Divya Dutta was just four when she first thought of becoming an actor. She spoke to Brut about her ups and downs in the industry.
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00:00When somebody said, haan haan humaari agli film zaroor karengi,
00:03so I would actually believe that.
00:05And I remember one fine day, I had actually called my mother and said,
00:08mama, I'm doing 22 films.
00:10So, and I started none of them, actually.
00:13Konfidence ke saath bolo na,
00:15toh film industry jhoot ko bhi sahi maan leti hai.
00:17That's like, jo aasani se kar lenge, wo karna hi nahi hai.
00:19Toh kuch mushkil dijiye, toh phir ussi mein hi mazaat aayi.
00:22When I was four, and I had seen Mr. Bachchan's film,
00:33and I just was too, too amazed by his screen persona
00:37and what he did to me as an audience.
00:40And I came back and I tore my mother's dupattas and sarees,
00:43and I danced on his music and songs and called all my neighborhood children.
00:48I said, listen, watch me and applaud,
00:51and I'll give you samosas and gulab jamuns in return.
00:55And I remember in school also, in high school,
00:58I was the head girl and the teacher had asked everyone,
01:02you know, what do you want to be?
01:04And I being the head girl, I was like, I want to be an actor.
01:08And there was pin drop silence in the class,
01:09because at that time you had only these five, six professions
01:13you really spoke about.
01:14And so it seemed very strange.
01:17So I was taken to the principal's office and given a warning.
01:20And so many years later, when you actually make it happen.
01:24And I went as the chief guest for one of the educational events to my school.
01:35I came like with like as an outsider.
01:40And you have to first of all, I think when you come from a small town,
01:44I had this thing of really trusting everyone.
01:48And when somebody said,
01:49Yes, you will definitely do our next film.
01:52So I would actually believe that.
01:54And I remember one fine day, I had actually called my mother and said,
01:57Mama, I'm doing 22 films.
01:59So and I started none of them, actually.
02:01So but yes.
02:03So, yeah, you believe in people because nobody here would ever say no to you.
02:07Why would they?
02:09They are all polite.
02:11I started on a multi-starred kind of a note.
02:14And so I was like the sweet little thing in lots of multi-stars
02:20who had two songs and a few romantic scenes.
02:22But then I was like, I don't want to do this, I want to do something else.
02:26I mean, I've gotten so many best actor awards back home.
02:29So that's when I got, I think, trained to Pakistan, which changed things for me.
02:34And then it paved the way for many other films that I wanted to do.
02:38But yes, after rejections, I would come back home.
02:41I would, of course, like any other child cry.
02:43But I had my mother.
02:44I had my family.
02:46And they would laugh it off and say, yeah, this is not the end of the world.
02:49Yeah, it's OK.
02:50Doosri aa jaayegi aur aati thi, doosri film aa jaati thi.
02:52So yes, I was lucky that way.
02:55Ek toh, this wasn't really something that I had to make a living out of.
03:00It was my passion.
03:06I think the best way to get into a role is to feel her and to be it.
03:11And I think the actors are very lucky that we get to live many lives,
03:16many different lives, and just be those for that given time when you're playing them.
03:21So in the vast variety of roles that I've done, even if they've been starkly
03:25different from me, like, like Billi Che was somebody I couldn't relate to
03:28because she was this very and I was very fresh from Punjab that time
03:33and very inhibited and shy and hanji type of a girl.
03:37And here I was playing this, you know,
03:41she would abuse, she was bold and she was somebody who could really take care of herself
03:46and make a statement.
03:48And wo sab mujhe matlab aata nahi tha karna.
03:51And wo dhiri dhiri seekha wahan par aur phir jab wo ban jaate ho, then I became Jalebi.
03:57And when I was in Jalebi shoes, I totally forgot who Divya is.
04:00And all the inhibitions went off.
04:02I surprise myself sometimes too, because I feel, really, am I that bold?
04:07I can say this.
04:10Can't do matlab mein ko andar lagta hoga ki, arre yaar yeh bahut mushkin hai aur
04:19thoda nervousness, of course, aayegi karne mein.
04:21Lekin, wo mujhe aur interesting lagta hai.
04:24The bigger the challenge, the more excited I am, I think, because I don't want to do
04:28something I've done or I felt ki, arre, you know, when sometimes directors meet you,
04:33they'll say, arre yeh toh aap toh aasani se kar lingi.
04:36So that is like very jarring to my ears.
04:38That's like, jo aasani se kar lingi, wo karna hi nahi hai.
04:41Toh kuch mushkin dijiye, toh phir ussi mein hi maza aata hai ki.
04:44So, yeah, I mean, there'll be many.
04:46There's been Dilli Chhe, there was Isri Kaur.
04:48I was not like her at all.
04:50She was silent.
04:50There was Ram Singh Charlie, there was Badlapur.
04:53They are roles that are not close to me at all.
04:55I mean, they're very different for who I am.
04:57But I'm loving discovering them.
04:59I'm loving finding them.
05:00And they're amazing.