Dimple Kapadia

Dimple Kapadia (born 8 June 1957) is an Indian actress predominantly appearing in Hindi films.

Born and raised in Mumbai by wealthy parents, she aspired to become an actress from a young age and received her first opportunity through her father's efforts to launch her in the film industry.

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

Chunibhai was from a wealthy Ismaili Khoja family, whose members had "embraced Hinduism" while still regarding Aga Khan as their religious mentor.

Bitti was a practising Ismaili.

As an infant, Dimple was given the name Ameena (literally, "honest" or "trustworthy" in Arabic) by Aga Khan III, by which she was never referred to.

She is the eldest of four children; her siblings—all of whom have died—were sisters Simple (also an actress) and Reem, and a brother, Suhail.

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

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

Her father was disowned by his conservative family after she was cast for her first film Bobby in 1971.

At age 15, she married the actor Rajesh Khanna, then aged 30, after a short courtship.

Having been a fan of Khanna, she later said marrying him was the "biggest high" of her life during this period.

She was discovered at age 14 by the filmmaker Raj Kapoor, who cast her in the title role of his teen romance Bobby (1973), which opened to major commercial success and gained her wide public recognition.

Shortly before the film's release in 1973, she married the actor Rajesh Khanna and quit acting.

Their daughters, Twinkle and Rinke Khanna, both briefly worked as actresses in their youth.

The wedding was performed according to Arya Samaj rites in her father's bungalow in Juhu on 27 March 1973 and was followed by a grand reception event attended by thousands later in the evening—six months before the release of Bobby.

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

She gave birth to two daughters, Twinkle (born 1974) and Rinke (born 1977).

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

She returned to acting two years later.

Kapadia returned to films in 1984, two years after her separation from Khanna.

Her comeback film Saagar, which was released a year later, revived her career.

Both Bobby and Saagar won her Filmfare Awards for Best Actress.

Through her work over the next decade, she established herself as one of Hindi cinema's leading actresses.

While her initial roles often relied on her perceived beauty and sex appeal, Kapadia was keen to challenge herself and expand her range.

She 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.

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", saying her unhappy marital experience had included inequality and her husband's infidelity, and called their marriage "a farce".

Appearing in films ranging from marital dramas to literary adaptations, she played troubled women sometimes deemed reflective of her personal experience, and received acclaim for her performances in Kaash (1987), Drishti (1990), Lekin... (1991), and Rudaali (1993).

For her role as a professional mourner in Rudaali, she won the National Film Award for Best Actress and a Filmfare Critics Award.

Starting in the mid 1990s, Kapadia became more selective about her work, and her screen appearances in the following decades were fewer.

The hostility between Khanna and Kapadia, who were never officially divorced, subsided over the years; despite not having ever reunited, they were seen together at parties; 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.

Her daughters similarly became actresses and retired after settling down.

The elder daughter Twinkle is married to the actor Akshay Kumar.

She also had supporting roles in the crime dramas Prahaar (1991), Angaar (1992), Gardish (1993) and Krantiveer (1994), the latter securing her another Filmfare Award.

Asked in Filmfare in 2000 whether she would want to remarry, Kapadia said: "I'm very happy and content... once was more than enough".

She was noted for her portrayal of middle-aged, complicated women courted by younger men in Dil Chahta Hai (2001) and the American production Leela (2002).

Her later credits include leading roles in Hum Kaun Hai? (2004), Pyaar Mein Twist (2005), Phir Kabhi (2008), Tum Milo Toh Sahi (2010) and What the Fish (2013), but she attained more success with character roles in Being Cyrus (2006), Luck by Chance (2009), Dabangg (2010), Cocktail (2012) and Finding Fanny (2014).

Some of these roles were cited in the media as a departure from the regular portrayals of women of her age in Hindi films.

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

Roles in the Hollywood thriller Tenet (2020), action film Pathaan (2023), as well as the streaming series Saas, Bahu Aur Flamingo (2023), brought her further recognition.