She may still be revelling from last year’s success of The Dirty Picture (TDP), but the New Year promises to carry forward the festivities for Vidya Balan. The actor, who celebrated her 33rd birthday on Sunday, brought it in with her four-month-old twin niece and nephew.

“Yes, it was a special birthday because it was the babies’ first New Year too,” says Vidya, adding that the birth of the twins was the highlight of 2011 for her. “Saturday was my bro-in-law’s birthday as well. So, it meant big celebrations.”

Vidya, who has just returned from a well-deserved vacation at an undisclosed foreign location, calls it her “first ever interrupted break.” This was the actor’s first break in almost one-and-half years. “2011 has been a great one for me. When I took the break, things were really hectic. Even as the euphoria around TDP was building up post-release, I was in a daze,” she says. “I feel gratitude for whatever this year has brought for me. So, I celebrated it to the hilt.”

She adds, “Otherwise, I work, take a small break and report back for work. But this time, I was completely cut off from civilisation in a town with a population of about 300 people,” she says. Ask Vidya to reveal the name of the place and she laughs: “I call it my ‘secret destination.’ But it was like paradise. I was staying at a countryside ranch surrounded by horses, cows, sheep, mountains and lakes. And on top of that, there was no mobile network. So you can imagine.”

However, the actor is now all set to get back to the grind, with Sujoy Ghosh’s Kahaani coming up. “But sometimes, to appreciate good things that come to you in life, one should sit back and let it all sink in,” she says. Ask her why she has been shying away from signing new projects post TDP and she says, “I don’t multi-task. Also, I don’t go through scripts, narration or meetings in the middle of shooting. So now, I have time to meet people and hear scripts to take a call on films,” she says.