B'day spotlight: DIMPLE KAPADIA

Stunning Star, Dazzling Actor

Age cannot wither her charms, or so William Shakespeare said while describing the ageless beauty of the legendary Egyptian queen Cleopatra. Perhaps, if he had been alive today, he may have dedicated those lines to actress Dimple Kapadia, who turns 53 today. The stunning Dimple continues to dazzle till date, just as she did so many years ago, when Raj Kapoor discovered his Bobby in her.

'Bobby' pushed Dimple's career to dizzy heights but she chucked it all to get married to the then superstar, Rajesh Khanna. Even though it seemed like a fairytale union, it wasn't. Khanna's career was on a downward spiral and it was definitely not easy living with an ageing superstar, as Dimple must have discovered for herself.

She soon separated from her husband and moved out with her two daughters, Twinkle and Rinkie. She staged her comeback to films with Ramesh Sippy's 'Saagar', again opposite her first co star Rishi Kapoor. The film did fairly well and thus began Dimple's second innings in films.

It saw her playing the glamour doll, as well as intense roles in films like 'Jaanbaaz', 'Kaash', 'Saazish', 'Aitbaar', 'Ram Lakhan', 'Batwara', 'Drishti', 'Lekin', 'Prahaar', 'Rudaali', 'Dil Chahta Hai', 'Being Cyrus' and 'Luck By Chance'. Dimple has managed to make a graceful transition from playing the leading lady to playing mature character roles. The actress has been much admired for her looks as well as her talent and has many awards to vouch for that.

She won the Filmfare 'Best Actress' award for 'Bobby' and 'Saagar'; the 'Best Supporting actress' for 'Krantiveer'; the National Film Award for 'Rudaali' and the Bengal Film Journalists' Association Award for 'Drishti'.

Today, the actress is quite content with doing the kind of roles that she wants to, and playing a doting grandmother and mother in law to her grandchildren and son in laws.

On her b'day, here's wishing Dimple Kapadia several more sparkling innings on the professional front and heaps of happiness on the personal front. May her beauty continue to bedazzle cinegoers for years to come..