The actress' latest sari ad, in which she speaks chaste Malayalam, has bowled over fans.

The world knows by now that actress Vidya Balan and the sari are quite inseparable, no matter how sizzling she looks on screen in any other attire, including the sexy wear she sported in The Dirty Picture that rewrote her destiny and upped her star value.

Little wonder then that the actress, whom the public has seen off screen mostly in the sari, was roped in to endorse a popular wedding centre in Kerala.

The ad, which has the actress with roots in the state speaking chaste Malayalam, has wowed the audience yet another time.

Says ad maker Shibu Anthikkad, "Vidya was quite at ease during the shoot. She had a major role in the selection of saris she is featured in. She went by the most exquisite among them than going for the most expensive saris we had picked for her," says Shibu, adding, "As it is, black seems to be one of her favourite colours and she couldn't resist picking up a beautiful black sari from among the lot."

The two-day shoot was at a Jaipur palace. A source from the crew tells us that Vidya had no qualms rendering the dialogues in Malayalam. "Although Vidya is a Malayali by birth, she's not all that comfortable with the language. So she took down the dialogues in English; however, the ad has her mouthing the lines convincingly, completely at ease with the language." The source also tells us that the actress was paid a hefty 1.25 crore for the one year contract.

A Mollywood director, on condition of anonymity, tells us that filmmakers and brands from Kerala are queuing up for Vidya's dates now. "She was supposed to have started her film innings from Malayalam cinema. Unfortunately, her first film (director Lohithadas' film with Mohanlal) was dropped halfway through. Thereafter, Mollywood didn't consider her. But now that she's made it big on a bigger platform in Bollywood, look at our people waiting for her dates!"

(Timesofindia)