She is bold, somewhat over-the top, loud and overpowering on screen. The 50 plus Dolly Ahluwalia has redefined amma, dadi and auntyji roles to quite an extent. When not playing the Punjabi aunty next door, Ahluwalia is busy designing unique costumes. Bhaag Milkha Bhaag was the latest film for which she designed. Manjari Singh chats her up on her film Bajatey Raho where she plays a conman mother with a lot of jest in her
While Vicky Donor got debutant Ayushmann Khurrana all the stardom, there was another actor who got her due, thanks to the innovative idea of filmmaker Soojit Sircar. Dolly Ahluwalia, who played the loud Punjabi single mother to perfection, says it was undoubtedly one of the most satisfying roles she has essayed in the film industry so far. A charming-yet-dedicated professional, Ahluwalia says there is a lot more happening on the acting front for her at this point of time. For one, the 50 plus is super excited about her upcoming movie Bajatey Raho where she plays a Punjabi conwoman mother.
“Oh, that everyone will just love. Bajatey Raho is a fun-filled family entertainer which the young and old will both enjoy. Yes I am again playing an over-the-top Punjaban but ab to aadat si hai mujhko...,” the lady with a bright smile says.
The Chandigarh-based fashion designer-cum-actor who was last seen as Deepika Padukone’s mother in the biggest blockbuster of the year Yeh Jawani Hai Deewani is on seventh heaven. “Many people tell me I have become stereotyped in Bollywood as the eternal Punjaban. But I beg to differ. It is like every household cooks aalu ke paranthe but some families prefer to add anardana to it while others flavour the parantha with ginger garlic paste. All I want to say is that each Punjabi woman that I have played is different from the other so, in a way, I have played thousand different roles,” she says.
Talking about her role in the Vinay Pathak and Tusaar Kapoor starrer, Ahluwalia tells you that she is a mother who takes certain crazy steps due to circumstances. “It is a role that every woman will identify with and love to watch,” she adds.
Although she wants to work with Karan Johar in one of his grand films, Ahluwalia admits that she feels much at home while shooting with director Soojit Sircar. If Vicky Donor was a rocking experience, Ahluwalia says how excited she is to be a part of his other untitled film. “We have an understanding that he will make good movies and cast me in them. On a serious note, it was during the shoot of a show Amma and Family with Zohra Sehgal that aired on Home TV in the 90s that I met Sircar for the first time. He was the assistant director of the show and would come to me with suggestions on how to improve my acting skills. He was very good at his job and I recall having told him that he will go a long way,” the actress gushes.
Apart from the script which she reads in minute detail, Ahluwalia is also a stickler for working with people with whom she shares a rapport. “Association is very important for me. I have a long-term association with Imtiaz Ali and Vishal Bhardwaj. I have worked with them as a costume designer and we have a great understanding going. I love working with professionals,” she says.
Ahluwalia’s journey as an actor began with theatre in Delhi. That’s how she got her first break as a costume designer in Shekhar Kapur’s Bandit Queen. “I was closely associated with Bobby Bedi and Shekhar Kapur. When Shekhar thought of this masterpiece, he wanted someone to do the costumes. Since he didn’t know many people in the fashion industry, he asked me to help out. I am glad I took it up because I won my first and only National Award through this film,” Ahluwalia recounts.
After having designed for more than 11 big films in the past 20 years, Ahluwalia is quite annoyed when people mix up fashion designing with costume designing. “There is a heaven and hell difference in both these forms of designing. While costume designers create characters, fashion designers create fashion,” she tells you.
Although she has designed for many films like Kaminey, love Aaj Kal, Aaja Nach le and very recently for BMB, Ahluwalia knows that her calling lies in designing for periodic films.
“I would never do a film that simply requires me to buy the costumes from the market, give it a tweak and make it ready for actors. I would much rather sign a film that makes me create characters through my clothes. That leeway you get only when a filmmaker makes a period drama. It is unfortunate there are not many takers for historical films anymore,” she adds.
Coming back to the actor in her, Dolly says that it was all just luck by chance. Acting was not something she wanted to do but it is icing on the cake nevertheless. “I have no regrets. I feel I have got more than what I have deserved. I have seen the life as an artist and also as a person behind the camera. And I have loved both. I am a person who likes to keep herself happy no matter what hits me. Some people says they adore me for this trait,” Ahluwalia says with a twinkle in her eyes.
Ask her to take a pick between acting and designing and she is suddenly in a spot. “People often ask me what if I have to choose between two careers and I always say I have two children, namely costume designing and acting, and it is unfair to choose one over the other. I have just learnt to prioritise,” she says.
Although this kudi has her hands full at the moment, she has no plans of shifting to Mumbai. Chandigarh, she says, is her first and only home. “I will never shift to Mumbai. Chandigarh is where my heart and soul lie. Thanks to my work, I have travelled miles and seen a lot of exotic places but this place has its own charm. I feel at home in Chandigarh where I get my own space and also get to spend some time with my family,” she says.
Dolly’s husband Kamal Tiwari, a Government employee, is also a small-time actor who takes up cameos from time to time, the most memorable being Kareena Kapoor’s father in Jab We Met and also Omkara. “Basically, he is a musician and a theatre lover. He has a lot of hidden talent in him and is excited everytime there is a slight opening for him in any good film,” Dolly says.
The actor who had a brilliant on-screen chemistry with her bindaas mother-in-law in Vicky Donor says she misses her real mother-in-law who passed away soon after her marriage. “There are so many things shown on the canvas which are not true. I don’t drink like my character did in Vicky Donor and I certainly don’t smoke like the one I played in luv Shuv Tey Chicken Khurana,” she clarifies.
But does she believe in taking errant people’s trip as she does in Bajate RahoIJ “Yes. Very much so,” she says, signing off.