Interview: Dimple Kapadia

By: Ashika Sengupta

While the acting gigs may come few and far between for Hindi actress Dimple Kapadia, she still enjoys being a thespian and hopes the roles continue to roll in, as long as she continues to also do a good job and impress the filmmakers.

Obviously, a few filmmakers have been impressed, which is why she continues to land roles including her most recent one in this week’s release of Tum Milo Toh Sahi, which also stars fellow big-screen veteran Nana Patekar.

“There is no role that I look forward to. I have done enough, and I am not dissatisfied with the body of work I have done,” she told the press as she promoted Tum Milo Toh Sahi on Monday. “I don’t get too much work to begin with, and whatever I get is mostly not good enough.”

Okay, so she may not be entirely happy with the roles she ends up landing, but she was certainly happy Tum Milo Toh Sahi featured one of Bollywood’s most legendary names in Patekar, who she grew up working with in the industry’s heyday

“I was completely thrilled when I came to know I was being paired with Nana. Working with him is difficult, but it gives me great pleasure,” she said in a phone interview in Mumbai. “To match his level of acting and performance is quite a challenge. His portrayal and understanding of roles continues to make me feel inferior, even after so many years.”

In Tum Milo Toh Sahi, Kapadia plays a Parsi woman who is in charge of an Iranian café, but when she read the script about three years ago, she fell in love with Patekar’s character.

“I had this script with me for three years and I really liked it. I liked my role, but I liked Nana’s role much more than my own,” the 52-year-old actress told the press. “It is lovely and beautiful. I always told Kabir that I would be envious of whoever would get to play the role and, surprisingly, it was Nana.”

Of course, no one will be surprised by what Kapadia brings to her role. Known throughout Indian cinema as someone who is capable of playing both glamorous and intense, artistic roles, the Gujarati actress has starred in about 75 films in her career and has delivered several award-winning performances.

While Tum Milo Toh Sahi may not deliver another award to Kapadia’s mantle, she will definitely make sure her performance in the film is more than just “good enough.”

The film opens in theaters on April 2nd.