It is common for actors to be associated with a name and re-create the character movie after movie. Over the years a lot of actors have been identified with a certain onscreen name with a fixed set of traits. Enters Vidya Balan who has owned her original name and played the namesake character four times. What also makes her stand out is the fact that all the Vidyas that she has played so far do not share the same character trait and have been carved from a new mold altogether. 

Vidya is a seasoned actor who has time and again proved her class, craft and mettle. Here's a look at what went it making all the Vidyas iconic.

Dr. Vidya - Paa

In Paa, Vidya plays a mother to a genetic disorder plagued son. While she has a job it gets foreshadowed most of the time due to her motherhood duties calling her time and again. The actress is also a single mother fighting with workplace issues while her kid's father, a young and upcoming politician is of little to no help. The character is battling on various fronts like being a mother, professional, etc. in a show of what it is to be a layered character.

Vidya Bagchi/Vidya Basu - Kahaani 

Picking on the mother aspect yet again Vidya has a dual identity in Kahaani. A mother-to-be is faced with the task of finding her husband while there is also a question of if the pregnant woman is out on the streets to nab a terrorist. The dual life adds a lot of depth to the character based on the perception of the audience but Vidya does her job perfectly as she manages to capture everyone's attention with her well-choreographed performance.

Vidya Sinha - Kahaani 2

Vidya is third time lucky to carry the motherly aspect while playing a Vidya Sinha in Kahaani 2. However, what puts the daylight between this character and the earlier two is the fact that this time she is a mother because she has adopted a kid. Also, this same kid is the reason that the movie is moving towards a resolution. Work-life is forced to take a back seat yet again but this time around the motherhood is what sets the picture in motion as the conflict is introduced when she becomes a mother as opposed to the problem already existing in the other two.

Vidya Vincent - Sherni 

The most recent iteration is as varied as a Vidya gets in Sherni. Coming across a Vidya who is a woman of very few words is the first tick on the list of dissimilarities shared amongst the four characters. Vidya Vincent is a job-oriented woman with no interest in having any kids so the work-life takes the front seat here. She is a fighter fighting multiple battles at a time as her work life introduces issues like patriarchy along with the problems which come in her job profile. Such deviant is this version of a Vidya that Vidya Balan herself accepted to being a totally different person from what she was putting out on screen.