Dimple Kapadia Had Leprosy When She Was 12; Says That Led Her To Raj Kapoor's Bobby

Dimple Kapadia began working in the film industry from a very young age. She was cast in the lead role for director Raj Kapoor's film 'Bobby' alongside Rishi Kapoor.

New Delhi: Dimple Kapadia began working in the film industry from a very young age. She was cast in the lead role for director Raj Kapoor's film 'Bobby' alongside Rishi Kapoor. Recently, in an intercation, Kapadia revealed how she got her first film and called that phase of her life 'magical' where she got everythig she wished for.

Dimple's leprosy

She also recalled how she suffered from leprosy and a family friend had threatened to get her 'ostracised' from school. Dimple was only 12 at the time.

Speaking at FICCI Flo Jaipur Chapter, Dimple said that her father Chunnibhai Kapadia knew a lot of influential people in the film industry and a 'famous director' who was also a 'family freind' had said something horrible to Dimple. 

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,” she recalled.

Dimple Kapadia on being cast in Bobby

Dimple Kapadia said her medical condition 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,” she added, "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 then recalled her auditions during 'Bobby', "I remember reading a newspaper in school which said that Raj Kapoor is looking for a girl for Bobby. I said to my friends that ‘I am Bobby’. Then I went for the test and I got rejected because he said ‘you look much older than Chintu (Rishi Kapoor). Unn dino main kitab mein likti thi (Those days I would write in a notebook). I used to fill up my notebooks with Ram Ram Ram Ram. I thought aise kaise ho gaya yeh (How did this happen)?” she recalled. Dimple added that she was called again by Raj Kapoor and things went smooth from then on. “He called me back again and it was all right from there on."