Costume designer and National Award-winning actress DOllY AHlUWAlIA talks to D Kaushik on how her life has changed after Vicky Donor
Think of a bindaas Delhi mom and Dolly Ahluwalia’s character from her famous film Vicky Donor will come to mind. The actress who has spent a long time in the industry as a costume designer to films like Omkara, love Aaj Kal and Kaminey, was always a popular name among her peers. But thanks to her National Award-winning role in Shoojit Sircar’s Vicky Donor, she is now flooded with people on streets for autographs. “People of all age groups want their pictures with me and it is flattering. life definitely has changed a lot, I do not mean to say that as a costume designer I never got fame, but then I was only popular among the industry people. Vicky Donor has made me a household name,” said the actress who completed her training from National School of Drama, Delhi, and spent considerable time doing theatre.
“I think it is because of my parents that I am in the industry today. I belong to a middle class family and I had a choice to do hotel management, be a air hostess or join NSD. I remember that it was my father who persuaded me to go for NSD. When I went with him for the first time, I saw some girls smoking near the entrance and was reluctant to proceed. My father held my wrist and motivated me to go ahead. It was his faith and trust in me that I ended up at National School of Drama. That was the time when people were not appreciative of women in film industry.
People told my father, ‘aap kyon isse nautanki ka hissa bana rahe hoIJ’ (Why are you putting her into actingIJ) but he was above all this and was very sure that I can act,” shared Dolly and continued on how she finally ended up in Bollywood, “With due respect to theatre, I would admit that there wasn’t any money in it. And I am not the kind of a person who will be asking for it from my parents. As part of NSD repertory there were many foreign directors coming in and I was the gold medalist in acting, so there was work but no money. I started doing some TV shows. The first show I did was Zameen by MK Raina. I designed the costumes for that and thoroughly enjoyed the process. As an artist I started enjoying costume designing and often imagined myself as the character I was designing for and then went ahead with the design. That helped a great deal. There were a few weak points as well, but you emerge strong after facing your weaknesses,” she said.
Shoojit and Dolly go a long way. She met him first when he was a assistant director to Zohra Sehgal’s TV series Amma and Family. Dolly was featured in that. “The way he suggested me camera positions I knew this boy would make it big.” Dolly was a part of his film Yahaan and also Shoebite, which featured Amitabh Bachchan, but the film did not see the light of the day. “I was told about Vicky Donor’s part while I was working for Deepa Mehta’s Midnight Children. The role tickled me and since day one I was excited about it,” she commented.
The actress who appeared briefly in Yeh Jawani Hai Deewani will now be a part of Bajaate Raho. “I play a loud woman who plans a revenge on a billionaire played by Ravi Kishan. I like doing roles that women can relate to,” she ended.