Meet the actress who refused to play Juhi Chawla’s mother-in-law, got married at 15 and bagged a Rs 1 billion fling with Shah Rukh Khan

Born on June 8, 1957 in Mumbai, Dimple Kapadia was discovered by Raj Kapoor when she was just 14 years old. The legendary actor and director cast her in the teen romantic drama Bobby opposite his son Rishi Kapoor. But before her debut film came out, she married superstar Rajesh Khanna in March 1973 when she was just 15 years old. Later in the same year, Bobby became a huge box office hit when it was released in September. Later this year, Dimple and Rajesh’s first child, a daughter named Twinkle Khanna was born when she was just 16 years old. Kapadia left Bollywood to focus on her marriage and family, while Khanna continued to act in films.

In 1977, Rajesh and Dimple became parents to their second daughter, Rinke Khanna. Five years later, in 1982, they separated but never filed for divorce. In 1984, Dimple returned to cinema with Zakhmi Sher. Over the next 10 years, she established herself as one of Bollywood’s top actresses with hits like Saagar, Arjun, Janbaaz, Insaaf and Krantiveer as well as critically acclaimed films like Rudaali and Lekin.

For the 1995 film Kartavya, Dimple Kapadia refused to play Sanjay Kapoor’s mother and Juhi Chawla’s mother-in-law. She had given her nod to the direction of Raj Kanwar when Divya Bharti she was cast as the female lead. However, after Bharti’s untimely death in 1993, she was replaced by Juhi Chawla in the film. As Dimple felt that the age gap between her and Juhi was very small, she walked out of Kartavya and the makers replaced her with Aruna Irani.

As the 2000s began, Dimple became discerning and began choosing strong roles appropriate to her age. Her performances in hits like Dil Chahta Hai, Dabangg, Luck by Chance, Cocktail and Finding Fanny were highly appreciated. In 2023, Kapadia played Shah Rukh Khan’s mentor in the spy thriller Pathaan. The Siddharth Anand directorial marked Shah Rukh’s comeback after four years and became a huge box office hit with a worldwide gross of over Rs 1 billion.

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