95 Facts About Dimple Kapadia

Dimple Kapadia was born on 8 June 1957 and is an Indian actress predominantly appearing in Hindi films.

Dimple Kapadia was discovered at age 14 by the filmmaker Raj Kapoor, who cast her in the title role of his teen romance Bobby, which opened to major commercial success and gained her wide public recognition.

Dimple Kapadia was among the first actresses who starred in women-centred Hindi action films but found greater favour with critics when she took on more dramatic roles in both mainstream and neorealist parallel cinema.

Dimple Kapadia had supporting roles in the crime dramas Prahaar, Angaar, Gardish and Krantiveer, the latter securing her another Filmfare Award.

Dimple Kapadia was noted for her portrayal of middle-aged, complicated women courted by younger men in Dil Chahta Hai and the American production Leela.

Dimple Kapadia was born on 8 June 1957 in Bombay to Gujarati businessman Chunibhai Kapadia and his wife Bitti, who was known as "Betty".

The family resided in the Bombay suburb Santacruz, where Dimple Kapadia studied at St Joseph's Convent High School.

Dimple Kapadia described herself as having matured quickly, and often made friends with children older than herself.

Dimple Kapadia's father was disowned by his conservative family after she was cast for her first film Bobby in 1971.

At her husband's behest, Dimple Kapadia quit acting following the marriage.

Dimple Kapadia separated from Khanna in April 1982 and returned with her two daughters to her parents' house.

The hostility between Khanna and Dimple Kapadia, who were never officially divorced, subsided over the years; despite not having ever reunited, they were seen together at parties; Dimple Kapadia acted opposite Khanna in his unreleased film Jai Shiv Shankar in 1990 and campaigned for his election to the Indian National Congress a year later.

Khanna fell ill in early 2012, and Dimple Kapadia stayed by his side and took care of him until his death on 18 July that year.

Dimple Kapadia was with him when he died and said his loss, along with the deaths of her sister Simple and her brother, left her feeling "truly abandoned".

Dimple Kapadia is an art lover and has experimented with painting and sculpture.

Dimple Kapadia's candles were presented and offered for sale at a number of exhibitions.

Dimple Kapadia, who was an avid movie viewer, aspired to be an actor since childhood.

Dimple Kapadia's acting career was initiated by her father, who socialised with film-industry professionals and frequented parties hosted by screenwriter Anjana Rawail.

Munni Dhawan, a close friend of Kapoor, suggested he consider Dimple Kapadia, having been acquainted with her father.

Bhawana Somaaya of The Hindu credits Dimple Kapadia with starting the merchandising of film memorabilia in India, and Mukesh Khosla of The Tribune said Bobby established her as a "cult figure" because she led the fashion trends.

In later years, Dimple Kapadia credited Raj Kapoor for her development as an actor: "The sum total of me today as an actress, whatever I am, is Raj Kapoor".

Dimple Kapadia returned to acting in 1984, two years after her separation from Khanna, saying she had a personal need to prove her own capabilities to herself.

Dimple Kapadia considered her screen test unsuccessful because she was "literally shivering" while performing it, but Sippy cast her to play the lead part opposite her Bobby co-star Rishi Kapoor.

Dimple Kapadia appeared opposite Sunny Deol in Manzil Manzil, a drama that was directed by Nasir Hussain.

Dimple Kapadia's work was deemed ineffective by Trade Guide, and The Illustrated Weekly of India reported her career prospects entirely depended upon the fortunes of her next few projects.

Dimple Kapadia received positive reviews for her part in Mukul Anand's Hitchcockian thriller Aitbaar.

Dimple Kapadia starred as Neha, a wealthy young woman whose greedy husband plots to murder her.

Dimple Kapadia was cast opposite Sunny Deol for a second time in Rahul Rawail's action film Arjun; it was her first commercial success since her return to films.

Saagar premiered in August 1985 and was controversial for several scenes featuring Dimple Kapadia, including one in which she was seen topless for less than a second.

Dimple Kapadia looked ravishing: auburn hair, classical face, deep eyes, an aura of sensuality.

Dimple Kapadia's career took further shape in 1987 and, according to film journalist Firoze Rangoonwala, she was the most sought-after actress in the film industry that year.

Dimple Kapadia was the action star in Mera Shikar, a revenge saga directed by Keshu Ramsay, playing Bijli, a once joyous young woman who trains in martial arts to punish a notorious gangster for the crimes inflicted upon her sister.

In 1989, Dimple Kapadia appeared as Jackie Shroff's love interest in Ram Lakhan, a crime drama directed by Subhash Ghai.

Dimple Kapadia received critical acclaim for playing the protagonist, career-woman Sandhya, and later recounted her full emotional involvement in the part.

The film was acknowledged as the Best Hindi Film of that year at the 38th National Film Awards, and Frontline magazine suggested that Dimple Kapadia should have earned the Best Actress award at the same function.

Dimple Kapadia was named Best Actress of the year by the Bengal Film Journalists' Association, and won a jury award for Outstanding Performance at the 37th Filmfare Awards.

Dimple Kapadia was determined to get the part as soon as she learned about the project and kept persistently calling Gulzar and the film's producer Lata Mangeshkar until she was finally cast.

Dimple Kapadia has often cited this role as a personal favourite and the pinnacle of her career, and wished it had been given more screen time in the film.

Subhash K Jha described Reva as "the essence of evanescence" and took note of the "intense tragedy" with which Kapadia played the part.

Dimple Kapadia played a young widow in the military drama Prahaar, starring and directed by Nana Patekar, with whom she would collaborate on several future projects.

Dimple Kapadia starred alongside Amitabh Bachchan in the fantasy Ajooba, a big-budgeted Indo-Russian co-production that was co-directed by Shashi Kapoor and Gennady Vasilyev.

Dimple Kapadia next played Barkha, a single woman who abandons her newly born, out-of-wedlock daughter, in Hema Malini's directorial debut Dil Aashna Hai.

In Shashilal K Nair's crime drama Angaar, Kapadia played Mili, a homeless orphan who is collected by an unemployed man.

Dimple Kapadia has enough experience of this convention to be able to use some of its elements and enough understanding of acting techniques to create a real person.

Dimple Kapadia is thus able to make her Shanichari both larger than life and believable.

In 1993, Dimple Kapadia won the National Film Award for Best Actress for her performance in Rudaali, a drama that was directed by Kalpana Lajmi and adapted from Mahasweta Devi's short story of the same name.

Dimple Kapadia played the central character Shanichari, a lonely, hardened Rajasthani village woman who, during a lifetime of misfortune, has never cried and is challenged with a new job as a professional mourner.

Dimple Kapadia played an unhappily married woman who develops a telephonic relationship with a stranger.

Dimple Kapadia insisted on playing the role spontaneously and thus refused to enrol in a crash course in Bengali, believing she would manage to speak it convincingly.

Dimple Kapadia's voice was later dubbed by Anushua Chatterjee, a decision with which Kapadia was unhappy.

Antareen was well-received and was named the Best Bengali Film at the 41st National Film Awards but Dimple Kapadia was dissatisfied with the outcome and dismissed it as a poor film.

The Indian Express complimented Dimple Kapadia for having developed into a leading character actor with this film.

Concerned that it would damage her career, Dimple Kapadia refused to play a mother in-law to Chawla, who is a decade her junior.

The Film Makers' Combine circulated a ban against Dimple Kapadia from signing any new projects; the ban was withdrawn in May 1994 when the Cine Artistes' Association intervened in support of Dimple Kapadia.

Dimple Kapadia returned to commercial cinema in 1997, playing Amitabh Bachchan's wife in Mrityudaata under Mehul Kumar's direction.

The trade journal Film Information said Dimple Kapadia had a role unworthy of her time, and Dimple Kapadia shared similar sentiments.

Dimple Kapadia next acted opposite Jackie Shroff in the murder mystery 2001: Do Hazaar Ek and the romantic drama Laawaris, which were rejected by audiences.

Dimple Kapadia played the role of Tara Jaiswal, a middle-aged alcoholic woman, an interior designer by profession, and a divorcee who is not allowed to meet her daughter.

In 2002, Dimple Kapadia portrayed the title role in the drama Leela, an American production that was directed by Somnath Sen and co-stars Deepti Naval, Vinod Khanna and Amol Mhatre.

Dimple Kapadia was nervous during the making of the film but believed the tension helped elevate her acting.

In 2006, Dimple Kapadia co-starred with Saif Ali Khan and Naseeruddin Shah in the black comedy Being Cyrus, an English-language independent feature and the directorial debut of Homi Adajania, who would often cast her in his future endeavours.

Dimple Kapadia played Katy Sethna, Shah's neurotic and unfaithful wife who has an affair with Cyrus, a young drifter who enters their house as an assistant.

The BBC's Poonam Joshi stated, "the descent into despair of Dimple Kapadia's Katy is enthralling" but other critics, including Derek Elley from Variety and Shradha Sukumaran from Mid-Day, criticised her for excessively overacting.

At the request of her son-in-law Akshay Kumar, Dimple Kapadia voiced the character Devi, the mother of the elephant Jumbo, in the animated feature Jumbo, a remake of the 2006 Thai computer animation Khan Kluay.

Dimple Kapadia was cast in Zoya Akhtar's first directorial venture Luck by Chance, a satirical take on the Hindi film industry.

Dimple Kapadia was approached for the part because it required an actress who had been a mainstream star in the past.

In 2010, Dimple Kapadia played the small part of Salman Khan's asthmatic mother in action comedy Dabangg, which was the most popular film of the year in India and the second-highest grossing Hindi film of all-time up to that point.

Reviews for Dimple Kapadia's role were varied; Blessy Chettiar of Daily News and Analysis likened her character to "the mothers in Hindi cinema of yore, self-sacrificing, torn between relationships, slightly over-the-top, likeable nevertheless".

Dimple Kapadia adopted a Parsi accent for the role and while preparing for it, visited several Irani cafes in Mumbai to adapt to the character's cultural milieu.

The film opened to average reviews but Dimple Kapadia's performance received generally positive feedback.

Dimple Kapadia collaborated again with Homi Adajania in Cocktail and Finding Fanny, both critical and commercial successes.

Dimple Kapadia was cast as Rosalina "Rosie" Eucharistica, a conceited-but-well-meaning woman who joins her late son's widow on a road trip across Goa.

Dimple Kapadia was required to wear a heavy prosthetic posterior for the role, and her portrayal earned her a fourth Best Supporting Actress nomination at Filmfare.

In 2013, Dimple Kapadia was the protagonist in the comedy What the Fish, portraying Sudha Mishra, an irate Delhi-based divorcee who begrudgingly entrusts her niece with taking care of her house while she is away.

Dimple Kapadia was enthusiastic about the part, feeling challenged to play its different traits.

Reviews of both the film and Dimple Kapadia's work were mixed.

Sarita A Tanwar of Daily News and Analysis considered the film "a rather audacious entertaining attempt" and said Kapadia was "in top form", and similarly positive comments were written by Subhash K Jha.

Dimple Kapadia played a conwoman in Anees Bazmee's Welcome Back along with an ensemble cast led by Anil Kapoor and Nana Patekar.

Dimple Kapadia played a strict store owner estranged from her daughter, a role Vinayak Chakravorty of Outlook thought was "used to highlight loneliness among the aged" but believed could have been stronger.

Dimple Kapadia next played arms dealer Priya Singh in Christopher Nolan's spy thriller Tenet.

Reviewers responded variably to Tandav, but Dimple Kapadia's efforts were better received.

Dimple Kapadia next reunited with Adajania for the Disney+ Hotstar crime thriller series Saas, Bahu Aur Flamingo, in which she played the protagonist Savitri, the powerful matriarch of a drug cartel selling a cocaine variant called flamingo.

Shubhra Gupta, writing for The Indian Express, said Dimple Kapadia is "effortlessly in command of the room, and the situation".

Dimple Kapadia played a scientist in the romantic comedy Teri Baaton Mein Aisa Uljha Jiya, starring Shahid Kapoor and Kriti Sanon, and featured alongside an ensemble cast in Adajania's mystery film Murder Mubarak.

When Dimple Kapadia returned to films after her separation from Khanna, she faced constant comparison to her Bobby days and struggled to be taken seriously as an actor.

Virdi wrote Dimple Kapadia fought her way to success by committing to serious and challenging work and described her parts in Aitbaar, Kaash and Drishti as characters with which she "drew from the well of her own experience".

Similar sentiments were shared by Shashi Kapoor, who said Dimple Kapadia had always been eager to act in quality films.

Dimple Kapadia said her involvement in independent films was a conscious decision to experiment in different cinema and prove her abilities.

When questioned about her hiatus after Rudaali at her career peak, Dimple Kapadia said she needed space and that generally her "career has always been secondary" to her.

The Times of India wrote in reference to her role in Saagar, "Dimple Kapadia was a vision of lush beauty; quite the forbidden fruit, rising from the ocean like Aphrodite emerging from the waves and surf".

Emma Thomas, the producer of Tenet, distinguished Dimple Kapadia as having "incredible magnetism, charisma, and glamour", which made her the right choice for the film.

Critics have been appreciative of Dimple Kapadia's acting prowess and some have analysed it in relation to her appearance.

In 1988, Subhash K Jha wrote that "besides her elastic and primeval looks", Kapadia "possesses an inbuilt instinct for grasping characters at a level way beyond the surface".

Academic writers Madhu Kishwar and Ruth Vanita of the feminist magazine Manushi noted Dimple Kapadia for being unafraid to look less attractive for the benefit of convincingly expressing anguish and emotion.

Dimple Kapadia has described herself as a "spontaneous actor who is guided by instinct" and on another occasion, "a competent actress yet to deliver her best".