When an aspiring young actor gradually on the rise emerges a break out star overnight, it indeed would be a dream worth living. And that’s exactly what Femina Miss India 2013 Sobhita Dhulipala, the star of Amazon Primes’s much lauded, much touted web series Made in Heaven has been doing as she killed the act with a classy Tara in the series largely billed as the most binge worthy one in recent times.
Yet, as sophisticated as she might be perceived to be with her diva like persona and that elegant gait and confidence, Dhulipala is very much your everyday girl next door. Beneath that layer of oomph and glamour lives a girl who is as normal like any other. Yet even as you might speculate about a masked life that the actress lives, what emerges is in fact a refreshing way of life- one that is steeped in very unbugging qualms of living and not on any of the fuss you would generally associate with a girl who has this tag of supermodel wafting about her.
It isn’t everyday that you come across such a woman who is flamboyant even in the unassuming ease she encompasses. And yet you know that’s exactly what Dhulipala had do wonders for her as you remember her onscreen portrayal of the confident yet vulnerable, suave but messy Tara Khanna in the most talked about Indian web series of recent times.
In fact, you would find that air of nonchalant sophistication flowing so innately from within her that it’s hard to believe that Dhulipala hadn’t always been the cool kid on the block. Someone who describes herself as a geeky and nerdy kid, grabbing the front seat of the class and tracing each step to the library, Sobhita sure doesn’t sound like herself.
Drawing from her roots though, you would know that it is a world of transformation for the young actress. That ooze of confidence she emanates with her every appearance seems far removed from her time at school and in college, when she would have to vie for attention at every single stage.
Sobhita’s reticent soul might not have prodded her into the all pervasive world of stardom if it wasn’t for some opportune moment of the universe conspiring. A chance attempt at proving her worth landed Dhulipala somewhere in the Miss India contest where she emerged the winner and even went on to be the India face at the Miss Earth 2013 contest.
But even with accolades and adulation swarming over her, Dhulipala still was unfazed. Indeed, she had her success to build up on, which she did with meticulous dedication. But the kind of life she lived in her mind clearly did not go well with her shots at being in showbiz.
Sobhita’s deep recluses into things that are more ‘substantial’ made her feel as if the appreciation of her beauty made her beliefs more of a farce. So much so in fact that she considered that plunge into the defining contest as something that destroyed her self esteem.
For a young girl who found her calling in books and art, who considered Kaushik Basu and Amartya Sen her role models, and who liked to dwell in her introversion more than the world around her, Dhulipala isn’t your usual beauty queen. She is a lady of substance, a wanderer of sorts who knows exactly how her success should taste like- sweet and fulfilling.
While we dwell too much on her offbeat traits as a person of the screen , let’s not forget her acting prowess that made her shine on stage in the first place. It’s stunning just how much this young diva gets into the skin of the character when she performs. Whether it be Made in Heaven or her Bollywood debut Movie Raman Raghav 2.0 or even the blockbuster Telugu film Goodachari, Dhulipala has made her mark with her memorable performances. Though it is only been post- Made in Heaven that the actress has been deemed a star, it sure seems her share of fame has been long over due.
And you can’t just let go off that delay as something that comes naturally to every ‘outsider’ in the world of stardom. For Dhulipala, the wait might be even a bit more unjustified because it isn’t every newcomer who gets to impress a maverick director like Anurag Kashyap as much as she did.
In fact, Dhulipala had been so convincing in her audition for Raman Raghav 2.0 that Kashyap knew he had found his lady within a mere forty five minutes of the same. Ironically, Dhulipala’s most successful of endeavours didn’t take much time to get noticed. While landing the role in the film was a matter of some minutes, Dhulipala was also was nominated by critics for best supporting performance at the film’s premier at the Director’s Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival 2016, just six months after she had learnt speaking Hindi somewhat fluently!
For Dhulipala, rejection might be intimidating, but it also has chartered more successful paths for her than she had ever envisioned. It might be surprising how a woman, nestled in so much necessities of her own mind, seems to seamlessly transform into a character as conflicting as that of Tara’s or as the dark tinted Simmy in Raman Raghav 2.0.
Her oneness with the character she enacts is so real and absorbing that hardly for a moment you would feel like that this is one lady who has grown in stark measure from the insecure, naive child that she had been all her life. Acting is an experience that leaves her liberated, that lets her transition from inarticulate introvert to expressively emoting character actor.
It might be all the downsides of her modelling experience that made her lose her real self or simply an assertion of her innately loner inhibitions that Dhulipala still prefers to keep mostly to herself. She finds solace in books and words, binging on essays and chocolates rather than shows or letting her thoughts translate into very personal attempts at writing poetry. Wandering about the streets just like that, oblivious of the fame that might come to stalk her, irrespective of whether she likes it or not, finding her peace in the abode of all things creative, letting her soul soak in as much of the world as she can- Sobhita Dhulipala is in a league of her own, somewhere treading the fine line between convenient conventionalism and stark realism. That’s how well enlightened this one hell of a woman is!
