Dimple Kapadia revealed recently that she was suffering from leprosy when she was 12-years-old and this eventually led her to meet Raj Kapoor. She went on to star in Raj’s directorial Bobby in 1973 which was her Hindi film debut, also starring Rishi Kapoor.

In an interaction at FICCI Flo Jaipur Chapter, Dimple said, “I was suffering from leprosy and 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.”

The veteran actor revealed that it was due to her disease that she got to meet Raj Kapoor. She said, “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.”

When she gave the auditions for the film, she was rejected at first as Raj felt that she looked older than Rishi Kapoor, the film’s male lead. However, she was called again by the director and it worked out well.

Dimple was most recently seen in the dark-comedy, Murder Mubarak, directed by Homi Adajania.