Actress Divya Dutta has had a diverse career spanning over three decades, playing various characters. She debuted in 1994, but her breakthrough came a decade later in 2004 with Yash Chopra’s Veer Zaara. In the film, she played Shabina Ibrahim, the best friend of Preity Zinta’s character, Zaara. Speaking to Kannan, Divya, now 46, recalled holding her mother’s hand at the premiere and thinking that being in a YRF film would finally bring her into the spotlight.
Despite liking the movie, Divya Dutta worried she might be typecast as the best friend of every heroine in showbiz. She said, “There is a herd mentality in our industry. Everyone runs after the one who looks good and leaves the rest behind.”
During the interval of Sheer Qorma, the actress shared that even though her mother praised her performance, she continued to hide behind her. She wanted to be a Yash Chopra heroine, not just a supporting character. But then, she received a call from the filmmaker himself and was met with a cheering crowd. Yash Chopra was asked if he had discovered Divya from Pakistan, despite her long career.
In an interview with Hauterfly last year, Divya had opened up on body image issues. She had said, “Firstly, I was busty. Then, I wasn’t very tall so I wasn’t considered to be one of those stereotypical tall beautiful girls. I used to look so young. And at that time, there were mostly action heroes, who were, of course, big. To fit into the mold was a little difficult. To become like those tall, very thin, pretty girls. I never felt like I looked like a heroine, I had to learn how to become one.” Divya added that as she kept working in the industry, she started gaining more confidence in her skill because of the roles she was playing. “The things that were first told to me, like she’s busty, (now) I myself offer if I should unbutton the top button. I say it’s okay… it’s fine. It is my asset. I consider myself an asset with everything that I have and I feel men consider me sexy and so do women,” she said.
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