WOW. Vidya Balan has my heart racing... she probably makes my heart skip a few beats too. The great looks, those ex-pressions, that old-world charm, that coquettish demeanour...everything about her is enchanting- and so, so sensual. She has a charm and grace in her which is very natural, which makes other actresses look vapid in comparison. In fact, she looks quite a bit like Madhabi Mukherjee of Charulata by Satyajit Ray.

What's more, she has an incredible lineup of films coming up- her first release of the year would be the intriguingly titled Munnabhai Meets Mahatma Gandhi, sequel to 2004's huge success Munnabhai MBBS where she stars opposite Sanjay Dutt. It would be interesting to see how she transforms herself by switching over from a drama genre to a comedy film.

Next to come would be Eklavya, yet another Vidhu Vinod Chopra film, where she would be sharing screen with likes of Amitabh Bachchan, Sanjay Dutt and Saif Ali Khan.

Things should take a peak this Diwali for her when she would be seen in Nikhil Advani's feel good multistarrer Salaam E Ishq in which she is paired opposite John Abraham.

She also features in Sudhir Mishra's next Bahut Nikle Mere Armaan opposite Shiney Ahuja. The film produced by Prakash Jha, is based on the life and struggle of an actress and a writer from the Hindi film industry. Even down south things are taking good shape for her as she comes along with none other than Kamal Hassan for Dasavatharam.

She has also been pencilled in for roles in Mani Ratnam's Guru, Deepa Mehta's next- a comedy tentatively titled Stella, Pradeep Sarkar's next with Abhishek for Yashraj films, Rituparno Ghosh's Sahib Biwi aur Ghulam and his reported Guide remake. Whew!

Just some time back I was lamenting the loss of Chitrangda Singh, the fiery, talented actress from Hazaaron Khwahishen Aisi who decided to quit films citing 'marital problems'. Not any more. Guys, Vidya Balan has arrived. And is here to stay.