Five Performances By Divya Dutta That Left The Audience Spellbound

Divya Dutta is regarded for playing a variety of character roles across varying film genres. While we know her largely for her work in Hindi films, the versatile actor has worked in Punjabi, Malayalam and English films too.

She debuted in Hindi films in 1994 with the film Ishq Mein Jeena Ishq Mein Marna. Dutta's earnest performance as Shabbo in the 2004 romantic drama Veer-Zaara earned her best-supporting actress nominations at several awards, including Filmfare. She subsequently received acknowledgment for her role in the 2008 comedy film Welcome to Sajjanpur. She got the IIFA Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in the drama film Delhi-6.

Dutta proceeded to establish herself with character roles in the 2011 film Stanley Ka Dabba and the 2012 drama Heroine. In 2013, her performances in Gippi and the biographical sports film Bhaag Milkha Bhaag, in which she embodied Ishri Kaur, the sister of Milkha Singh won her accolades from both critics and the audience. For her role in the latter, she won numerous awards and nominations, including her second IIFA Award for Best Supporting Actress. For her role in the 2017 social drama Irada, the National Film Award for Best Supporting Actress was conferred to Dutta. Till date, she has worked in more than sixty feature films, including two global productions.

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Here is a list of 5 outstanding performances by Divya Dutt:

Irada

Divya Dutta in Irada

A thriller directed by Aparnaa Singh and produced by Falguni Patel and Prince Soni, the film raises the immediate environmental effects of uranium poisoning, reverse boring, fertiliser poisoning due to the green revolution. And their direct unfavourable impact on the people who live in the Malwa region. Divya plays the role of a State CM. She is shown to be a scheming politician who uses her sexuality to get ahead. She received the National Film Award for Best Supporting Actress for this film.

Manto

Divya Dutta in Manto

It is a biographical dramatisation of the life of famous Urdu author Saadat Hasan Manto, written and directed by Nandita Das. Divya plays Kulwant Kaur, a character from Manto's story Thanda Gosht, which while receiving critical acclaim, drew its writer into a relentless and long-drawn courtroom trial against claims of obscenity in the story. Despite starring along with the likes of Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Rasika Duggal and Ranvir Shorey, Divya left a mark with her performance. Manto received seven nominations at 64th Filmfare Awards.

The Music Teacher

Divya Dutta in The Music Teacher

This drama film directed and co-written by Sarthak Dasgupta is about a depressed small-town music teacher. He grapples with guilt and regrets when his ex-pupil, who once loved him returns home as the star he always wanted to be. The versatile Divya Dutta sports the role of Geeta, a sensuous woman who is lonely in her life. Her character is edgy and vulnerable in the film.

Blackmail

Divya Dutta in Blackmail

This is a black comedy film co-produced and directed by Abhinay Deo, starring Irrfan Khan, Kirti Kulhari, Arunoday Singh and Divya Dutta in lead roles. Here Divya plays the very eccentric Dolly Verma, the wife of Ranjeet (Arunoday Singh). She got praise for her performance as a fiendish corporator married to Arunoday Singh’s younger dim-witted hunk.

Delhi 6

Divya Dutta in Delhi 6

Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra directed Delhi 6 won the Nargis Dutt Award for Best Feature Film on National Integration at 57th National Film Awards. Dutta plays a lower-caste trash collector Jalebi who must endure untouchability at social functions except for when some of the brutish locals solicit company. She received an IIFA Award for Best Supporting Actress for the film.

Image Credit: Divya Dutta/Twitter

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Saumya Rastogi is an intern with SheThePeople.TV