- Dimple Kapadia
-
Dimple Kapadia 
Born Dimple Chunnibhai Kapadia
8 June 1957Occupation Actress Years active 1973; 1984–present Spouse Rajesh Khanna (1973–1984) (separated) Dimple Chunnibhai Kapadia (born 8 June 1957)[1] is an Indian film actress. She made her acting debut at the age of 16, playing the title role in Raj Kapoor's teen romance Bobby (1973). In that same year she married Indian actor Rajesh Khanna, and retired from acting. Kapadia returned to films in 1984 after her separation from Khanna. One of her films of that period include the drama Saagar (1985). Both films won her the Filmfare Award for Best Actress.[2]
Acknowledged as a sex symbol, Kapadia was keen on expanding her range.[3] Later in her career she took on more serious roles in parallel films and received acclaim for her performances in such films as Kaash (1987), Drishti (1990), Lekin... (1991), and Rudaali (1993), which earned her a National Film Award for Best Actress and a Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actress.[4] She followed it with supporting roles in Gardish (1993) and Krantiveer (1994), and won a fourth Filmfare Award for the latter.
Kapadia continued working infrequently through the 1990s and the 2000s. She played a minor part in Dil Chahta Hai (2001) and was noted for her portrayal of the title role in the American production Leela (2002). Some of her later film credits include leading roles in Pyaar Main Twist (2005), Phir Kabhi and Tum Milo Toh Sahi (2010), and supporting roles in Being Cyrus (2005), Luck by Chance (2009), Dabangg (2010) and Patiala House (2011).
Kapadia is the mother of Twinkle Khanna and Rinke Khanna, both of whom had worked in films before settling down.
Contents
Career
She was discovered by Raj Kapoor, who introduced her in his 1973 teen romance Bobby. While the film was to be Kapoor's son Rishi Kapoor's first leading role, Kapadia was given the title role of Bobby Braganza, a middle-class Anglo-Indian Christian girl.[5] The story follows how Bobby falls in love with Raj (Rishi), the son of a wealthy businessman, and how the two face the disapporoval of their parents.
Bobby was a major mainstream and critical success, and Kapadia was lauded for her performance, which won her the Filmfare Award for Best Actress (tied with Jaya Bhaduri for Abhimaan). Several of her lines in the film became popular, particularly, "Mujhse dosti karoge?" ("Will you be my friend?").[5] In 2008, Rediff.com ranked her performance in the film as the fourth best female debut of all-time in Hindi cinema: "An elfin little girl with big, lovely eyes, nobody quite portrayed innocence as memorably as Dimple in her first outing. She was candid, striking, and a true natural... here was a girl who would redefine glamour and grace, and make it look very, very easy indeed."[6]
Following the success of the film, Kapadia's modern wardrobe and hairstyle in Bobby, described as "knotted polka-dotted blouse and earphone hairstyle", made her a youth fashion icon of the times.[5] V S Srinivasan noted, "the sensuous ingenue with her short skirts and the ill-concealed bosom had quite a few hearts thumping away faster."[7] According to Bhawana Somaaya from The Hindu, with this film Kapadia "started the trend of merchandising film memorabilia".[8]
By the time Bobby released, Kapadia had married actor Rajesh Khanna in March 1973 at the age of 16, and left the film industry to raise her children.[5]
After Kapadia's separation, she returned to the film industry in 1984. In 1985, she appeared in the film Saagar, where she once again appeared opposite her Bobby co-star, Rishi Kapoor. The film was known for being quite controversial for several scenes featuring Kapadia, including one scene in which she was seen topless for few brief seconds.[9][10] Kapadia's performance as Mona D'Silva, a young woman residing in Goa, who is torn between her friend and the man she loves, won her a second Best Actress award at the Filmfare Awards. Rediff.com noted about her performance, "Dimple, caught between a friend and lover, performed solidly and memorably, grounding the two male leads and making the film work."[2]
In 1987, Kapadia starred in Mahesh Bhatt's drama Kaash. Kapadia and Jackie Shroff starred as an estranged couple who, during a relentless legal battle over the custody of their only son, learn that the boy is suffering from leukaemia, which makes them reunite to spend together the last months of his life. Kapadia's performance as Pooja received favourable comments. In an article discussing her career's best roles, The Times of India wrote, "As ... [a] long-suffering wife who tries making a living for herself and her young son by working odd jobs, Dimple showed immense strength as a performer. This has to be one of her best and most unrecognised performances."[3] Sukanya Verma from Rediff.com noted, "She rendered her Pooja with stoic determination and touching vulnerability making her character extremely believable and sympathetic at once."[11] In a 2000 article reviewing the last two decades in Hindi cinema, Bhawana Somaaya from The Hindu noted, "The film recognises Dimple Kapadia and Jackie Shroff as performing artistes."[12]
In 1988, she played the main protagonist in Zakhmi Aurat (Wounded Woman). She played a female police officer who gets gang-raped and, after the judicial system fails to convict the criminals, abandons the legal course and joins forces with other rape victims to get revenge by castrating the rapists. The Times of India labelled the film a "B-grade movie", but further noted that "Dimple nonetheless did a very convincing job of portraying her anguish and bitterness at being denied justice."[3] M.L. Dhawan from The Tribune, while documenting the famous Hindi films of 1988, praised Kapadia for "proving her mettle as an actress of intensity and passion."[13] Subhash K. Jha, however, in an article discussing Indian actresses who have played policewomen, wrote that the film "turned into quite an embarrassment for its leading lady."[14]
In the 1990s, Kapadia started venturing more into arthouse films, later citing an "inner yearning to exhibit my best potential."[15] These films include Govind Nihalani's Drishti (1990) and Gulzar's Lekin... (1991). On working in Lekin..., she said, "It was a wonderful experience working with Gulzar. That had to be the most fantastic role I ever did."[16] In 1993, she won the National Film Award for Best Actress for her performance in Rudaali, a drama directed by Kalpana Lajmi. The citation for the award described her performance as a "compelling interpretation of the tribulations of a lonely woman ravaged by a cruel society".[17] She later appeared in Mehul Kumar's commercially successful Krantiveer, alongside Nana Patekar. She played journalist Meghna Dixit, a past rape victim who now tries to persuade an alcoholic and unemployed village man to be a champion of justice for those around him. For her performance, Kapadia received her fourth Filmfare Award, this time in the Best Supporting Actress category.
She co-starred in Farhan Akhtar's directorial debut Dil Chahta Hai (2001). Depicting the contemporary routine life of Indian affluent youth, it is set in modern-day urban Mumbai and focuses on a major period of transition in the lives of three young friends (Aamir Khan, Saif Ali Khan and Akshaye Khanna).[18] 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 with her daughter. The film presents her story through the character of Siddharth (Khanna), a much younger man whom she befriends and who ultimately falls deeply in love with her. Critics lauded Dil Chahta Hai as a groundbreaking for its realistic portrayal of Indian youth. The film performed well in the big cities but failed in the rural areas, which was attributed by critics to the urban-oriented lifestyle depicted in the movie.[19][20]
In 2002, Kapadia portrayed the title role of Leela in Leela, an American production directed by Somnath Sen and co-starring Deepti Naval, Vinod Khanna and Amol Mhatre. Kapadia's role is that of a forty year-old married woman and a Bombay University professor, who, after the death of her mother, loses her sense of happiness and takes a job as a visiting professor of South Asian studies in California. The story follows Leela's acclimation to her new surroundings and particularly her relationship with one of her students there, Kris (Mhatre), a young Indian-American man. Kapadia noted about working in the film, "While in production, I'm all tensed up, and that is what makes me take my acting to the next level."[16] Maitland McDonagh from TV Guide wrote, "Dimple Kapadia shines in this family melodrama... [her] intelligent, nuanced performance is the film's highlight."[21] Ziya Us Salam from The Hindu called her "a charmer all the way. Exhilarating is the air she breathes, bewitching is the glance she casts and enticingly vulnerable is her condition."[22]
In 2005, she once again starred with Rishi Kapoor in Pyaar Mein Twist. In 2006, she appeared in her first English-language film Being Cyrus. Kapadia's more recent work includes Luck By Chance (2009).
Personal life
Kapadia is the eldest daughter of Gujarati entrepreneur Chunnibhai Kapadia and Betty, her younger sister being the late Simple Kapadia. She married actor Rajesh Khanna six months before the release of her first film, Bobby, in 1973.[23] She then retired from acting for twelve years to raise her two daughters, Twinkle and Rinke.[23] Kapadia has once noted that "career has always been secondary to me."[24]
Kapadia separated from Khanna in 1984.[25] In 2010, reporter Dinesh Raheja stated that "the bitterness between Rajesh and Dimple washed away", noting that they are seen together at parties and that Dimple campaigned for Khanna's election and also worked in his film Jai Shiv Shankar.[26] After the separation she returned to acting.[23] Asked in Filmfare whether she would want to marry again, Kapadia replied, "I'm very happy and content. Why do I need to get married again? Once was more than enough."[24]
Her daughters also became actresses.[27] Her first daughter, Twinkle Khanna, is married to actor Akshay Kumar.[28]
Image and artistry
When Kapadia made her comeback to movies, she faced constant comparison to her Bobby days. According to Jyotika Virdi, author of the book The cinematic imagination, Kapadia "turned every disadvantage to her advantage." Virdi mentioned Kapadia's forthright manner as having a major contribution to her career: "Speaking candidly to the press, she and the reporters plotted her life's narrative from the innocent teenager snared into an impossible marriage to the emergence of a mature 'woman with experience.'" Virdi also noted Kapadia for "fighting her way to the top, preferring to perform roles she described as serious and exacting rather than flippant and unchallenging," calling her parts in Aitbaar (1985), Kaash (1987) and Drishti (1990) as roles "where she drew from the well of her own experience."[29]
Dinesh Raheja from Rediff stated that Kapadia's involvement in art films happened at a time when she "exhausted her appetite for playing the pretty prop in hero-oriented films", arguing that they "honed Dimple's talent for lending fine striations to complex emotions." According to Raheja, Kapadia's casting in Dil Chahta Hai and Leela, in which she played "an older woman who is the object of a younger man's affection" served as "a kind of tribute to her eternal beauty."[5] M.L. Dhawan from The Tribune commented, "All those who have been following Dimple Kapadia’s career from Bobby, Lekin and Rudaali will assert that she is more talented than glamorous."[30]
Awards
- 1993 - National Film Awards for Best Actress, Rudaali
- 1973 - Filmfare Award for Best Actress, Bobby
- 1985 - Filmfare Award for Best Actress, Saagar
- 1993 - Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actress, Rudaali
- 1994 - Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress, Krantiveer
Filmography
- Bobby (1973)
- Zakhmi Sher (1984)
- Manzil Manzil (1984)
- Saagar (1985)
- Pataal Bhairavi (1985)
- Lavaa (1985)
- Aitbaar (1985)
- Arjun (1985)
- Vikram (1986) (Tamil film)
- Allah Rakha (1986)
- Janbaaz (1986)
- Insaaf (1987)
- Insaniyat Ke Dushman (1987)
- Kaash (1987)
- Saazish (1988)
- Mera Shikar (1988)
- Gunahon Ka Faisla (1988)
- Bees Saal Baad (1988)
- Aakhri Adaalat (1988)
- Kabzaa (1988)
- Mahaveera (1988)
- Zakhmi Aurat (1988)
- Ganga Tere Desh Mein (1988)
- Ram Lakhan (1989)
- Action (1989)
- Touhean (1989)
- Batwara (1989)
- Sikka (1989)
- Shehzaade (1989)
- Ladaai (1989)
- Pati Parmeshwar (1990)
- Kali Ganga (1990)
- Jai Shiv Shankar (1990)
- Drishti (1990)
- Aag Ka Gola (1990)
- Pyaar Ki Naam Qurbaan (1990)
- Lekin (1990)
- Prahaar: The Final Attack (1991)
- Naramsimha (1991)
- Mast Kalandar (1991)
- Haque (1991)
- Khoon Ka Karz (1991)
- Dushman Devta (1991)
- Ajooba (1991)
- Ranbhoomi (1991)
- Angaar (1992)
- Karm Yodha (1992)
- Dil Aashna Hai (1992)
- Rudaali (1993)
- Gunaah (1993)
- Aaj Kie Aurat (1993)
- Gardish (1993)
- Pathreela Raasta (1994)
- Krantiveer (1994)
- Antareen (1994)
- Share Bazaar (1997)
- Agni Chakra (1997)
- Mrityudaata (1997)
- 2001 (1998)
- Laawaris (1999)
- Hum Tum Pe Marte Hain (1999)
- Dil Chahta Hai (2001)
- Leela (2002)
- Hum Kaun Hai? (2004)
- Pyaar Mein Twist (2005)
- Being Cyrus (2006)
- Banaras - A Mystic Love Story (2006)
- Luck by Chance (2008)
- Jumbo (2008)
- Dabangg (2010)
- Patiala House (2010)
- Bombay Mittayi (2010) (Malayalam film)
See also
Notes
- ^ "‘I want to laugh, really laugh!’". MiD DAY. 2007-06-08. http://www.dnaindia.com/entertainment/report_i-want-to-laugh-really-laugh_1101957. Retrieved 2011-09-19.
- ^ a b "The best of Dimple Kapadia". Rediff.com. 8 June 2010. http://movies.rediff.com/slide-show/2010/jun/08/slide-show-1-the-best-of-dimple-kapadia.htm. Retrieved 2011-01-03.
- ^ a b c "Dimple Kapadia: The sensuous star". The Times of India. Indiatimes. 2005-08-31. http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2005-08-31/news-interviews/27838745_1_dimple-kapadia-pyaar-mein-twist-zeenat/2. Retrieved 2011-09-18.
- ^ Miglani, Surendra (2003-10-05). "Parallel cinema". The Tribune. Spectrum. http://www.tribuneindia.com/2003/20031005/spectrum/feedback.htm. Retrieved 2011-09-19. "...with movies like Kaash, Drishti, Lekin, Rudaali and Leela, she (Dimple) showed that off-beat films too are her forte."
- ^ a b c d e Raheja, Dinesh (2004-09-08). "Dimple: A Most Unusual Woman". Rediff.com. http://www.rediff.com/movies/2004/sep/08dimple.htm. Retrieved 2011-09-19.
- ^ Sen, Raja (2008-11-24). "Best Debutants Ever". Rediff.com. http://specials.rediff.com/movies/2008/nov/24sd7-best-actresses-ever.htm. Retrieved 2011-09-19.
- ^ Srinivasan, V S (1998-05-06). "Mature beauty". Rediff.com. http://www.rediff.com/entertai/1998/may/06dimp.htm. Retrieved 2011-09-19.
- ^ Somaaya, Bhawana (2000-10-26). "Glimpses of a golden decade". The Hindu. http://www.hindu.com/2000/10/26/stories/09260225.htm. Retrieved 2011-09-19.
- ^ Verma, Sukanya. "Readers Pick: Bollywood's Sexiest Scenes". Rediff.com. http://specials.rediff.com/movies/2008/mar/13sli6.htm. Retrieved 2008-06-14.
- ^ "Dimple Kapadia - Biography". Yahoo! India Movies. http://in.movies.yahoo.com/artists/Dimple-Kapadia/biography-3856.html. Retrieved 2010-12-27.
- ^ Verma, Sukanya (2007-06-08). "The best of Dimple". Rediff.com. http://www.rediff.com/movies/2007/jun/08sli5.htm. Retrieved 2011-09-19.
- ^ Somaaya, Bhawana (2000-11-24). "The highs and lows - a recollection". The Hindu. http://www.hindu.com/2000/11/24/stories/09240222.htm. Retrieved 2011-09-18.
- ^ Dhawan, M.L. (2002-08-18). "Year of offbeat films". The Sunday Tribune. http://www.tribuneindia.com/2002/20020818/spectrum/main5.htm. Retrieved 2011-09-18.
- ^ Jha, Subhash K (2002-09-23). "Women cops chase reel life villains". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 2008-06-24. http://web.archive.org/web/20080624004606/http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/23051168.cms. Retrieved 2011-09-18.
- ^ Das Gupta, Ranjan (2009-06-08). "Dimple deconstructed". The Tribune. http://www.tribuneindia.com/2009/20090608/ttlife1.htm. Retrieved 2011-09-18.
- ^ a b "'I got more than my share in my life'". The Rediff US Special. Rediff.com. 2001-05-25. http://www.rediff.com/news/2001/may/25usspec.htm. Retrieved 2011-09-19.
- ^ 40th National Film Award
- ^ Arora, Pratiksha. "'It's the maddest unit I've worked with'". Rediff.com. http://www.rediff.com/entertai/2001/aug/09pre2.htm. Retrieved 2011-09-19.
- ^ "Box Office 2001". BoxOfficeIndia.Com. http://www.boxofficeindia.com/showProd.php?itemCat=207&catName=MjAwMQ==. Retrieved 2011-09-19.
- ^ Gulzar; Nihalani, Govind; Chatterjee, Saibal (2003). Encyclopaedia of Hindi Cinema. Encyclopaedia Britannica (India) Pvt Ltd.. p. 128. ISBN 8179910660.
- ^ McDonagh, Maitland (2002). "Leela: Review". TV Guide. http://movies.tvguide.com/leela/review/136316. Retrieved 2011-09-19.
- ^ Us Salam, Ziya (2002-11-15). "Leela". The Hindu. http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/fr/2002/11/15/stories/2002111501040203.htm. Retrieved 2011-09-19.
- ^ a b c "Dimple: A Most Unusual Woman". Rediff. http://www.rediff.com/movies/2004/sep/08dimple.htm. Retrieved 2010-12-27.
- ^ a b K. Jha, Subhash (November 2000). "Happily ever after". Filmfare (Indiatimes). http://downloads.movies.indiatimes.com/site/nov2000/ivw7.html. Retrieved 2011-09-18.
- ^ Rajesh Khanna's life in pics » NDTV Movies
- ^ Sinha, Seema (2010-09-13). "Rajesh-Dimple: Complicated!". The Times Of India. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/bollywood/news-interviews/Rajesh-Dimple-Complicated/articleshow/6541166.cms.
- ^ "Actor Dimple Kapadia's sis succumbs to cancer". Times of India. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/Actor-Dimple-Kapadias-sis-succumbs-to-cancer/articleshow/5217202.cms. Retrieved 2010-12-27.
- ^ "Akshay Kumar and Twinkle Khanna". Rediff. http://specials.rediff.com/getahead/2008/nov/06slide12.htm. Retrieved 2010-12-27.
- ^ Jyotika Virdi (2003). The cinematic imagiNation (sic): Indian popular films as social history. Rutgers University Press. pp. 140–143. ISBN 978-0-8135-3191-5. http://books.google.com/books?id=u8PKObcYMDIC&pg=PA142. Retrieved 19 September 2011.
- ^ Dhawan, M.L. (2007-12-09). "Queens of hearts". The Tribune. http://www.tribuneindia.com/2007/20071209/spectrum/main6.htm. Retrieved 2011-09-22.
- ^ "1992 - 55th Annual BFJA Awards - Awards For The Year 1991". BFJA. Archived from the original on 2010-01-08. http://web.archive.org/web/20100108211219/http://www.bfjaawards.com/legacy/pastwin/199255.htm. Retrieved 2009-01-09.
External links
National Film Award for Best Actress 1968–1980 Nargis Dutt (1968) · Sharada (1969) · Madhabi Mukherjee (1970) · Rehana Sultan (1971) · Waheeda Rehman (1972) · Sharada (1973) · Nandini Bhaktavatsala (1974) · Shabana Azmi (1975) · Sharmila Tagore (1976) · Lakshmi (1977) · Smita Patil (1978) · Sharada (1979) · Shobha (1980)
1981–2000 Smita Patil (1981) · Rekha (1982) · Shabana Azmi (1983) · Shabana Azmi (1984) · Shabana Azmi (1985) · Suhasini (1986) · Monisha (1987) · Archana (1988) · Archana (1989) · Sreelekha Mukherji (1990) · Vijayashanti (1991) · Moloya Goswami (1992) · Dimple Kapadia (1993) · Shobana (1994) · Debashree Roy (1995) · Seema Biswas (1996) · Tabu (1997) · Indrani Haldar and Rituparna Sengupta (1998) · Shabana Azmi (1999) · Kirron Kher (2000)
2001–present Raveena Tandon (2001) · Shobana and Tabu (2002) · Konkona Sen Sharma (2003) · Meera Jasmine (2004) · Tara (2005) · Sarika (2006) · Priyamani (2007) · Umashree (2008) · Priyanka Chopra (2009) · Ananya Chatterjee (2010) · Mitalee Jagtap Varadkar and Saranya Ponvannan (2011)
Bina Rai (1961) · Vyjayanthimala (1962) · Meena Kumari (1963) · Nutan (1964) · Vyjayanthimala (1965) · Meena Kumari (1966) · Waheeda Rehman (1967) · Nutan (1968) · Waheeda Rehman (1969) · Sharmila Tagore (1970) · Mumtaz (1971) · Asha Parekh (1972) · Hema Malini (1973) · Dimple Kapadia & Jaya Bachchan (1974) · Jaya Bachchan (1975) · Lakshmi (1976) · Raakhee Gulzar (1977) · Shabana Azmi (1978) · Nutan (1979) · Jaya Bachchan (1980)
Complete list · (1954–1960) · (1961–1980) · (1981–2000) · (2001–present)
Rekha (1981) · Smita Patil (1982) · Padmini Kolhapure (1983) · Shabana Azmi (1984) · Shabana Azmi (1985) · Dimple Kapadia (1986) · Not awarded (1987) · Not awarded (1988) · Rekha (1989) · Sridevi (1990) · Madhuri Dixit (1991) · Sridevi (1992) · Madhuri Dixit (1993) · Juhi Chawla (1994) · Madhuri Dixit (1995) · Kajol (1996) · Karisma Kapoor (1997) · Madhuri Dixit (1998) · Kajol (1999) · Aishwarya Rai (2000)
Complete list · (1954–1960) · (1961–1980) · (1981–2000) · (2001–present)
Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actress 1991–2000 Not awarded (1991) · Not awarded (1992) · Dimple Kapadia (1993) · Not awarded (1994) · Farida Jalal (1995) · Manisha Koirala (1996) · Manisha Koirala (1997) · Tabu (1998) · Shefali Shah (1999) · Tabu (2000)
2001–2010 Tabu (2001) · Karisma Kapoor (2002) · Manisha Koirala & Rani Mukerji (2003) · Urmila Matondkar (2004) · Kareena Kapoor (2005) · Rani Mukerji (2006) · Kareena Kapoor (2007) · Tabu (2008) · Shahana Goswami (2009) · Mahi Gill (2010) · Vidya Balan (2011)
Categories:- 1957 births
- Indian film actors
- Living people
- Filmfare Awards winners
- Hindi film actors
- Indian actors
- Indian Hindus
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