Panaji, Nov 27 (IANS): National Award-winning actress Vidya Balan said on Monday that women are way ahead of time in today’s world.

She was speaking during a session on ‘Women and the Glass Ceiling’ held on the sidelines of the ongoing 54th International Film Festival of India (IFFI) here.

Highlighting the significance of the portrayal of women in Indian cinema, Vidya said, "We all need to shed the stereotypes regarding women that are ingrained in our society. Women are way ahead of time in today’s world.”

“All the exceptional characters played by female actors in Indian films in the past and their desire to do more pushed us to reach a stage where we are telling women-oriented stories in movies now," the actress said.

Expressing her willingness to play different characters, the actress shared that looking for new stories and characters that can relate with the audience is very important.

"Unconventional roles and being yourself while playing those characters is very crucial for me," she added.

To a question on her inspiration of doing versatile characters in every film, Vidya replied that the desire to do unimaginable roles and to break the stereotyping of female characters in cinema has been the motivation for her.

“I love the idea of getting out of comfort zone in each film I do, and that requires a lot of hard work, which is very liberating for me," she said.

In a career spanning two decades now, the actress has essayed unconventional roles with great finesse in films such as 'Parineeta', 'Bhoola Bhulaiya', 'Paa', 'Kahani', 'The Dirty Picture', 'Shakuntala Devi', and 'Shareni', among others.