Dipannita feels lucky not to be just a 'decorative piece' in films

Former Miss India contestant Dipannita Sharma, now an actress, says she has been "very lucky" to have played characters in films that mean something and are not in the movie just as decorative pieces. Dipannita has featured in Bollywood films like ‘16 December’, ‘My Brother... Nikhil’, ‘Ladies vs Ricky Bahl’ and ‘Pizza’, but has not always played the lead role.

"I played a lead actress in '16 December'. 'Ladies vs Ricky Bahl'...actually we were all lead actors from what we were told on contract because we were all cast opposite the lead actor -- Ranveer Singh. I think the audience saw it differently. That's alright," Dipannita told IANS in an email interview.
For her, it is important to play good and interesting parts that showcase her as an actor as opposed to a "meaningless lead who only has two songs in a few scenes with a really big actor".

"As an actor, I do not believe in just lead or supporting cast. I believe that a character should be interesting. There should be a reason why the character is there in the film and I must say that, so far, I've been very lucky to have played parts in films that mean something and are not in the film just as a decorative piece," she said. She also bagged the best actress award at the Love International Film Festival in the US this year for playing a mother in the Assamese film ‘Xhoixobote Dhelamite’ (Rainbow fields).

"It is extremely encouraging for a regional film industry like... the Assamese film industry, which has been struggling for a while although it has immense talent. You can tell a story in the Assamese language and it can be accepted worldwide; that itself is a great feeling," she said. "At the festival, they had over 150-160 entries from... Iran, Germany and other countries. Ours was probably the only film from India.

Our film talks a lot about healing, our film's content is what has created a lot of interest in it." The semi-autobiographical film takes inspiration from events from director Bidyut Kotoky's life and is based on the psychological trauma that children in Assam went through during a period of agitation in the 1980s. 

BY Natalia Ningthoujam