I think it is very important for any actor to struggle before he or she is able to get a break - Dimple Kapadia

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April 1, 2010 (Sampurn Wire): On the eve of the release of her latest film Tum Milo Toh Sahi, Dimple Kapadia tells Jyothi Venkatesh over a cup of coffee at the international coffee outlet The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf in Bandra, that Raj Kapoor had set the bar so high that it has always been very difficult for her to match it by way of histrionics after Bobby way back in 1973.

Considering the fact that you do not easily accept any offer to act in films, what made you say yes when Kabir Sadanand offered you Tum Milo Toh Sahi?

I accepted the offer when Kabir narrated the script to me because the film is about human victory when ordinary people come together to combine their individual strengths and stand by what they believe in. The best thing about Tum Milo Toh Sahi is that it is not just a romantic comedy. It is three unique stories in one.

Can you throw some more light on the subject?

Tum Milo Toh Sahi directed by Kabir Sadanand and produced by Nikhil Panchamiya is a film about ordinary people who become extra ordinary with the strength of love. It is a film about love at different ages. It is about meeting of hearts, meeting of minds and also meeting of souls. Tum Milo Toh Sahi is about how these ordinary people find their true love calling in life by saving an old Irani café against all the forces that stand against us and our traditions.

What is your role in Tum Milo Toh Sahi?

I play the interesting role of Delshad Irani who runs a café and touches people’s lives.

Tell me more about your character!

Delshad has spent a life time struggling, yet smiling. Delshad battles the demons of her past in the film and you can see how a woman of the world becomes a woman all over again at the ripe age of 58. The ever smiling Delshad is roughly the same age as Subramaniam played by Nana Patekar but she approaches life in a completely different manner.

What is the reason that you do not accept each and every role offered to you?

Raj Kapoor had set the bar so high that to tell the truth, it has always been very difficult for me to match it by way of histrionics after I had made my debut as an actress with Bobby way back in 1973. I enjoy being an actress but the reason I do not sign each and every role that I am offered is that I want to get my teeth only into roles which have substance. I do not want to act just for the heck of it.

Though you did not have to struggle to get a break as an actress, would you advocate that every new comer should struggle?

Yes. I should confess that unlike most of the new comers, who have to struggle a lot to get a break, I did not have to struggle even a wee bit and my role in Bobby landed on my lap on a platter, literally speaking, when Raj Kapoor offered it to me. I think it is very important for any actor to struggle before he or she is able to get a break.

In what way has the film industry changed over the years?

If you ask me whether the film industry has undergone a radical change, I’d say that it continues to be the same. Even today the film industry is like a big family. What has changed is the way the media has grown manifold, making it a must for even an actress like me open up to help the marketing of my film.

How would you evaluate your growth over the years from Bobby to Tum Milo Toh Sahi?

I have definitely grown as an actress over the years from the time that I had made my debut with Bobby to Tum Milo Toh Sahi. I have seen ups and downs as far as my career is concerned but I have never given up, because I have always maintained that acting is just a part of your life and not the be all and end all of your life.

To what extent have your directors played a vital role in grooming you as an actress?

All said and done, I’d like to give the entire credit to whatever I am today, as an actress to each and every director who had molded me in his film over the years, right from Raj Kapoor to a new director like Kabir Sadananand, because I feel that as an actress you learn every day by working on the sets and no one is a born actor.

What have you got to say about your son in law Akshay Kumar?

Akshay Kumar is one actor who has succeeded in pushing the envelope as an actor. Over the years he has grown in an amazing manner. He has not left any aspect of any kind of emotion as an actor untouched as an actor. Whether it is that of a comedy role or action role, Akshay has essayed every role in his career with aplomb. I am not telling this just because he happens to be my son in law. I mean it sincerely.

Tell me about your films on the floors now!

I am acting with Akshay Kumar in Patiala House. I have a very well etched role in the film. Besides Patiala House, I am also acting in Rahul Dholakia’s latest film Society which is being produced by Smita Thackeray. All that I can divulge about my role in the film is that I play the role of a woman of substance in it.

- Jyothi Venkatesh / Sampurn Wire