Divya Dutta made her Bollywood debut in 1994 with ‘Ishq Mein Jeena Ishq Mein Marna’. She went on to star in films such as ‘Veer-Zaara’, ‘Aaja Nachle’, ‘Delhi-6’, ‘Heroine’ and ‘Bhaag Milkha Bhaag’. In 2018, she won the National Film Award for Best Supporting Actress for the social drama Irada. Her next release is the same-sex love story, ‘Sheer Qorma’, directed by Faraz Arif Ansari, co-starring Swara Bhasker and Shabana Azmi.
Divya Dutta opened up about being dropped from several films in the past. She said that she was initially hurt but she eventually learnt to deal with it and make the best of the opportunities she had. In an interview with The TOI, Divya said, “It used to feel like a huge sense of loss, coming and being rejected or being told on the phone that someone else has been roped in. I’ve been dropped out of many movies at the last minute so that hurts because you feel sheer helplessness because you know how good you could’ve been in that role.” Divya said that her mother helped her take the rejections in her stride. “My mother used to ask ‘Why are you upset?’ then I would say, mom, ‘I’ve been thrown out of the film, why? I don’t know.’ So she says ‘Does that stop your life? Life never stops and tomorrow’s another day.’ In fact, it’s strange that the people who have dropped me, I have worked with them a few years later with better roles,” she said.
Though rejections can affect one’s morale, Divya said that it was important to make the best of the opportunities one got. “It’s your life and so you have to make what comes your way and there’s no other way. So I think I have been that way, wanting to leave all these rejections and get the best of what I had.”
