Veteran actress Dimple Kapadia made her Bollywood debut with the superhit 1973 film Bobby. The film, directed by Raj Kapoor, also marked the first project of his son Rishi Kapoor as a lead actor. But did you know that Raj Kapoor first met Dimple Kapadia because she was suffering from leprosy? In a 2018 interview with FICCI Flo Jaipur Chapter, Dimple Kapadia recalled how a family friend, who was also a famous director, was mean to her. She said, “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 Kapadia mentioned that her medical condition was the reason Raj Kapoor met her. She shared “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.”
The actress continued, “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]?” Dimple Kapadia mentioned that Raj Kapoor contacted her once more, and after that, everything went smoothly. “He called me back again and it was all right from there on,” she said.
Bobby is a coming-of-age musical romance film that explores the themes of teenage romance and the clash between rich and poor. The movie features Dimple Kapadia as Bobby Braganza and Rishi Kapoor as Raj Nath. In addition to the leading duo, Aruna Irani, Farida Jalal and Prem Chopra are also seen in the film.