Hyderabad, March 5, 2025 – Federal Bank, one of India’s leading private sector banks with an impressive legacy over the years, today announced the appointment of acclaimed actress Vidya Balan as its first-ever brand ambassador. The announcement was made during a special ceremony in Mumbai, where Ms. Balan was presented with a commemorative memento by Mr. K.V.S. Manian, Managing Director & CEO of Federal Bank.

This association is an important milestone in the brand’s journey as it continues to enhance its market position. The Bank’s senior team in a recent analyst meet had laid out clear directional path for the Bank and brand transformation was one of the significant themes.

M V S Murthy, Chief Marketing Officer of the Bank said Ms. Balan was a very strategic choice to capture the attention across geographies, genders and generations. He said, “We are super-stoked to have Ms. Vidya Balan champion Federal Bank. She is versatile, appeals across demographics and gender, has a pan-India fan following, and is multi-faceted. An actor’s actor, she becomes the character on camera while continuing to charm us in her interpersonal interactions off-screen. Her preparation, desire to understand nuances, and consideration of various scenarios all contribute to her ability to bring out the essence of every role she plays. We have experienced this as we sought to bring her on board. At Federal Bank, too, empathy is our segue to understanding and servicing our customers. It’s a universal trait that transcends geographies, generations, and customer demographics. Our NPS scores and Peer Comparison in the Nielsen studies, clearly indicate the stripes we have earned by being a Human at The Core, Digital at The ForeTM Franchise. Much like Vidya, we too make light of our chores and celebrate the wins created through the collective effort of our teams. I am sure Vidya will power prosperity for everyone associated with Federal Bank. Character, Culture and Customers are how we celebrate ourselves and the Brand.”

Ms. Balan, who has earned critical acclaim and a devoted following through her versatile performances in films like ‘Kahaani’, ‘Parineeta’, and ‘Shakuntala Devi’, etc. expressed her enthusiasm about the partnership. “Being an ambassador for varied Brands in the country, I believe we are telling the India Story to the World. And Federal Bank, makes the cut, in terms of powering our economy from down South to up North. They have a very broad brush when it comes to having a generationally loyal franchise, being the leading employer for Women in the country, creating a work culture where people stay and contribute to all round growth. I am deeply appreciative of their efforts in supporting communities and causes, while continuing to build a very robust business. I genuinely sense the vibe when Federal Bankers tell me that they are Human at the Core, Digital to the Fore TM. Looking forward to a very exciting ‘Rishta’ with Federal Bank.”

The multi-year association of Federal Bank will span across various marketing initiatives, including television commercials and digital campaigns.

As Federal Bank gears itself for the breakthrough journey, the first brand ambassador will help tell the brand’s Kahani to the world and deepen the Rishta with its stakeholders. Just as Vidya has redefined female leadership in Indian cinema through her powerful performances and meaningful choices, Federal Bank, at this juncture is pursuing breakthroughs across product propositions, service lines and geographies.

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She further said, “This autobiography was narrated by me and written by Anjula Bedi. I spoke in Hindi and Anjula recorded and translated it in English. I want to thank Vidya as well, who immediately agreed to be present here, despite her busy schedule.”

Vidya Balan said, “You can pick up and read the book anyway and from anywhere. I have known and worked with Ila ji for so many years, and she is magic! While reading her autobiography, I realised that I am still getting to know various layers to Ila Arun.”

She further added, “She’s a treasure trove of knowledge and experience. I was thrilled when she asked me to be with her during her book launch at the event. Her energy is childlike and I want to congratulate her for everything.”

Event Summary

The second day of the Literature Live! Mumbai LitFest was bustling with bibliophiles and performing arts connoisseurs. The 15th edition of the festival had a vibrant line-up of artists, honouring and acknowledging their craft. One such artist was the multifaceted singer, playwright, and actress Ila Arun, who has mesmerised everyone with her voice and excerpts from her book.

During the ‘Celebrating Women: The Shashi Baliga Memorial Session: My Medley,’ chaired by RJ and entertainer Gaurav Sharma, Ila Arun unveiled her new book, Parde Ke Peechhey, an autobiography co-written with Anjula Bedi. The book was launched with Ila Arun’s brother and India’s prominent adman Piyush Pandey, Anjula Bedi, actor Vidya Balan and Milee Aishwarya from Penguin Random House India.

The conversation during the book launch was humourous, candid and raw, highlighting Ila Arun’s life as a Rajasthani folk music artist to a theatre performer and one of the most revered singers in India. Gaurav Sharma also read a section dedicated to Vidya Balan from the book, that mentioned how Ila was impressed with Vidya, and how she was the right actress for a biopic of Meenakumari. Anjula Bedi then narrated a section about Ila’s birth date and how her mother wouldn’t remember it until much later.

Vidya Balan and Ila Arun relayed anecdotes of their days on film sets, the pranks they played, how Ila spontaneously performed live with Baol singers, and how she improvised certain songs. The session was further transported by music and dance. Ila Arun performed the traditional Rajasthani folk song, Charkha, where even Vidya Balan joined her onstage. She also rendered a dramatic performance  of Gandhari from the Mahabharata, where she expresses grief over the death of her sons and curses  Krishna.

The session ended with Ila Arun’s daughter Ishitta Arun dedicating a performance on Resham Ka Rumal, and a surprise dance performance by some of her superfans (who dressed in Ila’s style) dancing onstage with Ila Arun and Vidya Balan.

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Sharing pictures with her daughter Mehr, Neha wrote: “#happyholi from mine to yours @mehrdhupiabedi @babsdhupia” while Soha wrote: “Happy holi ! A time to forgive even if you can’t forget … a time to spread happiness and love #happyholi @khemster2” sharing a picture with daughter Inaaya and husband, actor Kunal Kemmu. In both these pictures, the faces of the little girls are not visible; both have their backs to the camera.

Actor Kunal Kemmu shared a picture of Inaaya from their Holi celebrations and wrote: “Thank you children for bringing back the joys and colour and making me feel like a child once again. I haven’t played holi in the last 12 years and I thought I never would but thanks to inaaya I did go to her friends holi party and ended up having so much fun. Happy Holi everyone. Wishing all of you health happiness and a life filled with colours.”
Other stars also shared pictures – Vidya Balan posted a video and couple of pictures from the sets of her next film, Sherni. She wrote: “Happy Holi to you all …Bura na maano #HOLI hai …with #TeamSherni @sandhu_aditi @bhosleshalaka @harshjariwala158 @shalivanpatil #sohan.” In the video clip a happy Vidya is throwing colours at the camera.

Author Twinkle Khanna shared a black and white throwback picture of her parents, dad Rajesh Khanna and mom Dimple Kapadia from the late Raj Kapoor’s Holi celebrations, and wrote: “This is priceless… Happy Holi.” In the picture, Rajesh and Dimple pose with a buoyant Raj Kapoor with others standing around them.

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The film has not only turned out to be Akshay Kumar’s biggest opener so far. It has also become Khiladi Kumar’s second-fastest film to cross the Rs 150-crore mark, after Shankar’s 2.0. Such has been the craze around Mission Mangal that the film is continuing its winning streak with each passing day.

After making Rs 168.48 crore in 12 days, Mission Mangal did decent business on Tuesday too. According to early estimates, Mission Mangal earned Rs 2 crore (approx), thus taking the 13-day collection to Rs 170.48 crore (approx).

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If early estimates are anything to go by, Mission Mangal raked in around Rs 7 crore on Wednesday, taking its total collection so far to Rs 121.39 crore.

Mission Mangal, which also features Sonakshi Sinha, Vidya Balan, Taapsee Pannu, Sharman Joshi, Kirti Kulhari and Nithya Menen in pivotal roles, benefitted a lot from an Independence Day release. Incidentally, Nikkhil Advani’s Batla House, starring John Abraham, also hit the theatres on the same day but the former has raced ahead.

Earlier, at the trailer launch of Mission Mangal, Akshay had said that it was one of the best films in his career spanning almost three decades. “Mujhe nahi pata hai yeh film hit hogi ya nahi hogi. Lekin itna zaroor jaanta hoon ki we will always be proud of this film. And I’m very, very, very proud of it. Main kareeban 150 filmein kar chuka hoon and but this is one of the best films I have done,” he said.

Meanwhile, the rest of the cast is thrilled with the success of Mission Mangal. Sonakshi took to Twitter to write, “Mission Mangal has entered the 100 cr club, and Chandrayaan 2 has entered the lunar orbit… DUNIYA SE BOLO COPY THAAAAAT!!!!!”

Taapsee also expressed her excitement in an interview with an entertainment website. “It’s a really good sign that people have been so receptive of a film that not only has big names attached to it but also has good content. We have always been seeing thunderous openings for movies that only had pure commercial masala elements but this is like a big step towards the direction where films that are heavy on content are also making a big opening,” she said.

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Released on Independence Day, Mission Mangal got a fabulous opening (Rs 29.16 crore). So much so that the film emerged as Akshay’s biggest opener so far. And the consecutive days numbers were no less. Mission Mangal made Rs 17.28 crore on its second day and Rs 23.58 crore on its third day, thus taking the three day collection to Rs 70.02 crore.

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