Divyanka Tripathi Dahiya: There's a dearth of regular characters for me now

Currently playing an undercover officer in Adrishyam, Divyanka Tripathi Dahiya opens up on being boxed in the ‘homely’ image and breaking out of it

Actor Divyanka Tripathi Dahiya has been in the industry for the past two decades and with her initial shows, Banoo Main Teri Dulhann and Yeh Hai Mohabbatein, she became the quintessential homely next-door-girl. With her current show Adrishyam, the actor got to break that image and do an action-backed role of an undercover officer. “I used to dream of roles like this, that why doesn't anyone write such roles for women? Why can't a woman be wholesome?” she questions.

Divyanka Tripathi Dahiya on being boxed in her 'homely' girl image

The 39-year-old insists that she has faced stereotyping on TV with her being restricted to just roles of a home-bound family girl. “In the first eight years of my career, people couldn't imagine me beyond my homely girl image on screen. Then I did certain different characters to get out of that box and break that image, which included hosting Crime Patrol. It all had an impact and my image changed. In the last two-three years, I have been getting offers of good, different and challenging roles. People approach me only when they have good characters and there is a dearth of regular characters for me now. I do see the change in perception,” she insists.

While she is playing an undercover officer in her current show, Dahiya admits that the industry has been very lopsided in portraying such characters for women. “In our films and shows, if a woman is doing an action-oriented role or if she is a police officer, we always show her in a constant state of anger. She is shown to have a disrupted personal life. We never show her as a balanced woman, that she can do anything she wants,” she asserts, adding that the reality is actually very different. “Me and Vivek (Dahiya, actor and husband) met a woman at the airport once, who wanted to take a photograph with us, and she looked so homely. During our conversation, we got to know that she is an undercover officer and her colleagues told us how fiercely she beats up criminals. But you couldn't gauge that from her face, and I was really inspired by her,” she ends.