Divya Dutta says she is happy and satisfied that she’s not playing the quintessential Bollywood heroine
Titas Chowdhury (HINDUSTAN TIMES; November 29, 2019)

Divya Dutta, who started her career many summers back, may have not always played the quintessential Hindi film heroine in a chiffon-clad saree, but her filmography boasts of some strong supporting character portrayals. “People have tagged me as an unconventional heroine. Now, I’m doing films where my character is pivotal and (though I might be doing love stories) I’m not romancing the typical hero. I did a wide variety of films all these years and I don’t think anybody would’ve survived without doing that,” she says.

She reveals that despite being a brilliant student academically, she always knew that films were her true calling. “As a child, I used to dream about being an actor. I would be the class topper. But during break time, I would day dream about someone announcing, ‘And the award for the best actress goes to Divya’. And then one day, from somewhere in Ludhiana, I suddenly ended up standing before Suniel Shetty (actor),” she laughs.

Ask her about her modelling days and she shares, “After Surakshaa (1995), I did a love story that didn’t do very well. Post that, I was picked by the biggest advertisement makers. My association with Vidya (Balan) goes a long way. We worked for Raju (Rajkumar) Hirani, Rakeysh (Omprakash) Mehra and Pradeep Sarkar (filmmakers) and we became their favourites. Those commercials were rich in content and not high on glamour.”

Sharing an anecdote, Divya says, “I met Dharmesh Darshan (filmmaker) at the Veer-Zaara (2004) premiere. He said to me, ‘You’ll be the diamond in our shelves that will shine even after 25 years.’ I’ll never forget that.”

The Badlapur (2015) actor says that her journey has been about making mistakes and learning from them. “For someone who didn’t start in a typical way, I went on to play some significant roles. I started my journey with a multi-starrer, where I played one of the heroines. But even in multi-starrers, I held my own. Now, I’m finally getting to play lead roles and people tell me that they love to watch me. I hear things that other heroines want to play my part. That surprises me! It has been a self-made journey, which was all about making my own mistakes, getting up on my own, great family support and people’s belief in me,” she signs off.