She may have wedded the superstar of the ’70s, Rajesh Khanna. But Dimple Kapadia’s life has been no less phenomenal. Married to both the arc-lights and a megastar in the same year she chose to give up one for the other. But Dimple Khanna soon grew up to some sinister home truths. She yearned for the view outside... never mind if it meant walking down alien alleys. From there began her tryst with herself – as an actor, as a woman. A bunch of formula films later, she broke into the parallel orbit and asserted her credibility as an actor. Aitbaar, Kaash, Lekin, Rudaali, Krantiveer, Angaar, Luck By Chance, Being Cyrus, Finding Fanny... Dimple’s rise as an actor has coincided with her growth as a person. While Mrinal Sen compared her to Sophia Loren and described her face as ‘a landscape of desolation’, Feroz Khan called her a woman ‘who’s just dying to be herself on screen’. Like her character Shanichari in Rudaali, a professional mourner who draws from the torment of her soul, Dimple’s performances resonated the angst within.
Love and loss have been her close allies. Be it the death of relationships or the demise of her loved ones, she’s survived it all. While as Bobby she was sheer sunlight, her wine eyes, through the years, reflect a hangover of pain. And to create what better than revisiting the manor of your own memories. Here’s going through the life and times of the incredible actor...

 That year – 1973!

Amidst a line-up of a hundred young girls, Raj Kapoor singled out the older daughter of Gujarati entrepreneur Chunilal Kapadia and Betty to be launched opposite his son Rishi Kapoor in Bobby (1973). In fact, her introduction scene in the film was inspired from Raj’s first meeting with muse Nargis decades ago… where an unsuspecting Nargis had opened the door to Raj… running her flour smeared hands through her hair!

But before Bobby could win over the audiences, superstar Rajesh Khanna wooed a 15-year-old Dimple to be his child bride in March ’73. While this unexpected twist left his thousand female fans shattered – some even committed suicide – it was a fairytale wedding for Dimple. For someone, who often strolled past the superstar’s sea-facing bungalow Aashirwad in Bandra to someday walk in as the empress of his castle was a surreal moment.  “I came to know him precisely seven days before the marriage. We were together in a flight to Ahmedabad for a show. He sat next to me but did not utter a word. Just as the flight was about to land, he turned towards me, looked hard into my eyes and said he wanted me to marry him,” Dimple once recalled the whirlwind romance. She was 16 to his 31.

 Blockbuster Bobby

Six months after her marriage, released RK’s love tale Bobby. “Mujhse dosti karoge?” asks Bobby Braganza in the iconic scene. A cleft on her cherubic face, sherry eyes, a natural naiveté and loads of untouched sexiness... Dimple became a teen icon. She helmed the Bobby cult – the dotted and knotted Bobby blouse and the earphone-hairstyle, the Bobby clips, Bobby sandals... were feverishly followed. She won the Filmfare Award for Best Actress (along with Jaya Bhaduri for Abhimaan). But that was the magnificent anti-climax of her nipped-in-the-bud career. The mehndi on her hands, visible in the last portions of Bobby, was a grim reminder that she was now Kaka’s possession. 

The rocky marriage

One can never fathom the reasons behind Rajesh’s impulsive decision to marry Dimple. Some dubbed it as ‘attention seeking’, some called it an ‘ego boost’ for the superstar, who wanted to spite his ex-ladylove, actor/model Anju Mahendroo. But sadly, by the end of 1974 when their first daughter Twinkle Khanna was born (she shares the same birthdate, December 29, with her late father) the cracks in the marriage were evident. Rajesh’s slipping stardom and his alleged alcoholism and abusive ways left his adolescent wife traumatised. Still in her early 20s, in 1982, Dimple, reportedly, moved into her parents’ home with daughters, Twinkle and Rinkie, aged eight and five then. She began working with Ramesh Sippy for her comeback film Saagar. “Right from the beginning of my marriage I knew it wouldn’t work out. My biggest failing is I don’t take a stand. I let people stomp all over me. Finally, when I do put my foot down, it’s too late,” she had told Filmfare in July 1983.

The eventuful ‘80s

Though Saagar was to be her comeback, Dasari Narayana Rao’s Zakhmi Sher (1984), opposite Jeetendra released first. Saagar premiered in August 1985 and was controversial for the scene where she was seen topless for a split second. Her easy performance as Mona D’Silva, torn between her friend (Kamal Haasan) and beloved (Rishi Kapoor), won her the Filmfare Best Actress Award. “Certainly, marriage brings security... I was Mrs Rajesh Khanna. It takes guts to leave all that. But now that I’m earning and fending for myself, I feel more secure. There’s a hell of a difference in spending your time playing cards and acting,” she said to Filmfare in October 1984.

Mukul Anand’s Aitbaar (1985), a Hitchcockian thriller (apparently based on Dial M For Murder) with Suresh Oberoi and Raj Babbar, had her play the beautiful wife of a sadistic husband. The film had soulful music by Bappi Lahiri. The songs Kisi nazar ko tera intezar aaj bhi hai and Awaaz di hai have great recall value.

Rahul Rawail’s actioner Arjun with Sunny Deol added to her reliability just as it sparked off rumours of a liaison between the lead pair. Feroz Khan’s stylised Janbaaz (1986) presented her in a sexy and glamorous avatar and is still remembered for her steamy lovemaking scene with Anil Kapoor in the barn. Dimple’s moment of epiphany came with Mahesh Bhatt’s Kaash (1987). The narrative that dealt with the decline of a superstar (Jackie Shroff) had perhaps a familiar echo for the actress, who was also evolving as a person. Her act of a disillusioned wife and a distraught mother had flashes of brilliance. In fact, Bhatt was then quoted saying, “I couldn’t differentiate between Dimple and Pooja her character… She has gone through so much in her life that… she only has to be herself.” Dimple and Jackie shared a great chemistry as their bond traversed through love, conflict, abuse and estrangement... only to come anew.

The dramatic, though coarse, Zakhmi Aurat (1988) had her play a police officer, who gets gang-raped. After the judicial system fails her, she joins forces with other rape victims to castrate the rapists. The film was a bold statement, hitherto unseen in our films. Another notable film was Mukul Anand’s Insaaf (1987). Her pairing with Vinod Khanna was a beauty meets brawn encounter with the song Sulagti hai aankhen… celebrating it to the hilt. Subhash Ghai’s Ram Lakhan (1989) was another commercial success in her diary.

The offbeat ’90s

“When I do glamorous roles, people say I look haggard. Why can’t directors conceive me in a realistic set-up? Why can’t directors like Mahesh Bhatt and Shyam Benegal sign me?” asked Dimple in a Filmfare interview in September 1985. And the ’90s threw open the floodgates of arthouse cinema for her. Govind Nihalani’s Drishti (1990) had Shekhar Kapur and her as a married urban couple, trying to find meaning in a dithering marriage.

Based on Rabindranath Tagore’s short story, Gulzar’s Lekin (1990), set in Rajasthan, revolved around Vinod Khanna who’s entranced by Reva (Dimple), a spirit. Apparently, to make her character truthful, director Gulzar asked her to refrain from blinking and give a ‘fixed gaze’ for a surreal effect. Another milestone was Kalpana Lajmi’s Rudaali (1993). Also set in Rajasthan, the film was based on Mahasweta Devi’s story about professional mourners. Dimple played Shanichari, a woman who has never cried despite a sad life but is compelled to weep for a living. It won her the National Award. “I was proud; I’d proved that an actress from mainstream cinema could win an award,” she told Filmfare in October 1993.

Mrinal Sen’s 1995 Bengali drama Antareen had her play a woman in a loveless marriage. In Mehul Kumar’s Krantiveer (opposite Nana Patekar), she played a journalist, who becomes a rape victim and received her fourth Filmfare Award as the Best Supporting Actress. Other notable films were Shashilal K Nair’s Angaar (1992), where she played an orphan and Priyadarshan’s Gardish (1993), where she played a prostitute.

The magical millennium

Not averse to playing her age, the 2000s had her dabble with an array of characters. They include Farhan Akhtar’s directorial debut Dil Chahta Hai (2001), where she played Tara Jaiswal, a middle-aged alcoholic divorcee. Her amorphous relationship with much younger artist Siddharth (Khanna) here was a poignant portrayal. Leela (20012), directed by Somnath Sen and co-starring Vinod Khanna, followed her unconventional relationship with a student. The year 2005 saw her unite with Rishi Kapoor in Pyaar Mein Twist. They played two middle-aged single parents, who fall in love. Her part of ex-superstar Neena Walia in Luck by Chance (2009), referred to in the film as ‘a crocodile in a chiffon saree’ was applauded. In 2006, she co-starred with Saif Ali Khan and Naseeruddin Shah in Being Cyrus (2006), directed by Homi Adajania. She essayed Katy, Shah’s neurotic wife, who has an affair with a younger Cyrus. Cocktail (2012) and Finding Fanny (2014) tapped her reserves of fun even as they completed her trinity with Adajania.

The golden years

Through time, her equation with estranged husband Rajesh went through an overhaul. The two, somehow, never divorced and the initial resentment gave way to a newfound mutual respect. This was more than evident, when he was detected with cancer. The family, along with son-in-law Akshay Kumar, rallied around Rajesh, stepping wholeheartedly into Aashirwad once again, giving him the support and care that perhaps only a family could shower. When he passed away on July 18, 2012, he was given a farewell, which was a reminder of the phenomenon he once was.

Today, Dimple seems to be in a peaceful phase. “Rinkie is my child and Twinkle is my mother. Twinkle looks after us all. She tries to make my life as comfortable as possible,” she one shared with Filmfare. Fond of painting and surfing the internet, she’s enjoying the mellow moments that life has thrown her way. “There has been a lot of pain in my life but I don’t find myself going into that area...This could be wrong because people say it’s cathartic to go through the process. I’m scared of losing myself even for a few minutes. It’s too painful. I don’t know whether that’s going to work for me or hit me all at once. But so far life has been kind,” she had once shared with Filmfare. A deep thought indeed!

QUOTES:

Certainly, marriage brings security... I was Mrs Rajesh Khanna. It takes guts to leave all that. But now that I’m earning and fending for myself, I feel more secure. There’s a hell of a difference in spending your time playing cards and acting  - Dimple Kapadia to Filmfare in October 1984 

There has been a lot of pain in my life but I don’t find myself going into that area...This could be wrong because people say it’s cathartic to go through the process. I’m scared of losing myself even for a few minutes – Dimple to Filmfare in 2010

When I do glamorous roles, people say I look haggard. Why can’t directors conceive me in a realistic set-up? Why can’t directors like Mahesh Bhatt and Shyam Benegal sign me? 

-Dimple to Filmfare in September 1985

Memorable songs featuring Dimple

Hum tum ek kamre mein bandh ho - Bobby
Sagar kinare dil yeh pukare - Saagar
Kisi nazar ko tera intezar -  Aitbaar
yaara - Kaash
Jab jab teri soorat dekhoon - Janbaaz
Yaara sili sili - Lekin
Dil hum hum kare - Rudaali

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