOT a simple matter. Here in Hawai'i, people say things like "I'm a real mixed plate; I've got Hawaiian, Pake, Japanese, Okinawan, Scotts-Irish, and Podagee." So, what ethnicity is that person? You might say that he was "local", but people here can have flaming arguments about who is "local" and who isn't. If a man from Peshawar moved to Kolkata and opened a shop, and married a woman from Dacca, and their daughter married a Parsi man and the young couple moved to Mumbai, and raised a son who spoke English from birth ... what ethnicity is that boy? Ethnicity is an IDEA, not a fact. It's how you choose to describe yourself, and whether or not there is a group that is willing to accept you. B, you can't just assert that this isn't "controversial". It's enormously controversial. Zora 02:40, 27 November 2006 (UTC)

Zora you misjudge the importance of ethnicity in Indian culture. Indians for their part take excessive pride in their caste and etnicity. Word Indian isnt descriptive enough for many of us. I tend to agree with Parthi that we must do away with these vernacular scripts... but goven the number of biographical articles, I s'pect it is going to be an exhaustive task. अमेय आर्यन DaBroodey 12:55, 27 November 2006 (UTC)


 * So far as I know, we aren't mentioning caste. I believe that there's already a rule asserting this. As for ethnicity -- I don't think we should be assigning it. If someone asserts that he's Bengali or Marathi, we can put that down, but if he doesn't make any claims, we have no business pigeonholing him. If he wants to be just an Indian, or a Mumbaikar, that's up to him. Zora 00:30, 28 November 2006 (UTC)


 * As long as the person's principal identity (if we can identify one), is mentioned, there is no need for the vernacular spelling. In this article, it is mentioned that Balan is Malayali/Tamil, so that should pretty much be that. Gamesmaster G-9 15:49, 27 November 2006 (UTC)

I think we have a sort of an agreement here. The discussion at the Village pump is also leaning towards removing these scripts. If we can draw up a policy for India related articles to disallow vernacular scripts for new articles, we can retrospectively edit the hundreds of Bollywood and India bio articles over a period of time. The main intent of this discussion is to reach an agreement on the use of the vernacular scripts. The consensus seems to point to not using these scripts. - Parthi talk/contribs 19:07, 27 November 2006 (UTC)


 * No it doesn't. there are desenters.  Only a select few want to remove the scripts.  That's not enough.  You and zora seem to be the only ones that are gungho about it.--D-Boy 19:05, 29 November 2006 (UTC)


 * I propose that we use IPA and ITRANS when writing out the names. These two together provide enough information to back out both the pronounciation and the spelling in the Indic script of your choice. I have already changed Riya Sen and Kajol, and intend to continue. Gamesmaster G-9 00:07, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

Sen is Bengali last name!--D-Boy 18:59, 29 November 2006 (UTC)


 * Nonsense - many others including User:Venu62 and User:Utcursch agree with the proposal. Some others also agree partially. To me it seems like we are almost at a consensus, except for the few vociferous dissenters such as yourself. Gamesmaster G-9 23:29, 29 November 2006 (UTC)

I think we should rather stick to the arguments, than apply adjectives to each other. As for the consensus, I don't think enough discussion have been there to enforce a wiki-wide change to remove all scripts from *all* biography articles. Thanks. --Ragib 00:13, 30 November 2006 (UTC)


 * I apologise - I didn't mean to be rude. On the matter of wiki-wide changes, this matter is not likely tobe relevant to non-Indians because most countries in the world are mono- or at most bi-lingual. Gamesmaster G-9 00:20, 30 November 2006 (UTC)


 * NO, NO, NO, a million times no. Here in Hawai'i, my condo association was handing out a newsletter translated into Japanese, Mandarin, Cantonese, Korean, and Vietnamese. Our state has two "official" languages, English and Hawaiian, and one unofficial language, pidgin, which is a mashup of words from many languages. Most other US states host several different languages. Per Languages of China, Chinese citizens speak dozens of different languages. Per [[Languages of Iran, Iranians also speak dozens. Ditto Russia. In Switzerland people speak German, French, Italian, and various dialects thereof. Spain has Spanish, Basque, Catalan, and I don't know what else. The only countries in which one language is spoken are very very small ones. (Heck, even in the small country of Tonga, where I lived for a few years, there was Tongan and then there was the dialect of Niua Fo'ou, which differed in many ways from standard Tongan.) Languistic chauvinism and ethnic/religious conflct aren't unique to India. Zora 09:15, 30 November 2006 (UTC)

Indians use a variety of scripts other than Urdu. If we go on that way, we would be publishing something similar to Indian currency note or nycil powder with a zillion transliterations. So, in my opinion, its better to use the transliteration in Native script and if possible in Devnagari as it is the script mostly used in India and Bollywood. However, I find this argument a bit useless as pakistanis do not allow the transliteration of Mohammad Ali Jinnah in Gujrati or Devnagari in his page and zora does not seem to give a damn about it.
 * That logic (bi-lingual) applies to Indians who are Bengalis too. I assume there is no disagreement over having the Bengali script written in Rabindranath Tagore. The only bone of contention seem to be Hindi cinema-related biographies, and people from a multi-lingual region. So, does the proposal of removing all scripts apply to only such articles? If not, this is applicable to all biography articles from Non-English speaking countries/persons. Thanks. --Ragib 00:25, 30 November 2006 (UTC)


 * The man is a bengali. His name should be in Bengali.--D-Boy 18:23, 30 November 2006 (UTC)


 * I hold that if there is no objection to any inclusion, then it should go ahead. If it were possible to identify every Indian with a single language, then I would have supported the move to include vernacular scripts. Unfortunately, once you allow this rule, I can see people will tout one language above another. Thats why I am wary of agreeing with your suggestion. Gamesmaster G-9 01:09, 30 November 2006 (UTC)

Caste categories
Exactly why is a "Brahmins" category here? Consensus was to delete all the useless caste categories, and listify them. See Wikipedia_talk:Notice_board_for_India-related_topics/archive18. Bakaman Bakatalk  15:43, 26 November 2006 (UTC)


 * delete them!--D-Boy 04:46, 3 December 2006 (UTC)

Vidya is not a malyali!
If u ppl are not aware,although her native place is in Kerala,she is not a malyalee.Her mother-tongue is Tamizh. Sarvabhaum 13:46, 3 December 2006 (UTC)


 * She herself has confirmed in several interview, most notably when she was on Simi Garewal's show, that she is part Tamil and Malayali. -- Hariharan91 06:59, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

-- Nope. You are wrong. And many think Palghat Iyers as half Malyali and Half Tamil. Actually, I myself a Palghat iyer, we migrated from Tanjore delta in Tamil nadu and settled in Palghat. The Tamil we speak has Malayalam accent and may be that is causing confusion to many. Palghat Iyers marry with in palghat Iyers or Tamil Nadu iyers. There is no Malayalee Iyer community in Kerala. Kerala brahmins are called Namboodhri and they don't marry Iyers. Guess this would clarify. And on more... Iyers and Iyengars are Tamils basically, the difference is.. former follows Saivaite sect and the later Vaishnavaite sect and they don't iner marry.

Vidya's Name in Parineeta
Shocked to found her name spelled as "Lolita" in movie Parineeta. Since this page is locked I can not change it, someone with enough privillages please change it to Lalitha.

Wasn't it Lolita though? --82.45.48.31 15:52, 15 December 2006 (UTC)


 * Nope, it was "Lalita", which is pronounced in Bangla as "Law-lee-ta". Gamesmaster G-9 17:35, 15 December 2006 (UTC)


 * in the book by Chaterjee it's spelled Lolita -

Vidya in MegaStar Chiranjeevi Film
Vidya Balan is chosen to act with MegaStar Chiranjeevi film 'ShankarDada Zindabad' that is going to be Telugu remake of Bollywood block buster 'Laghe Raho Munnabhai'. The combination looks good. It is definitely going to rock the Telugu world. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 192.193.220.141 (talk) 06:18, 23 December 2006 (UTC).

Remove protection
why is this page still protected? It has been one month. everybody understands that this page should have Malayali and Devanagari ( Hindi ) scripts. Urdu is disputed. so please at least leave Malayali and Devanagari ( Hindi ) scripts in the article. The dispute about urdu can be resolved later. 68.61.233.160 14:56, 26 December 2006 (UTC)

Age Issue
I have heard she was born earlier than 1982 - she's really 29 or so (as of 2007) In an interview she said she won't discuss her age, which I found odd. She's one of my favorite actresses, so I am not trying to bash her, but just wondering.Mywikieditor2007 14:34, 30 March 2007 (UTC)

-Vidya is actually 33 (born in 1975). If you remember she was somewhere around 21 while doing Hum Paanch. Considering that hum paanch aired in 1995 vidya must be around 33 now.... —Preceding unsigned comment added by Lordoftherealm (talk • contribs) 05:18, 10 August 2008 (UTC)

Well
The recent removals made by Active Banana were well-intentioned, but unjustified. The role of Silk Smitha, her second real-life character is properly sourced in the article. As for the costars and the film's stories, there's nothing wrong with that. It can always be useful to write who her costars are and how the films were received, and this is perfectly sourced, so there's nothing to prove. Shahid •  Talk 2 me  15:44, 26 May 2011 (UTC)
 * "how the films were recieved" is completely unacceptable without sourcing. Active Banana    (bananaphone  17:21, 26 May 2011 (UTC)
 * Correct. But it's sourced. Shahid  •  Talk 2 me  17:45, 26 May 2011 (UTC)


 * And i disagree about the inclusion of co-stars. What does it tell us about the subject of the article? Nothing. Without some third party sourcing indicating something about the co-star being in the same film having outside impact (like bradgelina in Mr. & Mrs. Smith or long lasting film partnerships of Cosby & Hope in "The Road to ...." movies, or the actor later stating that "I learned so much about acting from being in X movie with actor Y" or the actor later joining with co-star to write and produce a film because they clicked on the set, or some long lasting public fued that started on set) otherwise for the purposes of an article about this actor it is just fame by association. Active Banana    (bananaphone  17:28, 26 May 2011 (UTC)
 * Can't really agree. It may not be necessary, but it's essential information. According to me, it does add a lot of value. In this case, the fact that she played the mother of Amitabh Bachchan, whose children are her seniors, is important. Shahid  •  Talk 2 me  17:45, 26 May 2011 (UTC)
 * WHAT does it tell us? Any analysis and commentary needs to be from third party sources, not Wikipedia editors placing choice bits in a row to make the reader come to some conclusion. Active Banana    (bananaphone  20:40, 26 May 2011 (UTC)
 * We do not make our readers come to conclusions. We just present facts. There is nothing wrong with mentioning costars from time to time. As I said, it's essential info. And it's really no big deal for me to have a long debate about that. It's acceptable and there's nothing wrong with it, period. Shahid  •  Talk 2 me  07:45, 27 May 2011 (UTC)
 * Again, attempting to place selected items to lead readers to come to a certain conclusion is a violation of WP:SYN. Active  Banana    (bananaphone  14:47, 3 June 2011 (UTC)

Script
In the past there were several edit wars on the article with different users changing the script from Malayalam to Tamil and vice versa. As a result all the scipts have been removed and a note was added (not by me) NOT to add any scripts. According to Balan, her mother tongue os both Tamil and Malayalam. There's been peace on this page, do not bring back the wars. Shahid •  Talk 2 me  08:37, 9 August 2011 (UTC)
 * The article doesn't mention her saying that her mother tongue is "both Tamil and Malayalam". She only says that we speak a mix of both Tamil and Malayalam. The mother tongue of Palakkad Iyers is Tamil and the Tamil they speak has slight mix of Malayalam. -- Commander (Ping Me) 12:00, 9 August 2011 (UTC)
 * "we speak a mix of both Tamil and Malayalam" means they speak both Tamil and Malayalam in equal parts, and "home" is mother tongue in a certain way. Let it be, as already mentioned by Bollyjeff, scripts are too divisive. Shahid  •  Talk 2 me  21:24, 9 August 2011 (UTC)


 * Hi.Look I bring up a valid claim and the correct change to be made in wikipedia such that its info are proper and right one. User Shahid  •  Talk 2 me  Plz find yourself that since you had some bad time with others why take all the same. I do edit based on the truth and want wikipedia also to stay in true content. Ok. why should I make up a fight here, if I bring genuine reasons and trying to explain you all who object this simply to hide the truth and ignore the important fact. Try to understand it first. We all here for some purpose. And I feel I am doing that. Thats's it. There are enough sources and references says she is a tamilian by birth. Although Palakkad in kerala, they are referred to as Tamils. And so her mother tongue is ONLY Tamil. Practically think TWICE since the settlement happened some years ago, practically people living there will be bound to speak a little Malayalam. That is natural. But you cant say becoz of this her mother tongue is "Malayalam and Tamil". If tamil tag is added to her name, why you guys see it as if it is a crime. Plz make familiarize yourself with the fact of the matter. Be genuine and accept the right change. Dont be rude and aggressive in ignoring important modifications & corrections like this one.

Sources: http://www.hindustantimes.com/photos-news/Photos-Cinema/meettheallnewvidya/Article4-492685.aspx http://www.facebook.com/pages/Vidyabalan/135477859863158 http://bollyworld.net/bollywood-profiles/vidya-balans-profile/ http://www.bollywoodvillage.com/index.php?option=com_celebrity&view=celebrity&task=detail&id=163 http://www.jointscene.com/artists/Bollywood/Vidya_Balan/252 http://www.chakpak.com/moviepedia/bollywood-actress/1268 http://www.facebook.com/notes/celebrity-pictures/vidya-balan-spicy-pictures/132486496500


 * Also note in Tamil people Geographic distribution section, People who got settled in Palakkad are treated as Tamils. If some people are not aware of this, its right call for them to listen with others or do their own BASIC research and try to get the point explained and make the necessary change in the article, giving Wikipedia a better place for true facts and data. Ungal Vettu Pillai (talk) 02:10, 10 August 2011 (UTC)


 * First, you started your comment with a full speech that is unnecessary and irrelevant to the issue. Second, all the sources you've cited are unreliable (please familiarise yourself with WP:RS), and the only one that's supposedly reliable is Hindustan Times, the text of which is copied directly from WP itself. So not a single source in your list is useful. The most important proof is what Balan herself says, by the way, and this was given in my source. I honestly couldn't care less about what her mother tongue is (although you are clearly ignoring the link I have cited above in which she says she speaks a mix of both at home). What I do care about is the fact that this article's script issue has been a great reason for even greater edit wars in the past. Someone would add Tamil and someone would add Malayalam, then someone would delete this or that and it was tiresome. To bring back this, oh no no, it's not done. In doing so, you, Keyan20, went in violation of WP:CON, and could get yourself in trouble. In the article it is already said that her family is Tamil speaking (which will be checked). I personally am against the addition of script, it is the English WP anyway - scripts are not necessary at all, and it maybe important only to those who have some obsession with it. Shahid  •  Talk 2 me  10:53, 10 August 2011 (UTC)


 * Hi.First I believe you think to yourself that what you do or like should be the final, leaving behind others explanation & sticking to your own rules and policies. It is 100% certain, I made it very very clear and detailed that She is a Tamilian by birth & so her mother tongue is Tamil and why are you guys totally trying to ignore this important fact and skipping it wan-tingly to avoid it, completely. Don't try to ignore facts and make people cheated. Why should I be in trouble if I make right calls and true edits in Wikipedia. Better you revise yourself and try to learn what others say and explain. I think once you set yourself, you won't change even after proving facts and data. Is that so??. "I honestly couldn't care less about what her mother tongue is" --- clearly says, you won't accept changes or allow people to edit because of your liking. Don't try to make faults one me and divert your actions. You yourself know that She and her family are Tamil-Iyer people and still you wont allow to make changes. This is very very bad and please don't set yourself a bad remark and also Wikipedia for not allowing true changes to be made here. It is seriously high time to think can there be any justice done here until some true Wikipedians exist and allow to do true works here.


 * How silly you are and saying "Someone would add Tamil and someone would add Malayalam, then someone would delete this or that and it was tiresome." In that case, are you trying to say, that this page won't get any updates and modifications in future?? So you want this page to be like this for-ever with all improper & incorrect facts. That's why I say, you are blocking all true edits and not allowing changes here. If anybody adds other scripts try to explain them and cite the true fact that I am explaining now or protect this page just like other pages. Simply for this reason, you wont allow edits means that is very very bad, worst. Please someone take care of this dominance shown by these editors.  Ungal Vettu Pillai (talk) 03:32, 11 August 2011 (UTC)


 * First of all, I do not own this page, and the first sentence of your recent message is just an invention of yours. I do not want everything I say to be the last word, actually that's why I started this discussion. Secondly, please mind your language. Thirdly, there's nothing to explain to someone as Balan herself says she speaks a mix of Tamil and Malayalam at home. The scripts actually were not removed by me. It was another editor who did it and added the hidden note (which you for some reason decided to ignore). I want more people to participate in this discussion, so that we have a broader number of opinions. Shahid  •  Talk 2 me  10:17, 11 August 2011 (UTC)

I'm not concerned with the script issues, but I don't think it's wise to mention that Tamil and Malayalam as her mother tongue. Balan saying that "we speak a mix of Tamil and Malayalam" doesn't make Malayalam as her mother tongue. In Tamil Nadu a lot of Telugu speaking people also speak Tamil to some extent at home, but that doesn't make Tamil as their mother tongue. -- Commander (Ping Me) 12:54, 11 August 2011 (UTC)

Mother tongue
According to this source, Vidya Balan herself states that her mother tongue is Tamil and she speaks "Palghat Tamil" (Slight mix of Malayalam). I think it's wise to include her name only in Tamil. -- Commander (Ping Me) 01:59, 20 August 2011 (UTC)
 * It's not at all said. She said her Tamil is Palghat Tamil and that's all. And maybe that's this mix which is sourced to The Hindu article? Please do not ignore that she speaks at home "a mix of Malayalam and Tamil". That can't be overlooked, and that was the reason the scripts were removed. Shahid  •  Talk 2 me  09:13, 20 August 2011 (UTC)
 * Wt about other Tamil Keralites?? Secret of success (Talk) 14:29, 20 August 2011 (UTC)
 * She might speak Malayalam, but it's nowhere stated that Malayalam is the mother tongue. -- Commander (Ping Me) 14:36, 20 August 2011 (UTC)
 * Well, the question is what's her mother tongue. She is a Palakkad Iyer. The mother tongue of Palakkad Iyer is Tamil. She rightly says Palakkad Tamil, that is a Tamil dialect that has Malayalam influence, like there exists a Kongu Tamil, a Madras Tamil, a Madurai Tamil or an Iyengar Tamil. She says Palakkad Tamil, not Palakkad Malayalam! If you asked for her monther tongue, it's clearly Tamil, so her name should be added in Tamil script. Johannes003 (talk) 15:59, 31 August 2011 (UTC)

Johannes003 is so worried about linguistic aspects. Please be logical, rather than getting carried away by your love for your language.
 * There is an article about Kerala Iyers. So, it is very appropriate to put the link of Kerala Iyers, while describing Vidya's community.
 * The article clearly says that "According to Balan, they speak at home "a mix of Malayalam and Tamil", but she is also well versed in Hindi, English and Bengali". This is well enough to convey the information about her linguistic abilities. Why you are insisting to add the word Tamilian in the article? Please be logical here.
 * The place where Vidya was born is a village named Ottapalam and not in Palakkad town. Ottapalam is around 40kms from Palakkad town. Ottappalam is also not near TN border. So, in the infobox, the birthplace should be Ottappalam, and not Palakkad.
 * Since she is working in Hindi films, and is very popular in Hindi, it is logical to add her name in Hindi also. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 192.193.160.10 (talk) 03:35, 7 September 2011 (UTC)


 * You will have to cite sources for Ottapalam. Scripts - only for the mother tongue. What's her mother tongue? Needs sources. Shahid  •  Talk 2 me  06:48, 7 September 2011 (UTC)

Okay guys, we have yet to find a source with Vidya Balan saying what her mother tongue is. This will have to be really worked upon. Till then - no scripts. We cannot engage in daily reverts which only hamper the developement of the article. I've already started expanding it a time back, and I don't think I'd be able to with such problems. Shahid •  Talk 2 me  06:47, 7 September 2011 (UTC)
 * Okay, I give it up. I have explained in detail what her mother tongue is what that line - a mix of Malayalam and Tamil - means, but looks like some anonymous user doesn't even try to understand that. Why am I insisting to add Tamilian, god, because she is! I can speak Tamil, English, German, Dutch, French, so what? How are "linguistic abilities" by any means related to someone's ethnicity or mother tongue, please dear user, you have to explain me that! And I am being accused of being a "linguistic fanatic! And she is not from Kerala Iyer community, where does she say so? Anyway, I don't mind removing the scripts till even the last man on earth is convinced! Johannes003 (talk) 11:34, 7 September 2011 (UTC)


 * Dear Johannes, I personally have full trust in both you and Vensatry. I reverted myself, and I think as of now we can base the script on the TOI source which says her mother tongue is Tamil (although it's not a quote). Meanwhile, I will try to find some interview in which she talks about her mother tongue. This entire discussion as well as the previous one should definitely be considered a consensus that only a Tamil script should be there, and if anyone, including the anon, adds another script, he will be reverted. It might also be useful to ask for page protection. Thank you. Shahid  •  Talk 2 me  13:20, 7 September 2011 (UTC)


 * Hey Shahid, I know that you would understand, but not everyone is as clever and insightful as you. If you want to remove the script until it's 100% proven, fair enough, I have no problem with that. Thank you all the same! Johannes003 (talk) 14:21, 7 September 2011 (UTC)

Do you have citations that she is not from Kerala Iyer community? The mother tongue is a mix of Malayalam and Tamil. Hence both scripts should stay. Also, why are you reverting the addition of Ottapalam in the infobox? Do not complicate things. Please answer point by point. Pasting my points/questions again. Now, I have removed all scripts from the article. Till a consensus is reached here. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 192.193.160.9 (talk) 04:23, 8 September 2011 (UTC)
 * There is an article about Kerala Iyers. So, it is very appropriate to put the link of Kerala Iyers, while describing Vidya's community.
 * The article clearly says that "According to Balan, they speak at home "a mix of Malayalam and Tamil", but she is also well versed in Hindi, English and Bengali". This is well enough to convey the information about her linguistic abilities. Why you are insisting to add the word Tamilian in the article? Please be logical here.
 * The place where Vidya was born is a village named Ottapalam and not in Palakkad town. Ottapalam is around 40kms from Palakkad town. Ottappalam is also not near TN border. So, in the infobox, the birthplace should be Ottappalam, and not Palakkad.
 * Since she is working in Hindi films, and is very popular in Hindi, it is logical to add her name in Hindi also. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 192.193.160.9 (talk) 04:19, 8 September 2011 (UTC)


 * Sorry, there is consensus already and three editors agree on the same. There's also a source saying her mother tongue is Tamil. Need no more. Shahid  •  Talk 2 me  08:51, 8 September 2011 (UTC)


 * Comment to IP What are you trying to say? If she is a Kerala Iyer, what is the need for her to speak Tamil. Think logically. -- Commander (Ping Me) 12:00, 8 September 2011 (UTC)

Yuu may first be aware about the facts rather than going with your linguistic fanatism. Kerala Iyers are Iyers settled in Kerala. Their mother tongue was Tamil, and a new generation speaks more Malayalam than Tamil. --192.193.160.10 (talk) 11:11, 13 September 2011 (UTC)
 * When she herself has stated that her mother tongue is Tamil, whats your problem? Secret of success (Talk) 11:19, 13 September 2011 (UTC)


 * I'm aware of that. She is well known as a Palakkad Iyer rather than a Kerala Iyer. Not all Kerala Iyers are Palakkad Iyers. You are the one who is trying to promote your linguistic fanaticism and no one else. -- Commander (Ping Me) 14:38, 13 September 2011 (UTC)

Dear sir, please understand that Palakkad is in Kerala. Kerala Iyers are divided in to two: Travancore Iyers and Palakkad Iyers. Please read the article about Kerala Iyers. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 192.193.160.10 (talk) 04:21, 15 September 2011 (UTC)


 * Dear IP, looks like you haven't got my point. It would be better if you read my previous comment once again. -- Commander (Ping Me) 08:51, 15 September 2011 (UTC)


 * It looks like the IP editor has exhibited problematic behavior on many occasions. Just have a look at his talk page and contributions. S/he looks more of like a POV pusher. -- Commander (Ping Me) 09:01, 15 September 2011 (UTC)


 * I have added a source (published by Hindu) which states clearly that she is a Tamil girl from Palakkad Iyer community. Do we still need any more sources ? -- Commander (Ping Me) 09:41, 15 September 2011 (UTC)
 * I guess not. Palakkad Iyers may speak more Malayalam, but they are officially recogonized by the government as Tamils. Just add the script and semi-protect the page for some time. Secret of success (Talk) 08:16, 16 September 2011 (UTC)

Reaction to The Dirty Picture
According to Hindustan Times, the film got universal acclaim from critics. Here are the reviews and comments about Vidya:
 * The Hindu: "Vidya Balan performs with an attitude that Scarlett may never be capable of. This is the single-most boldest performance by a woman in the history of Indian cinema not because of the reels of cleavage, in almost every frame in fact, but because of the large frame she flaunts and carries off on screen in an age where heroines are called fat if they cannot maintain a size zero figure. Vidya apparently put on 12 kilos for this film and they all show. It needs some amount of guts and sass to pull it off and she sizzles in this role tailor-made to show off her acting chops."
 * HT (Mayank Shekhar): "Looking at the one playing the female protagonist here, Vidya Balan – Paa, Ishqiya, No One Killed Jessica, and this – it appears, that change could well originate from the leading lady instead. This is Balan’s, or for that matter any contemporary Bollywood heroine's, ballsiest role so far."
 * Rajeev Masand: "Despite the film’s shortcomings, you go the distance for Vidya Balan, who’s riveting as Silk. She plays the part with gusto – it’s a rare performance, one that’s this brave and uninhibited. Vidya pushes the envelope in the way she bares herself both physically and emotionally. Watch how she stops traffic by dancing on the bonnet of a car to disrupt a party she isn’t invited to, or the scene in which she saucily lounges naked in a bathtub while giving an interview to a journalist. Vidya’s lack of vanity and complete surrender to her craft reinforces why she’s miles ahead of her contemporaries."
 * Rediff (Raja Sen): "It's a very demanding part, and Balan shows that she's worthy of both wolf-whistles and applause. It's a dazzling performance -- and a remarkably brave one, considering we live in a country so cinematically repressed that an actress wearing a bikini top in her next film is worthy of page one in every national daily. Constantly convincing, Balan proves so dynamic that she even makes her parts of the tinny SalimJaved-lite dialogues work. There is a lot of talk of legitimizing the lewd and the hypocrisy of audiences and critics, and Balan might as well be talking about herself in this film, and not Silk, and she delivers the lines in fiery style. She's a treat."
 * Rediff (Sukanya Verma): "Vidya lends her so much transparency, aplomb and sauciness, the outcome is far more awe-inspiring than it deserves to be."
 * Times of India: "It goes without saying that the film belongs to Vidya Balan and she does absolute justice in playing her part to perfection. Not only is she bold in terms of her body language, she comes up with an audacious act and brings out the inner turmoil and pathos of her character effortlessly."
 * Times of India (Nikhat Kazmi): "She gives a towering performance as the protagonist who remains unapologetic about her life till the very end. The high point of her act is the fact that despite portraying a sex bomb, her sexuality never ever gets vulgar and crude. Instead, there is an endearing quality to her attempts to shock and awe a staid society that thrives on the fake."
 * India Today: "Vidya much like the part she plays is the only actress who can give not only the heroines but also the heroes a run for their money. She is shamelessly sexy - sticking her tongue out lusciously, heaving her bulging cleavage, rolling on a bed faking an orgasm and then she is equally audacious in her downfall. Not just mental but the harder one for Indian actresses - physical. She lets it all hang out emotion and belly. I can't think of another actress who's allowed herself to look this brilliantly ugly in every way. Take a bow Ms Balan - you are here to stay long after beauty and vanity bids the others goodbye."
 * India Today2: "Well, get ready for a force of nature performance in Vidya Balan."
 * Deccan Chronicle (Khalid Mohamed): "She’s extraordinary: gutsy, consistently in character and unafraid of exposing her darker side. Here’s the kind of complex performance which you haven’t evidenced in years and years. This award-winning act bookended by her contrasting portrayal in No One Killed Jessica, reaffirms her as the finest artiste on the scene today. No contest!"
 * mid-day: "A standing ovation to this lady, who bites into this once in a lifetime role with such passion that she becomes Silk. So much so, that she might just be capable of bringing in the much needed changes in the power equations of Bollywood, if only she is given enough chances to do so."
 * DNA India: "And Vidya brings all that -- the flamboyance, the sensuality, the heartbreak -- to her role (and without coming across even a tad vulgar)."
 * Shahid •  Talk 2 me  13:59, 2 December 2011 (UTC)
 * The Express and Mumbai Mirror do not agree.  X.One   SOS  07:26, 4 December 2011 (UTC)
 * Do not agree with what? They totally praise Vidya's performance. Shahid  •  Talk 2 me  08:47, 4 December 2011 (UTC)
 * Yes, but they do not talk positively about the film as a whole.  X.One   SOS  10:10, 4 December 2011 (UTC)

Mentioning Caste
Dear Editors! There has been a discussion on India Portal related to mentioning of caste of subjects. The point is that mentioning caste of people, who have nothing to do with their caste, is found to be unnecessary by few editors. Hence the caste of the subject person needs to be deleted from the biography. I am not deleting the caste as of now but am only posting this here so that the regular editors of this article are well aware of it beforehand and no edit-wars take place. For details of discussion held on the portal please refer Wikipedia_talk:Noticeboard_for_India-related_topics. Your views if any are welcome there or even here. And.... as the reasons of exclusion of caste pointed out were "irrelavant to notability of subject person", "privacy of the subject person", "inclusion of caste is like branding individuals", etc. other information included in the article which also fall under these cases will also be removed after discussions. Examples of it included religion, non-notable spouse's and children's and parents' information, previous occupation, lived in places, non-notability related educational qualification, etc. Your views on this are also welcome here or at the India portal. -Animeshkulkarni (talk) 17:25, 1 January 2012 (UTC)
 * Not here, please. There is a community discussion taking place at WT:INB and I would advise people to read the entire discussion before forming an opinion because the above summary is incorrect. Nothing more need be said here. - Sitush (talk) 02:12, 4 January 2012 (UTC)

Recent Edits on Awards and Honors,Filmography...
Recently, I have made contributions those are not non-constructive edit, I have provided reliable sources for each that means whatever i have added, are 100% true So there should not be any reason for reverting, Please my edits should not be reverted any more, Thank You Greatuser (talk) 10:28, 11 November 2012 (UTC)
 * Hi. First, you are a very good editor, and have been improving briskly. And there is no doubt about your good intention in this particular case either. However, the reason why we are advocating against a separate section on awards is as follows.
 * All the major awards have already been mentioned in the text of the article. The awards are mentioned following the mention of respective films that she did. So, adding a section merely enumerating the awards would be rather repetitive.
 * Moreover, there is already [ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_awards_and_nominations_received_by_Vidya_Balan an article ] on the awards and nominations of Balan. And that list is linked under Filmography of this article.
 * one more point. While you are adding the references in an acceptable way, for featured articles references need to follow a pattern. They need to be consistent in minor details such as the use of capital letters. While you are following usual rule to add new references, they do not necessarily follow the intricate stylistic issues that are already being followed in this article. So, you need to be even more cautios.
 * Now, all these being said, I am not personally against adding a section on awards on any bio articles. But in this case, especially with the featured article candidacy running, I think it would be better not to add that section.--Dwaipayan (talk) 19:14, 11 November 2012 (UTC)

"She initially drew criticism for her weight and dress sense" in lede - how? could this be clarified in lede?
How was her weight criticized - why not say for her fluctuating weight (or what ever the issue is)? Also, what is "dress sense" mean? Could you clarify in lede since otherwise the reader has to wade down into the article to figure this out. Thanks, MathewTownsend (talk) 14:36, 11 December 2012 (UTC)
 * Right. I get your point. Clarified. -- smaro jit  (buzz me)  14:52, 11 December 2012 (UTC)

Why was this article not up for main page nomination for 1 January?
The date, being her birthday would have been much more appropriate, and would have not been that far away either! Why was this article not nominated for that date? TheOriginalSoni (talk) 08:30, 14 December 2012 (UTC)
 * It was. But following a discussion, this article was chosen as it has a better relevance on New Year's Day. And Balan's article is now being featured on her wedding day, which is even better. -- smaro jit  (buzz me)  08:40, 14 December 2012 (UTC)
 * Oh. Alright. Thats sounds great too! TheOriginalSoni (talk) 08:56, 14 December 2012 (UTC)

Awards merge

 * 1) Oppose - It is way too long to merge here. Why would you even consider it?  BollyJeff  &#124;  talk  13:45, 27 December 2012 (UTC)
 * 2) Oppose - I also oppose it because the award article is long enough, and soon it also is going to be a FLC nominee Greatuser (talk) 14:19, 27 December 2012 (UTC)
 * 3) Oppose - Given the size of the parent article and the awards page (considering the fact that she has received 40+ awards) it's practicable to warrant a standalone article for the awards page. &mdash; Vensatry (Ping me) 14:59, 27 December 2012 (UTC)
 * 4) Oppose - Per above. -- smaro jit  <sup style="color:green;">(buzz me)  04:38, 28 December 2012 (UTC)
 * 5) Oppose As explained above.--Dwaipayan (talk) 06:26, 28 December 2012 (UTC)

language films -> cinema
In the lead section it links Hindi, Bengali and Malayalam to the various cinema industries but use of the links is in the context of the languages. Hindi, bengali and Malayalam should be linked to language or language films should be changed to cinema, Thank You <font style="white-space:nowrap;text-shadow:#ED791A 0em 0em 0.8em,#F55220 -0.8em -0.8em 0.9em,#1D6B00 0.7em 0.7em 0.8em;color:#000000">A Great User ✉ ✉ 06:17, 1 January 2013 (UTC)
 * Yea, I don't understand the point of this edit. What exactly are you proposing? Hindi, Malayalam and Bengali all link to their respective film industries, and the sentence mentions that she has acted in films of these three languages. -- smaro jit  <sup style="color:green;">(buzz me)  06:22, 1 January 2013 (UTC)
 * One of this edit must be contributed to article
 * who appears in Hindi, Bengali, and Malayalam cinema. OR who appears in Hindi, Bengali, and Malayalam language films <font style="white-space:nowrap;text-shadow:#ED791A 0em 0em 0.8em,#F55220 -0.8em -0.8em 0.9em,#1D6B00 0.7em 0.7em 0.8em;color:#000000">A Great User ✉ ✉ 07:30, 1 January 2013 (UTC)
 * The latter is better. Why do you want to change it anyway? -- smaro jit  <sup style="color:green;">(buzz me)  07:35, 1 January 2013 (UTC)

Edit request on 20 February 2013
Kindly Change "P R Balan, currently VP of ETC India" to "P R Balan, currently Executive Vice-President - Corporate Affairs and HR Head of Digicable Network (India) Pvt. Ltd."

Pyarebalan (talk) 05:16, 20 February 2013 (UTC)


 * Red information icon with gradient background.svg Not done: please provide reliable sources that support the change you want to be made. —C.Fred (talk) 05:20, 20 February 2013 (UTC)

Edit request on 20 February 2013
Please change year of birth from 1978 to 1979. Please change place of birth from Ottappalam (Kerala) to Chembur (Mumbai).

Pyarebalan (talk) 05:09, 20 February 2013 (UTC)


 * Red information icon with gradient background.svg Not done: please provide reliable sources that support the change you want to be made. —C.Fred (talk) 05:20, 20 February 2013 (UTC)
 * Actually I found a reference in here. So changed it in the article.--Dwaipayan (talk) 16:03, 20 February 2013 (UTC)

Surname
I am really wondered about the prevalent usage of the subject's Patronymic name (Balan) in this article. Generally, South Indians don't affix family surnames. In this case, Balan is the name of her father and not a family name. Taking into consideration of the fact that she is a South Indian, shouldn't she be referred to as Vidya? &mdash; Vensatry (Ping me) 10:44, 5 April 2013 (UTC)
 * Hmmm interesting point. But since "Balan" has been adopted as her last name (even though it's her dad's name and not her family name), is there any reason for change. -- smaro jit  <sup style="color:green;">(buzz me)  11:20, 5 April 2013 (UTC)
 * Adopted by whom? I see a majority of sources calling her "Vidya" rather than "Balan". &mdash; Vensatry (Ping me) 12:28, 5 April 2013 (UTC)
 * No, majority of sources does not call her vidya only. She appears in movie credits as Vidya Balan. And since she is an actor, the way she appears in film credits is perhaps the way she wants to be known/is known.--Dwaipayan (talk) 13:43, 5 April 2013 (UTC)
 * No am not at all questioning about the name of the article. My question is with regards to the surname usage in this article. &mdash; Vensatry (Ping me) 15:47, 5 April 2013 (UTC)

She was born in a Tamil Family.
I would like to have an explanation from the user for reverting my edit. My edit was properly sourced but still it was removed, why? <font face="Monotype corsiva" size="4" style="color:#000000;color:blue">P earll's S un TALK 13:25, 4 October 2013 (UTC)
 * Because the fact that she speaks both Tamil and Malayalam at home has been sourced and mentioned. Also, the article has passed FA as is. -- smaro jit   HD 15:34, 4 October 2013 (UTC)

Speaking a language at home doesn't necessarily mean a mother tongue, yes that line was source and the other line i included was also properly sourced, her mother tongue needs to be mentioned in the article. I fail to understand why FA should prevent an article from being edited? Wikipedia is where people edit to make the article better. <font face="Monotype corsiva" size="4" style="color:#000000;color:blue">P earll's S un TALK 16:40, 5 October 2013 (UTC)

I'm making the necessary changes to the article, and if you feel that something needs to be done to improve that please feel free to do the same. Thanks. <font face="Monotype corsiva" size="4" style="color:#000000;color:blue">P earll's S un TALK 17:38, 5 October 2013 (UTC)
 * Please wait for consensus from other editors. I don't think that any changes are required at the moment, as the language(s) she speaks at home is pretty clear. But let's wait for what other editors have to say about this. -- smaro jit   HD 17:49, 5 October 2013 (UTC)

Well, i'm waiting. But since if someone says that i speak Russian at home doesn't mean that I'm a Russian, if you look above there is a detailed discussion about her Mother tongue and it was left undecided as a proper source at that moment didn't exist, now we have one and yes, i think that this change is required in the article as anything regarding someones identity is a must. <font face="Monotype corsiva" size="4" style="color:#000000;color:blue">P earll's S un TALK 18:05, 5 October 2013 (UTC)


 * It's clear from the sources that the actress hails from a Palghat Iyer family. Just like other Kerala Iyers, the mother tongue of these people is Tamil. The Tamil they speak at home has a slight mix of Malayalam. But that doesn't necessarily mean Tamil is not their native language. &mdash; Vensatry (Ping me) 17:08, 24 November 2013 (UTC)

Reader feedback: this page needs a lot more p...
202.4.173.63 posted this comment on 17 July 2013 (view all feedback).

"this page needs a lot more pictures and information"

Any thoughts?

- <font color="#ffffff"> sms - <font color="#000">talk     14:14, 14 February 2014 (UTC)
 * This is very vague. The article has been thoroughly researched and all the important information has been provided. Also, there are 7 pictures in the article. -- kri muk   90 04:30, 15 February 2014 (UTC)

Protected edit request on 3 March 2014
change birth place- puthur,palakad. ottapalam is not correct

Jomjjose (talk) 15:44, 3 March 2014 (UTC)
 * Red information icon with gradient background.svg Not done: please provide reliable sources that support the change you want to be made. -- Red rose64 (talk) 16:04, 3 March 2014 (UTC)

Protected edit request on 3 March 2014
The birth place of Vidya Balan is not Ottapalam. Actual Place is Poothamkurissi, Puthoor, Near Palakkad Town, Kerala. She is mentioned about this mistake in Wikipedia article in Sunday Supplement of Malayala Manorama daily from Kerala on 02 March 2014. Please do necessary changes... Thanks in advance..

Mr.anoopthomas (talk) 16:04, 3 March 2014 (UTC)
 * Red information icon with gradient background.svg Not done: please provide reliable sources that support the change you want to be made. -- Red rose64 (talk) 16:05, 3 March 2014 (UTC)

Place of Birth
The place of her birth was changed by me, but was reverted hereby user:Krimuk90. Probably I should have given an english translation of the quote in the reference. I will give the translation of the statement given by Vidya Balan in the interview.. "അഭിമുഖത്തിനൊരുങ്ങുമ്പോൾ വിദ്യ രണ്ട് ഉപാധികൾ വച്ചു. "എന്റെ നാട് ഒറ്റപ്പാലമല്ല. പാലക്കാട് പുത്തൂർ പൂതംകുറിശ്ശിയാണ് എന്നെഴുതണം. വിക്കിപ്പീഡിയയിൽ അങ്ങനെ ഒരു തെറ്റുണ്ട്. മനോരമ അത് തിരുത്തണം. അച്ഛനും അമ്മയുമുള്ള കുടുംബചിത്രം പ്രസിദ്ധീകരിക്കണം""
 * The quote in malayalam:

"While getting ready for the interview, Vidya put forward two conditions. "Ottappalam is not my native place. You should specify that it is Puthur Puthamkurissy in Palakkad. There is such a mistake in Wikipedia. Manorama should correct that mistake, and publish a family photograph with my parents."" --Drajay1976 (talk) 04:50, 3 March 2014 (UTC)
 * Translation:
 * Interesting. This should definitely be included if she said it herself. But there are many sources in the internet that said Ottappalam and that's why it was mentioned in the article. Any input from other editors? -- KRIMUK  90  ✉  05:09, 3 March 2014 (UTC)


 * Another point. The same mistake was there in the Malayalam Wikipedia article (ml:വിദ്യ ബാലൻ) about the actress. That was corrected citing the same reference (ref no 5 in the article). The issue is that this particular article is not available online. --Drajay1976 (talk) 06:11, 3 March 2014 (UTC)
 * Yeah, thanks for notifying us. The article has been fully protected, so I can't edit it. Let's hear what other editors have to say, reach a consensus, and then ask an admin to make the required changes. -- KRIMUK  90  ✉  06:26, 3 March 2014 (UTC)

Place of birth needs to be changed to Puthoor Puthamkurissy in Palakkad District of Kerala, which is incorrectly mentioned as Ottapalam in Palakkad. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Satishrk (talk • contribs) 08:59, 3 March 2014 (UTC)
 * is there an English version of Manorama that has published this interview? Since this is the English Wiki, it would be much better to have one. Cheers! -- KRIMUK  90  ✉  08:59, 6 March 2014 (UTC)

Krimuk90, sorry, I could not find an English Version. --Drajay1976 (talk) 17:29, 9 March 2014 (UTC)
 * No issues. Thanks a lot for the providing the original source. Much appreciated. :) -- KRIMUK  90  ✉  03:32, 10 March 2014 (UTC)

"Vidya" vs "Balan"
Is there any source saying that Balan is a patronymic and that the subject should be called Vidya? This is weird for a few reasons: her father's name is PR Balan, her mother's name is Saraswathi Balan and (more importantly) in the first three references of the article (I did not go further), I can see she is referred to as Balan: Are we not supposed to do what the sources do? Halet Hob (talk) 17:25, 7 April 2015 (UTC)
 * 1) "...and Balan was her first choice as Silk"
 * 2) "For one, Balan is hoping that the director..."
 * 3) "Balan made her Hindi film debut with Pradeep Sarkar..."
 * , who made these changes, might be able to explain this better. I am not familiar with patronymic naming conventions. -- Krimuk | 90 ( talk ) 01:51, 8 April 2015 (UTC)
 * The answer for Balan being a patronymic name lies in your question itself. Our policies clearly don't outline about the usage of surnames in articles, especially for an Indian perspective. I can show you many sources which call her "Vidya". Please check with the rest of the references too. &mdash; Vensatry (ping) 08:30, 8 April 2015 (UTC)
 * We do have WP:LASTNAME that tells us very clearly to use the last name. Is it not peculiar that we use "Vidya" while in our very article there are quotes that say "An acting revelation is Tamil newcomer Balan...", "Balan is poignant yet restrained...". Even the article in the Tamil Wikipedia says "2009 இல், பாலன் பா எனும் திரைப்படத்தில்" (something like "In 2009, Balan in a movie called Paa..."). Halet Hob (talk) 10:13, 8 April 2015 (UTC)
 * The guideline states "However, where a person does not have a surname but a patronymic (like many Icelanders, some Mongols, and those historical persons who are known by names-and-patronymics instead of surnames) then the proper form of reference is usually the given name." However, as I said earlier, the guideline doesn't seem to have an Indian perspective. Hope that clears your doubt. The Tamil WP comparison doesn't make sense here because the entire article was created using the Google Translator Toolkit (from the en wiki article). &mdash; Vensatry (ping) 16:32, 8 April 2015 (UTC)

Languages known
The article states she speaks a "mix of Tamil and Malayalam at home" (the source says "according to her"), while also mentioning that "she is also well versed in Hindi, Marathi, English and Bengali". There are problems with this claim as well as the source:
 * Firstly, it gives the reader an impression that she speaks Tamil and Malayalam. I don't think she can speak Malayalam. She isn't well-versed in Tamil either; the Tamil that she speaks is by Palakkad Tamil, an accent which is common among the Kerala Iyers.
 * Secondly, the source doesn't cover Marathi.

&mdash; Vensatry (ping) 10:34, 31 May 2015 (UTC)
 * Finally, I'm not sure whether languages known by an individual is worth mentioning in an FA. It reads much like a CV.
 * Please tweak it according to what you think is right. I have no preference whatsoever regarding this particular topic. -- Krimuk | 90 ( talk ) 12:22, 31 May 2015 (UTC)
 * I'll not touch the "mix of Tamil and Malayalam" part until we get a satisfactory ref, but removed the list of languages spoken/understood by her. &mdash; Vensatry (ping) 09:20, 2 June 2015 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 2 June 2016
Hello,

Please check spelling of current Marathi movie "Ek Albela" which actually spells as "Ekk Albela" Kindly make changes

143bhadu (talk) 17:09, 2 June 2016 (UTC)
 * Red information icon with gradient background.svg Not done: please provide reliable sources that support the change you want to be made. Sir Joseph <sup style="color:green;">(talk) 17:15, 2 June 2016 (UTC)

Hi check ref link suggesting spelling for the same which is from official YouTube Channel of the producer

Date of birth?
What's the issue with her date of birth? As per multiple sources, her dob is 1 January 1978. Please confirm, here are some sources;,. - <font face="Arial"> M4nag3r(-)rC [Reply]  08:46, 25 August 2010 (UTC)
 * No issue - it's there now! :) Shahid  •  Talk 2 me  09:42, 25 August 2010 (UTC)

Date of Birth : January 1, 1982

Education :    St. Antony's School and St. Xavier's College

Family :       She belongs to an Tamil Iyer middleclass family. Father - P R Balan (Vice-President of ETC channel), Mother (House maker), Elder Sister.

City :         Palghat, Kerala, India

Occupation :   Bollywood actress and Fashion Model

Languages :    Tamil, Hindi, English, Malayalam, Bengali

References: http://www.vidyabalan.net/biography.htm

www.matrimonialbank.com/bollywood/vidya-balan.html SauravCP 20:31, 20 March 2012 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Sauravcp (talk • contribs)
 * Unfortunately, both the sources you mention are unreliable. Please give a read to RS to gather an idea of what may be considered reliable for a biography. Wifione  Message 07:08, 21 March 2012 (UTC)

Hi I'm from Vidya's team. She has requested the admin to change the year of birth which is wrongly mentioned on the page. She is born in the year 1979 and not 1978. Also her place of birth is Mumbai not Kerala. Request you to change it please! — Preceding unsigned comment added by 183.87.79.24 (talk) 19:31, 7 August 2016 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 7 August 2016
Hi! I'm from Vidya's team. She has asked the admins to correct her year of birth which is 1979 and not 1978. Also her place of birth is Mumbai and not Kerala. Kindly change the corrections and let me know if you need any other document to make the corrections. So that we can mail it to you from her official ID. Thanks!

BishalPaul08 (talk) 19:55, 7 August 2016 (UTC)


 * There's no request here. RunnyAmiga (talk) 19:57, 7 August 2016 (UTC)


 * Please see my response in the previous section. We have no proof that you are in contact with the article's subject and YouTube videos are not acceptable sources. And please do not remove other editors' comments. RunnyAmiga (talk) 20:01, 7 August 2016 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 7 August 2016
Hi I'm from Vidya's team. She has requested the admin to change the year of birth which is wrongly mentioned on the page. She is born in the year 1979 and not 1978. Also her place of birth is Mumbai not Kerala. Request you to change it please!

183.87.79.24 (talk) 19:33, 7 August 2016 (UTC)


 * Please provide a reliable source confirming this information, and know that an alleged request from the article's subject is not reliable and neither is a YouTube video. See WP:RELIABLE to learn what sorts of sources will work. RunnyAmiga (talk) 19:59, 7 August 2016 (UTC)

Hello! I'm from her official team. Can you provide an email ID where a mail can be sent by her from her official email? We can also provide documents to substantiate the request. Can't think of any other way to proof that I'm from her team. Kindly consider the request as it has come directly from her. Thanks! — Preceding unsigned comment added by BishalPaul08 (talk • contribs) 20:08, 7 August 2016 (UTC)


 * No. For the most part, she is not considered a usable source and neither is anybody working for her since information sourced like this can constitute a conflict of interest. You can get this information inserted by providing an appropriate source. See WP:PSTS. RunnyAmiga (talk) 20:20, 7 August 2016 (UTC)

Wrong INFO: Year of Birth, Place of Birth, Number of ads done and film
Hi,

Some of the information mentioned on this page are incorrect. Please find them below and I request the admins to kindly correct it. I'm also mentioning online citations to validate the same.

Year of Birth: She is a 1979 born contrary to 1978 mentioned Place of Birth: She was born in Chembur, Mumabi and not Kerala Number of Ad Films Done Before Film Debut: 90 ad films in total and not 60 as mentioned Wrong movie info: Have never been a part of the movie Run, so no question of being dropped from the movie at any point.

Online citations:

- http://filmycurry.com/all-you-wanted-to-know-about-vidya-balan/ - http://cinespeaks.com/vidya-balans-profile/

BishalPaul08 (talk) 07:08, 23 August 2016 (UTC)
 * Filmcurry and Cinespeaks are not WP:RS. Information in the article are from high-quality sources. -- Krimuk | 90 ( talk ) 09:03, 23 August 2016 (UTC)

Earlier you'd asked for online citations. Now after that, you're saying the current ones are not of 'high quality'. How can you continue to have wrong information in the public domain? It's defamatory and since I'm from her team, she's very upset with wrong info. When she is legally born in 1979 in Chembur, how can we continue to keep it 1978 and in Kerala? — Preceding unsigned comment added by BishalPaul08 (talk • contribs) 10:29, 23 August 2016 (UTC)
 * If she's "upset" about it (which is highly unlikely) then she can given an interview to any leading newspaper to correct the mistakes. Also, please stop with the "I'm from her team" crap. You've used the same statement for both Miss Balan and Miss Ranaut. -- Krimuk | 90 ( talk ) 10:32, 23 August 2016 (UTC)

I would request you to please be civil with your language. I own a digital agency and both Vidya and Kangana are my clients and so are many other renowned celebrities. How can you single-handedly without evidence decide that I'm not from her team? Also, I presume you haven't ever met her? So how do you know that she is not upset with wrong information? Who gave you the right to decide that? Besides, newspapers don't function as per our whims and fancies. No one will carry an interview where she talks about her age and where she was born. Hence we ensured that the information is available online. But you aren't accepting that too. That's not done! — Preceding unsigned comment added by BishalPaul08 (talk • contribs) 10:37, 23 August 2016 (UTC)
 * You're not fooling anyone. If you indeed are from a digital agency and rely on sources such as "filmcurry" and "cinespeaks", and additionally have no idea about copyright violations, then all the very best to you! I have nothing more to add. Krimuk | 90  ( talk ) 10:41, 23 August 2016 (UTC)
 * Also, Miss Balan has spoken about being born in Kerala in numerous interviews. So it's funny that she'd go about talking about how upset she is to some unnamed digital agency. Please find a better use of your time, Mr. Paul. Krimuk | 90  ( talk ) 10:44, 23 August 2016 (UTC)

My agency is one of the top entertainment digital agencies in Mumbai called Little Monk Digital. I don't need certification on that. She is even ready to mail all the information with documents but you aren't willing to accept that. If you stop being stubborn, and share your email address, then right from Vidya to Kangana, everyone can send a mail and finish this matter off. — Preceding unsigned comment added by BishalPaul08 (talk • contribs) 10:50, 23 August 2016 (UTC)
 * If you want to email me, then you can go to my user page and send me a wiki mail from the tools option on the left-hand side of the page. -- Krimuk | 90 ( talk ) 12:05, 23 August 2016 (UTC)

I have removed the birth date. I see a claim that it is supported by two reliable sources, but the first is a dead link in the second one did not contain a birthdate (unless I missed it). In addition one contributor has claimed the date is wrong, and I just reviewed an email sent to Wikimedia (ticket:2016113010006799) claiming that the current date listed is wrong. Neither provided a reliable source so I am not changing the date to the one proposed. Let's track down a reliable source.-- S Philbrick (Talk)  14:00, 1 December 2016 (UTC)

Regarding incorrect DOB and Place of birth
Hi I'm from team Vidya. Recently in an interview Vidya Balan has HERSELF mentioned that her date of birth is Jan 1,1979 and NOT 1978. And her place of birth is Chembur, Mumbai and not Kerala. Here's the link of the video wherein 8:00 to 8:30 minutes she clearly specifies her DOB and place of birth. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Rz3XuCLn1k&t=517s I hereby request you to change the details. Thanks in advance --Nidhi Mahendrakar (talk) 14:50, 1 December 2016 (UTC)Nidhi
 * A useful video indeed. But is there any external coverage of the interview? Because we don't use YouTube videos without the "verified" sign, i.e. the tick near the username. Kailash29792 (talk) 15:20, 1 December 2016 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 6 December 2016
https://in.style.yahoo.com/real-age-vidya-balan-not-wikipedia-saying-100458995.html KINDLY UPDATE HER DATE OF BIRTH AND BIRTH PLACE THANKS. 61.3.93.156 (talk) 12:48, 6 December 2016 (UTC)
 * ✅ Kailash29792 (talk)  14:43, 6 December 2016 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 6 December 2016
Birth date January 1, 1979 Born in Chembur, Mumbai Amruta2884 (talk) 12:21, 6 December 2016 (UTC)
 * Red information icon with gradient background.svg Not done: as you have not cited reliable sources to back up your request, without which no information should be added to, or changed in, any article. - Arjayay (talk) 12:24, 6 December 2016 (UTC)

External video
I've put the external video into the article, complete with ref. It shouldn't be that hard for a person to correct mistakes in an article and I'd like to encourage people to do this in an appropriate manner, e.g. through a published video. The external media template has been around forever and it is to be placed in the same place (i.e. in the text) that we would place our own media. The only thing that might be at all controversial here is the photo (from 2015) that I put with the link - if there is a better 2016 photo, it should be replaced. Smallbones( smalltalk ) 16:17, 6 December 2016 (UTC)
 * , the mistake was already corrected, and I added this as the source. Please read the first line of "Early life and background". Kailash29792 (talk)  16:26, 6 December 2016 (UTC)
 * None of that is a reason to delete the video. The video shows her talking, moving (a bit) and gives the reader an idea what the subject is really like. It also corrects a mistake that seemed to be controversial - two refs can be better than one.  I would suggest that you let other editors edit - there is no article ownership in Wikipedia.  Smallbones( smalltalk ) 16:34, 6 December 2016 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 6 December 2016
Please change the birthdate from 1st January 1978 to 1st January 1979. Also, change the birth place to Chembur, Mumbai. Pranav.dhapke (talk) 23:31, 6 December 2016 (UTC)
 * Red information icon with gradient background.svg Not done: please provide reliable sources that support the change you want to be made. -- D ane  <font color="#00ac1d">talk  00:38, 7 December 2016 (UTC)
 * Yes check.svg Done Please read the first line of "Early life and background". Kailash29792 (talk)  03:46, 7 December 2016 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 18 March 2017
Vidya Balan's birth year was 1978 wherever I checked (even on Wikipedia) until now. how did it become 1979? Always enchanting (talk) 02:43, 18 March 2017 (UTC)
 * She has revealed her real date of birth (https://in.style.yahoo.com/real-age-vidya-balan-not-wikipedia-saying-100458995.html). Kailash29792 (talk)  12:15, 18 March 2017 (UTC)

External links modified
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External links modified (February 2018)
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External links modified
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Please change cover photo, use New beautiful photos of vidya balan in Wikipedia cover photo  Ayisha123 (talk) 08:34, 17 August 2019 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 16 June 2020
Vidya Balan on Bollywood Hungama 103.248.30.221 (talk) 09:29, 16 June 2020 (UTC)
 * Please be specific about what needs to be changed. &mdash; Vensatry (talk) 09:33, 16 June 2020 (UTC)

A Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion
The following Wikimedia Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion: Participate in the deletion discussion at the. —Community Tech bot (talk) 07:23, 17 September 2020 (UTC)
 * Vidya in 2020.jpg.jpg