65th National Film Awards: Divya Dutta finally gets her due
Actress Divya Dutta is in a jubilant mood. After over two decades in Bollywood, the actress was recognised with her first National Award — best supporting actress for her work in last year’s Irada.
It’s been a long journey for Dutta who came to Mumbai from Ludhiana, Punjab, at the age of 18. “Back in college I would show my hand to people and ask them to look at my lines and tell if there is a career in movies for me?” said Dutta. There was a career in front of the camera, albeit not that of a standard heroine.
“This field is a lot about rejections, people don’t know who you are until you have proven yourself,” said Dutta talking about her early years. “If you come home rejected and see a smiling face and see you are not judged, I think you feel this is not the end of it. I will get something better later.” The smiling and supportive face Dutta refers to was her mother, Nalini, who passed away in 2016.
Last year Dutta wrote a memoir Me and Ma on her mother’s life and the relationship they shared. “After initially staying with her uncle in Mumbai, Dutta wanted to move. “So she just got me a house and a car and a maid and said 'Now just go do what you want. If you ever need me I’m a call away’,” said Dutta. “I don’t think any parent can do better than that.”
Some of Dutta’s best work has come courtesy filmmaker Rakeysh Om Prakash Mehra who has cast her as Jalebi in Delhi6 and as Milkha Singh’s sister in Bhaag Milkha Bhaag. She will next be seen in his upcoming production Fanne Khan starring Anil Kapoor, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Rajkummar Rao.
Talking about the collaboration, the actress said, “He has believed in me. After Veer Zaara I sat home for a year because I was flooded with parts of a vivacious Punjabi girl. Had anybody else been in my place they would have taken it on because they were in the biggest films. That’s when I heard from Rakeysh Mehra. He is somebody I look up to, fall back on and touch base with.”
There are two more filmmakers she trusts — Neeraj Pandey and Sriram Raghavan. “They are like my comfort zones,” said Dutta. So is it hard to say no to them?
“It’s hard to get them to say yes to me,” she laughs and responds. “I do think that they won’t offer me something that’s not worth my time.”
One thing that she doesn’t like is the term character actor, often bequeathed on actors who aren’t cast in leading roles but play pivotal parts. “Every actor, be it a star or a hero or heroine is playing a character,” she says. “If a woman is not seen through a hero’s gaze then she doesn’t exist. I have successfully broken that. You can put me in any role.”
Looking back at her cinematic journey so far, Dutta is honest even if it means being critical. “It has been a journey of satisfaction. If I don’t feel happy playing a certain part or being on the set, then I don’t do it. Having said that I have done some atrocious films.” So why did she do them? “Those were me fulfilling my dream of being a heroine like Madhuri Dixit and Sridevi. I wanted to dance around the trees. It was a high. I got bored after a point.” We are glad she did.
(Courtesy of Mail Today)