The Underrated Series – Divya Dutta
iView Author: SRIDHAR MAYUR (Hyderabad, India)
Email: With Held
“The Underrated Series – Divya Dutta”
Today I am writing about Divya Dutta, a performer with honesty and passion written all over her. Born in a Doctors family in Ludhiana, Punjab this punjabi girl has made her way into the main stream with her will and hard work. Divya made her small screen debut a decade ago with ‘Rangarang‘ on the national network. She also appeared in a popular tv serial as shanno in Shanno ki Shaadi. Few know that she had emerged the winner of the Stardust talent hunt from among more than 30,000 candidates a decade back. The first time I saw Divya Dutta was in Veer-Zarra and her peformance stayed in my mind for a long time, it was a big impact…some performances I liked in the movies were of Amitabh, Boman Irani and Divya Dutta and I love them till date. And then we have our own “Welcome to Sajjanpur”, where she plays a basanti-type girl who cranks everyones including her mother(Ila Arun). I think she perfectly suits in those punjabi-hard hitting women roles to the core and the rest lies in the director to bring out the performance. She is also got this witty sense of humour which naturally comes into play when she performs. She got the recognition after a long haitus in the Industry, almost a decade of hard work and struggle for recognition and she deserves a lot more accolades than she is getting right now. She is not short of offers and roles right now, but I am sure she would have been more elated if she would have earned them about 5 years back. Never late in the industry for these things, but I am sure it pinches you when you think of the struggle earlier.
I have never really watched Punjabi films, but after knowing that she received critical acclaim for her remarkable
performances in Shaheed-e-Mohabbat (1999), Des Hoya Pardes (2004), and Waris Shah: Ishq Daa Waaris (2006) I am craving to watch these, atleast a glimplse of her performance. She personally liked playing the characters in all these films and loves working with Gurdass Mann. She is one such actress who pulls your attention by her performances even in a small role. Its her honesty and passion that brings her closer to the character she plays.
I got to see some of the clippings of her performance in Train to Pakistan(1998) sometime back, her performance was excellent. Its sad because she got her real break in mainstream through YashRaj in Veer-Zaara and that too after 6 years and the point is…”thats what you call underrated!!” She might have worked in many films earlier, but the actual recognition came through this film in Hindi.
Lets look into her films:
Pui Pui (2009)
Dilli 6 (2009)
Oh, My God (2008)
Welcome to Sajjanpur (2008)
Love Game (2008)
Vighnaharta… Shree Siddhivainayak (2008)
Umrao Jaan 2 (2008)
Summer 2007 (2008)
U, Me Aur Hum (2008)
The Last Lear (2008) [1]
Apne (2007)
Aaja Nachle (2007)
Darwaza Bandh Rakho (2006)
Umrao Jaan (2006)
Kahani Gudiya Ki (2006)
Waris Shah-Ishq Da Waaris(Punjabi)(2006)
Mr Ya Miss (2005)
Silsiilay (2005)
Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose: The Forgotten Hero (2005)
Naam Gum Jaayega (2005)
Des Hoyaa Pardes (2005)
Veer-Zaara (2004)
Shaadi Ka Laddoo (2004)
Agni Pankh (2004)
Shobhayatra (2004)
LOC Kargil (2003)
Baghban (2003)
Joggers’ Park (2003)
Pran Jaaye Par Shaan Na Jaaye (2003)
Zindagi Khoobsoorat Hai (2002)
Sur: The Melody of Life (2002)
23rd March 1931: Shaheed (2002)
Inth Ka Jawab Patthar (2002)
Kasoor (2001)
Rajaji (1999)
Samar (1999)
Shaheed-E-Mohabbat (1999)
Train to Pakistan (1998)
Bade Miyan Chote Miyan (1998)
Iski Topi Uske Sarr (1998)
Daava (1997)
Raja Ki Aayegi Baraat (1997)
Chhote Sarkar (1996)
Agni Sakshi (1996)
Veergati (1995)
Surakshaa (1995)
Ishq Mein Jeena Ishq Mein Marna (1994)
Some forgettable films, but her peformances are unforgettable!
She likes maintaining a low profile and talking about food she prefers “ghar ka khana”, especially her mom’s hand made food. Her favorite director is Shyam Benegal Sir and like I said before she loves working with Gurdas Mann and his banner. Shes just won a Filmfare and Zee Cine Award for her role in Veer-Zaara but I guess she deserves more than this. Right now, she is grabbing eyeballs being a con artist(I liked the Sardarji wala getup) with a host of other celebs on Star Plus’ new reality show, “Arre Deewano Mujhe Pehchano”, which strings together pranks as the celebrity participants take on the behrupiya act.
Really waiting with bated breath to watch Dilli6 where I would get to see Pavan Malhotra and Divya Dutta and guys no doubt
the performances will be mature and make us spell bound. Waiting for more memorable roles from this excellent artist. Hail the underrated!!! Tere naam vich lutava kushiyanuuuuuuuuu(Hope thats right punjabi coz Im still learning)
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Verma
Manish Gupta
Navdeep Singh
Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
Suparn Verma
Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
Pavan Kaul
Partho Sen-Gupta
Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
Satish Kasetty
Agree with you Sridhar. I think she is still paying for the wrong choices she made early on in her career. She is a powerhouse of Talent.
Nice post!! I look forward for the series.
Hey Sridhar! I love your series! Another really talented actor you have written about. I had the opportunity to talk to her and watch her work from close quarters. Not only is Divya a great actor, but one of the sweetest persons you would meet in the inddustry. She actually takes time to meet visitors on set, sit with them in her vanity van and chat up. Thanks for writing about her! About Delhi 6, I think it has the best ensemble cast in recent Hindi cinema.. Just look at all the faces that pop up on screen in the trailers!! Divya, Om Puri, Deepak Dobriyal, Rishi Kapoor, Waheeda Rehman, Sheeba Chadhha, Atul Kulkarni, Vijay Raaz, Supriya Pathak and who all! Brilliant!!
great post. another unsung actress who has been typecast. i loved her in Veer Zaara & now am lookin fwd to a class act in dilli 6!
@Avinash – Thanks dude. This is my fourth in the series. Please search and check out the others. Hope you like them..:)
. Thanks.
@Abhishek – Thank you so much for the appreciation and great that u’ve met her. I was watching one of her interviews in punjabi and she really is a sweet person having no airs about her ability. I@Magik – Knew that you would be here
Personally I think Anil Kapoor and Rishi Kapoor are two brilliant super stars whose acting prowess is still not tapped to thier potential…they really not to be casted in films with fullll power house performance…Hope to write on them some day
Divya is a real underrated actress, problem was in 90’s she acted in all those 3rd rate flicks and was typecast as sex bomb.
But she got her due with Punjabi movies, like Shaheed E Mohabbat and Des Hoya Pardes.
She was the only good thing, i liked in that Bore Zara.
Yeah like u waiting for her in Dilli 6.
Also maybe its a bit too early, but i feel Neha Dhupia is also becomming another actress moving from a sex kitten image to more performance oriented roles. She initally acted mostly in glam or sex roles like Qayamat, Julie, but of late she is appearing in some real good roles like in Ek Chaalis Ke, Mithya, Maharathi, Dasvidaniya. What say you?
@Ratnakar – Neha Dhupia…yes, she is close and the scenario is apparent to what happened with Divya, but I think Divya had the potential which was overlooked and since she has a pretty face, guys made her work for what they thought would garner attention. Not to compare, but I think Neha has to carve a niche for herself and she is not bold enough to sign ventures directed by Shyam Benegal per se., because she is more of an actress who is really not underrated for her performances, she does what she gets and does it convingcingly and that gets noticed(she has that luck).
Hi Ratnakar..
Somebody said it correctly that Divya Dutta leaves an impact in a small role also.I remebmer in Sur she has a small role of heroine’s sis. But she is too good there.
But i dont share the same opinion abt Neha Dhupia. I hve seen all the movies mentioned by you but didnt find anything remarkable in those acts.I think she has got company of some talented people in the industry and she is getting benefit of it.
My Comment disappearded!!! :(
Ah..It’s back!
Nice post.
I think Divya Dutta was one hell of actress, but as they say sirf talent se kuch nahin hota hai.Luck Chahiye.
Sridhar- Great post,you seem to really come up with good names in your series.Personally I’ve been liking Divya Dutta for a long time both for the roles of late she does and also because she comes across as such as a warm & honest person
( no I haven’t met her like Abhishek but this is based upon feedback from people & what I’ve seen of her on TV & in movies).I remember seeing her do some stupid movies initially with some silly songs like “bindu re bindu” – but Veer Zaara & the combination with Gurdaas Maan in Punjabi Cinema helped here changed her image completely>
Ratnakar- I definitely agree with you on Neha Dhupia.She’s been able to balance here movies well of late.So along with a SIK or a Dus Kahaniyan, she does a Ek Chalis Ki Last Local,Mithya or Dasvidaniya.Actually her first serious movie was back in 2005-Siskiyaan.
Heard she has a firecracker of a role in dilli 6. she has also been the voice for inappropriately accented starlets. Lisa Ray for instance in Kasoor.
With no disreagrds to anyone, Divya Dutta, is no great actress from whatever i have seen
Her act in Veer zaara was nothing above ordinary,
U, Me aur HUM was typical HAM over the top acting,even in Baghban she was as good or as bad as other Beta-Bahus.
I havent seen Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose movie, s cant comment. Others are all B/C+ grade movies.
@Shreyansh – No harm, its your point of view. But whatever you’ve seen is not her best(except for Veer-Zaara)…so really cannot argue…pls do watch Train to Pakistan(maybe you change your view)…and I wish to end my point here without further discussion/argument..Thank you…
I havent watched any panjabi movies so I dont kow the roles you are talking about. But I dont rate her as high as Pawan Malhotra(your earlier underrated),though she is an honest worker.
One reason of her failure was that she tried to be a main league actress and she is very short for that. She looks small in front of many heros.
(I saw there is another abhishek here so I have to use D here, a la Dev.D)
Few underrated I will Like to mention are
Raj Jutshi : We know him very well.
Sandeep mehta (Parvez Merchant from Corporate). Sandeep has done the most convincing role of narad on indian TV.
Rajit Kapoor : Iqbaal from Train to Pakistan, Amir Khan’s bro in Gulam.
Vijay raaz: Dubey Ji of mansoon Wedding.
And many more…
just mentioned…they might be in your list any way.
she is fine in couple of films esp the one with Gurdass Mann(shaheed-e-mohabbat) but most of the times she is loud & most of her roles look similar(is it coz most of the times she is playing ‘the punjabi’?)and hence caricaturish..though it wud b interesting to see her in ROM’s Delhi 6 this week..i dnt think she is good enough to be called underrated..archana puran singh is relatively better & has good comic timing but she also most of the times plays similar kinda roles or shall i say approach every role with similar technique
Also cud u cover Utpal Dutt some time in Underrated series. For me he was one fantastic actor, so effortless, so natural and brilliant. He cud do any role, be it comedy, villian or emotional. Yet somehow never really got his due.
Loved his performances in Gol Maal, Naram Garam, Saaheb, Julie, Amanush, Guddi.
Another underrated actor i feel is Kulbhushan Kharbanda, whatever be the role, i always feel he gives his best. He gave some really good performances in Shyam Benegal movies like Kalyug, Nishant, Ankur.
Also liked him in Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikander, Border, Refugee, Earth 1947, Maachis.
@ Ratnakar # 19: i hv just submitted a write-up on Utpal Dutt. Hope it gets published sooner. would love to have your comments on that.
@ Ratnakar # 19: i have just submitted a write-up on Utpal Dutt. hope it is published soon. would love to have your comments on the same.
Jha- ah! will wait for your write-up.Apart from the movies mentioned by Ratnakar I’m sure you would have captured Mrinal Sen’s Bhuvan Shome & Satyajit Ray’s movies like Agantuk, Joi Baba Felunath, Gautam Ghose’s Padma Nadir Majhi etc.Won’t mention anything more- will reserve it for your article
@ Sethu: bang on.. i hv covered all those, and then, some more.. fortunately, i hv ur email id, n im sending u the write-up right now. would luv to hv ur comments right away. can i hv ratnakar’s email id as well. wanted him to read as well, before others (luckily…)
dont know why the comments are not appearing on real-time? editors.. please note. case in point.. my comments 20 & 21. wrote 20. dint appear for long. wrote agn the same… and lo.. both of them appear together aftr sometime. same right now. hv already replied to # 22 long time back. not reflecting on the page yet…..
Jha- mailed you Ratnakar’s mail i.d.Will be mailing you my view on the write-up soon.Yeah the comments now are not appearing on real-time.Also no.of views is not getting reflected nowadays for any topic.
PRASHANT is another underrated actor…
Remember the guy waisa bhi hota hai?
He used to come in star bestsellers as well!
Hope to read something about him :-)
I meant Prashant Narayanan from Waisa bhi hota hai.