Suffering from leprosy as a child, she delivered Bollywood's biggest romantic hit, quit films to marry a man twice her age; walked out of a traumatic marriage at 27

Indian Express

5 days ago

Sometimes, the lives of actors mirror the characters they portray on the big screen, and the journey of this veteran actor is nothing short of a Bollywood film itself. She rose to fame at the young age of 15 after being cast by the legendary Raj Kapoor opposite his son Rishi Kapoor in her debut film Bobby. She went on to marry Rajesh Khanna, one of Hindi cinema's first and biggest superstars, and stepped away from acting to focus on family life — only to make a fearless comeback in a bold new avatar that had all of Bollywood taking notice. Here's the story of Dimple Kapadia's extraordinary life.
She recalled, 'I was suffering from leprosy at that time. I was about 12 years old. I had it on my elbow. So this man, turned around and said, 'I'll see that you get ostracised from school'. That was the first time I heard that word. I didn't even know what that meant.'
Dimple admitted that her medical condition ultimately led her to meeting Raj Kapoor. 'Raj Kapoor wanted to meet this girl. He was told there is this beautiful girl and she is suffering from leprosy. Out of this kind of a setback, there was a lot to gain and that's how I got Bobby. It was the most fabulous time of my life. Anything that I said or wanted or desired, just happened. It was magical. Absolutely magical,' she said.
Despite gaining fame and money at such a young age, Dimple took the unusual step of marrying 30-year-old Rajesh Khanna when she was just 15. She had shared that she was his biggest fan, admired the superstar, and decided to marry him after meeting him in a flight.
'We were going to Ahmedabad on a private flight for a function. He sat next to me. I was looking at him. Rajesh Khanna, I mean come on guys, give me a break. I very chalaak-ly told him, 'Wahan toh bohot crowd hoga, bheed hogi. Aap mera haath pakdoge na? (That place will be very crowded right? Will you hold my hand?)' He said, 'Haan bilkul (Yes, why not).' I replied, 'Hamesha ke liye? (Will you hold my hand forever?)' And the rest is history. It happened,' she had recalled.
While talking at FICCI Flo Jaipur Chapter, Dimple admitted she was so naive that she married Rajesh thinking he would sing songs to her like in his films. 'I swear I am not lying, because I was so young. And there was such an impact of the movies. Toh jab mountains pe pohanche aur gaana bhi nahi hua, hawa bhi nahi chali toh meri toh haalat kharab ho gayi (So when we reached on the mountains but there was no song and no gust of wind, I was in a bad state) because my dream was shattered. Because I seriously believed it. I mean how dumb can you get? But well that was me,' she said.
After their marriage, Dimple quit acting and focused on her family life. The couple welcomed two daughters, Twinkle Khanna and Rinke Khanna.
While Rajesh Khanna didn't explicitly prohibit Dimple from acting, he made it clear he expects her to take care of their children. In a later interview, he had recalled, 'I had no problems about my wife working. But when I married Dimple, I wanted a mother for my children. I didn't want them to be brought up by servants. And I had no idea of Dimple's talent; Bobby was still not released. If I knew at that moment that Bobby would prove her talent, I wouldn't have stopped her. To curb talent is cruel. By the time I saw Bobby our first daughter was already born.'
The cracks in Dimple's marriage with Rajesh began to show when the actor's stardom started fading in the late 1970s and early 1980s. His films struggled at the box office, and he found it difficult to cope with the failure. This strain began affecting their marriage. After trying to make the relationship work, Dimple eventually left the superstar alone at his iconic Mumbai bungalow in 1984. She later said that she was too young to understand how the fall from grace was impacting Khanna.
In a 1994 interview with Pritish Nandy, Dimple admitted that marrying the yesteryear star was a wrong decision, as she was too young to understand marriage and everything that came with it. 'I think we were two very different kind of people. And I was probably very young to understand what was happening to this man who was a superstar. I mean I have never been able to understand stars and their behaviour pattern at all because I am not one myself. It's very difficult for me to… I couldn't understand it. I just couldn't understand it,' she said.
When asked if she remembered that period clearly, she said it was 'very clear.' And when the interviewer asked if 'it was traumatic,' she simply replied, 'Yes it was.'
After separating from Rajesh Khanna, Dimple made a comeback to films at the age of 25 with Ramesh Sippy's Saagar, opposite her Bobby co-star Rishi Kapoor. The film became the talk of the town, partly due to a swimsuit scene that was considered daring for a mother of two at the time.
Relationship rumours between Dimple and Rishi Kapoor were rampant after Bobby's release and gained traction again after Saagar due to the kissing scenes the two shared in the film. Since her comeback, Dimple has carved a niche for herself in films and continues to remain relevant even today with her powerful performances.