<p>If you consider that her debut was in the 1994 film ‘Ishq Mein Jeena Ishq Mein Marna’, Divya Dutta is a veteran. The overwhelming majority of her roles are called “supporting characters”, but the feisty actress, never one to be slotted, would rather not describe herself as a character actor.</p>.<p>“I am an artiste!” she declares on the phone. “I may have been Salman Khan’s heroine in ‘Veergati’ and 20 years later, I am doing a small role in ‘Badlapur’, but both are acting as far as I am concerned. I have worked in Hindi, Hollywood and Punjabi films, and even in Nepali, Tamil and Malayalam movies, but it’s the passion that matters. I choose what I know I will enjoy working on, and today, even the people with whom I work influence my choice.”</p>.<p>The Ludhiana-born actress gives the example of ‘The Relationship Manager’, her latest short film. “Neeraj Pandey is a man of few words. He is not only one of our finest filmmakers and human beings, but I trust him so much that I never even ask him about my character. For seven years after ‘Special 26’, he did not call me until ‘Special Ops’ and this short film.”</p>.<p>Divya plays a victim of domestic abuse in ‘The Relationship Manager’, and we ask how she prepared herself given that the screen time she gets is a matter of a few minutes. “The length of my role is of no importance, one just has to be sincere. I have never been a method actor, so I just feel the character. That is how I have approached all my work.”</p>.<p>The actress’ best-known work includes ‘Veer-Zaara’, ‘Bhaag Milkha Bhaag’, ‘Jogger’s Park’, ‘Baghban’, ‘Ragini MMS 2’, ‘Stanley Ka Dabba’, the Punjabi ‘Shaheed-E-Mohabbat Boota Singh’ and ‘Des Hoya Pardes’, the English ‘The Last Lear’ and ‘Heartland’, among others. She has also acted for television and in a few short films like ‘The Playboy Mr Sawhney’. Her list of over 15 awards is topped by the National Best Actress award for ‘Irada’ in 2017.</p>.<p>Ask her which films she ranks as her favourites, and we get an answer typically in character: “All my films are my favourites. I took them all on by instinct and enjoyed doing them,” she says.</p>.<p>Divya has also authored ‘Me And Ma’, a Penguin-published memoir of her mother who passed away some years ago. Her simple statement is: “I owe everything in life to just one person — my mother. We were the best of friends. Very few parents believed in their children the way she did. I was an outsider here and she helped me tackle all my apprehensions.”</p>.<p>On a related note, how does she look at the current ruckus on nepotism? “It took years for me to get a foothold here,” she replies coolly. “I was my own godfather, armed only with my passion. There is a lot of favouritism here and you have to deal with it. But finally, it is all about how good you are and how tough you can remain.”</p>.<p>True to her words, the actress is now busy with a bevvy of assignments. Coming up are a film each with Anubhav Sinha and Dibakar Banerjee, a web show, two Hollywood movies and one in Punjabi.</p>
<p>If you consider that her debut was in the 1994 film ‘Ishq Mein Jeena Ishq Mein Marna’, Divya Dutta is a veteran. The overwhelming majority of her roles are called “supporting characters”, but the feisty actress, never one to be slotted, would rather not describe herself as a character actor.</p>.<p>“I am an artiste!” she declares on the phone. “I may have been Salman Khan’s heroine in ‘Veergati’ and 20 years later, I am doing a small role in ‘Badlapur’, but both are acting as far as I am concerned. I have worked in Hindi, Hollywood and Punjabi films, and even in Nepali, Tamil and Malayalam movies, but it’s the passion that matters. I choose what I know I will enjoy working on, and today, even the people with whom I work influence my choice.”</p>.<p>The Ludhiana-born actress gives the example of ‘The Relationship Manager’, her latest short film. “Neeraj Pandey is a man of few words. He is not only one of our finest filmmakers and human beings, but I trust him so much that I never even ask him about my character. For seven years after ‘Special 26’, he did not call me until ‘Special Ops’ and this short film.”</p>.<p>Divya plays a victim of domestic abuse in ‘The Relationship Manager’, and we ask how she prepared herself given that the screen time she gets is a matter of a few minutes. “The length of my role is of no importance, one just has to be sincere. I have never been a method actor, so I just feel the character. That is how I have approached all my work.”</p>.<p>The actress’ best-known work includes ‘Veer-Zaara’, ‘Bhaag Milkha Bhaag’, ‘Jogger’s Park’, ‘Baghban’, ‘Ragini MMS 2’, ‘Stanley Ka Dabba’, the Punjabi ‘Shaheed-E-Mohabbat Boota Singh’ and ‘Des Hoya Pardes’, the English ‘The Last Lear’ and ‘Heartland’, among others. She has also acted for television and in a few short films like ‘The Playboy Mr Sawhney’. Her list of over 15 awards is topped by the National Best Actress award for ‘Irada’ in 2017.</p>.<p>Ask her which films she ranks as her favourites, and we get an answer typically in character: “All my films are my favourites. I took them all on by instinct and enjoyed doing them,” she says.</p>.<p>Divya has also authored ‘Me And Ma’, a Penguin-published memoir of her mother who passed away some years ago. Her simple statement is: “I owe everything in life to just one person — my mother. We were the best of friends. Very few parents believed in their children the way she did. I was an outsider here and she helped me tackle all my apprehensions.”</p>.<p>On a related note, how does she look at the current ruckus on nepotism? “It took years for me to get a foothold here,” she replies coolly. “I was my own godfather, armed only with my passion. There is a lot of favouritism here and you have to deal with it. But finally, it is all about how good you are and how tough you can remain.”</p>.<p>True to her words, the actress is now busy with a bevvy of assignments. Coming up are a film each with Anubhav Sinha and Dibakar Banerjee, a web show, two Hollywood movies and one in Punjabi.</p>