Having done all kinds of roles over three decades, comedy is one genre which has eluded Dimple Kapadia. “I am tired of emoting. Now I want to laugh really laugh” the actress said way back in 1995. She was then at her peak as an actress and received a national award for Rudali in 1993.
Dimple Kapadia had just moved away from meaningless potboilers to offbeat substantial cinema with Drishti, Lekin, Haque, Prahar and Rudali. Directors like Govind Nihalani, Gulzar and Kalpana Lazmi concentrated on her serious facets as an actress. No one ever bothered to highlight her lighter side. Chetan Anand once commented,”Dimple Kapadia is the ideal actress for satires and comedies.”
The x-ray eyes of the far sighted Chetan Anand visualized something in Dimple Kapadia which other failed to spot. Cinema conscious viewers who have viewed Dimple’s films closely will never deny her inborn sense of timing which was so prevalent in Bobby, Sagar, Lekin and Being Cyrus. It is this ability of timing which creates a good comedian artist.
Dimple Kapadia the gorgeous, auburn haired beauty will at last be seen in a family comedy, What The Fish. Directed by Gurmeet Singh the film is not an English but a Hindi comedy with a difference. Says an excited Dimple Kapadia, “I perform the character of Sudha Mishra in What The Fish. I leave my residence to my niece and thus developing into a beautiful family saga. A fish forms an integral part of the film. I have at last received a light hearted comic character which suits my age and acting abilities.”
Throughout her career Dimple Kapadia has tried her best to be selective about her films. She has worked in mainstream, middle as well as parallel cinema with resounding success. The actress takes a trip down memory lane and gives us an account of her feelings before shooting for one of her earlier films. “Prior to shooting Drishti, I was very nervous.
It was my first parallel film and I was to break down emoting in a scene. Just a night prior to the actual shoot I was praying to God. All of a sudden my mentor Raj Kapoor appeared in front of my eyes and handed me a white chit. On it was written in his own handwriting, Sandhya the character I was performing in Drishti. I was literally thrilled and the next day, I was all charged up to deliver my best. After the emotional shot was canned in one take, Govind Nihalani highly complimented me,” she says.
Though She has proved her mettle in romantic, serious as well as action roles, Dimple was never utilized in comedies. ”I hope my audience accepts me in my first comic venture. A comedy can never be perfect if too much effort is put in. I discussed my character at length with my son-in-law Akshay Kumar who helped me a lot in improving my performance,” she adds.
At last she has really received what she was craving for so many years. Her chance to laugh and make viewers laugh without any efforts. Only Dimple Kapadia can do so as she has been the only actress who kept on laughing even after her films flopped. No other actress suffered real life tragedies like Dimple Kapadia. The accidental deaths of her younger brother and sisters ripped apart her heart. Yet she never forgot to laugh.
What the Fish released on Friday, 13 December, 2013.