"When I got a call for 'Veer Zara', I was excited that now I am going to be launched properly," says Divya Dutta

Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India] May 17 Remember the Shabbo of Shah Rukh Khan and Preity Zinta-starrer 'Veer-Zaara', directed by Yash Chopra, released in 2004? Divya Dutta, who played the role and made it memorable, recalled how she got so much love and recognition with the movie. She also added that initially, she was hesitant to take up the project but it was because of her mother that she accepted the opportunity.
During an exclusive interview with ANI, Divya said, "I wanted to become an actor since I was four and had seen Mr Bachchan (megastar Amitabh Bachchan) on the big screen I knew this is where I wanted to belong and I used to daydream about being awarded the best actor award in a movie directed by Yash Chopra. When I came to the industry I was lost in the multistarrer films where I was one of the heroines opposite big stars and had like those few scenes and two romantic songs and I was like I didn't come for this."
She continued, "When I got a call for 'Veer Zara', I was very excited that now I am going to be launched properly, and they called me and said this is the story, and I was totally besotted, and they told me that there is Shahrukh, there is Rani, there is Preity, there is Mr Bachchan, and there is Hema Ji, and I was like, 'What am I doing in the film?' and I was told that you are doing a friend's role. If I am introduced as a friend to a heroine, then at that time there is a thappa(taboo). At that time it was still there, but less so, so I said I don't want to be stamped now."
Divya said that although she was hesitant, her mother motivated her to join the film's cast and do the role.
"My mother asked me, "Do you have a godfather?" or if I am going to produce something for you, and I said no, so she said, 'Then go ahead and take a role that is so beautiful, make it your own, do it so well that people write roles for you, and hence happened 'Veer Zaara' for me. And in fact, Aditya had told me if there was any other role, I wouldn't have called you, so trust me, the way he said that stayed with me, and everything that could be done for 'Veer Zaara', right from the dialect, listening to somebody in Lahore on the phone and picking up that dialect, picking up that body language, and just wanted that X factor," Divya told ANI.
Moving ahead in the conversation she talked about how being a Punjabi helped her in getting the dialect right in the film.
"When I was in Punjab I spoke less Punjabi. I spoke more here in Mumbai than at that time. Still, it was my language that helped but the dialect was very different. Everything cut to the premiere of the film I was very nervous holding my mother's hand tight and during the interval, I was like ab ban gayi mai best friend(now I became best friend) and then for the first time in my life after I was in the industry for five or six years I was hugged everyone was asking Yash uncle ye kudi kithe leke aaye ho Pakistan te aayi hai nayi hai(Everyone asked Yash uncle from where you brought this girl. Is she from Pakistan, is she new) and I felt in such an unassuming way that way I was actually relaunched by Yash Chopra"
Divya debuted in the film industry with the movie 'Ishq Mein Jeena Ishq Mein Marna' in 1994. Later, she also acted in 'Veer-Zaara', 'Welcome to Sajjanpur', 'Delhi-6', 'Stanley Ka Dabba', 'Heroine', 'Bhaag Milkha Singh', among others.
She did many supporting roles and was praised for that but the actress never like to categorise herself in any category of 'supporting' or 'character' roles.
As she told ANI, "Had I come in today's times like the current scenario of OTT and everything, there wouldn't be a supporting actor because I see so many of my juniors and peers doing roles just because they like them; they are significant and beautiful, not necessarily the lead ones, but unfortunately, I came a little earlier where the times when there were the hero, the heroine, the comedian, the villain, and baki jo hai vo supporting hai to logon ko us waqt mujhe categorise karna nahi aaya(rest all were supporting roles. People didn't understand how to categorise me). I was doing a Rituparno Ghosh film, a Shyam Benegal film, a Rakesh Mehra film, and a Yash Chopra film. No one in my peer group was doing that. Still, no one knew isko kaise kahe(no one knew how to say this), so I think the very convenient thing to brand somebody as a heroine nahi hai na to isko supporting bol do(if she is not a heroine call her supporting actress), so I always fought that battle. Don't call me either a supporting or character actor. I think I am an actor today. I am doing a lot of lead roles. Strangely, I am working in reverse ways, but that doesn't make me a lead actor. This was my passion and I always wanted to do this only and get appreciated for that."