Dimple Kapadia

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Birth name Dimple Chunnibhai Kapadia
Nationality Inde
Birth 8 june 1957 (67 years)
Awards Filmfare Awards

Dimple Chunnibhai Kapadia (born 8 June 1957) is an Indian film actress. Kapadia 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. She is the mother of Twinkle Khanna and Rinke Khanna, both former actresses. Kapadia returned to the film industry in 1984 after her separation from Khanna. One of her films of that period was the drama Saagar (1985). Both Bobby and Saagar won her the Filmfare Award for Best Actress. She went on to establish herself as one of the leading actresses of Hindi cinema in the 1980s.

Initially recognized as a national sex symbol, Kapadia was keen to avoid being stereotyped and expand her range of acting roles. She subsequently took on more serious parts in a range of film genres, from mainstream to parallel cinema, and received acclaim for her performances in such films as Kaash (1987), Drishti (1990), Lekin... (1990), and Rudaali (1993), which earned her a National Film Award for Best Actress and a Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actress. She followed with supporting roles in Gardish (1993) and Krantiveer (1994), the latter of which garnered her a fourth Filmfare Award.

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 Hum Kaun Hai? (2004), Pyaar Mein Twist (2005), Phir Kabhi (2008) and Tum Milo Toh Sahi (2010), and supporting roles in Being Cyrus (2005), Luck by Chance (2009), Dabangg (2010), Cocktail (2012) and Finding Fanny (2014).

Biography

Kapadia is the eldest of the four children of Gujarati entrepreneur Chunnibhai Kapadia and Betty, her younger siblings being late actress Simple Kapadia, a sister named Reem and a brother, Munna. The family resided in Santa Cruz, Mumbai, and she studied at St. Joseph's Convent High School. Due to her father's wealth and business, she has described her upbringing as "different". She married actor Rajesh Khanna six months before the release of her first film, Bobby, in 1973. She then retired from acting for twelve years to raise her two daughters, Twinkle (b. 1974) and Rinke (b. 1977). Reportedly, it was Khanna who "put a ban on her acting career promptly after the marriage," though Kapadia has once noted that "career has always been secondary" to her.

Kapadia separated from Khanna in April 1982, leaving the house with her two daughters back to her parents. She returned to acting two years later. In a 1985 interview with India Today, she remarked, "The life and happiness in our house came to an end the day I and Rajesh got married." She shared her unhappy marital experience and called their marriage "a farce", noting that it just took her "a hell of a long time to realise that." 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. 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."

Her daughters also became actresses and retired after settling down. Her elder daughter, Twinkle Khanna, is married to actor Akshay Kumar.