It is not easy for outsiders to find work in Bollywood and then make a name for themselves. Artists who come from outside the film industry often don’t have a godfather or celebrity to guide them. However, amidst the increasing debate over nepotism in the industry, there are many underdog stars who have secured a place in Bollywood due to their stature. Among them, she is one such actress who gave more than a thousand auditions and experienced many rejections before doing something big. This actress is none other than Shobhita Dhulipala.
Shobhita Dhulipala started her career as a model in early 2010. The actress had no connection with the entertainment or fashion industry. Shobhita participated in the Miss India 2013 pageant and also became a finalist. During the Ideas of India Summit, an ABP program, Shobhita recalled that during that time she must have given more than a thousand interviews and faced many rejections.
She said: “I was not connected to the film world. My only entry point was auditions. And after my senior year, I was a model for a while. As a model you also do auditions for AIDS… but I gave myself three years and auditioned. I must have given 1,000 auditions in my life.
In a throwback interview, Shobhita had revealed that she faced rejection because of her skin color. She had said: “In the beginning everything is a struggle. I don’t come from films. I remember being told many times during my auditions that I wasn’t ‘fair’. I was straight. It was said to me straight to my face that I wasn’t beautiful enough, like you see in advertising.
In 2015, Shobhita started her film career with Anurag Kashyap’s film Raman Raghav 2.0, which was screened at the Cannes Film Festival. The actress also received a nomination for her performance in the film. He later starred in the Emmy-nominated Amazon Prime Video show Made in Heaven.
In 2022 and 2023, Shobitha appeared in supporting roles in Mani Ratnam’s historical epic Ponniyin Selvan 1 and Ponniyin Selvan 2. Both films together grossed more than Rs 800 crore at the box office. This year, Shobhita is all set to debut in Hollywood. She will be seen in Dev Patel’s directorial debut Monkey Man, a thriller about India.
