Lillete Dubey

Lillete Dubey's entry into films was quite by chance when her husband was posted to Mumbai in 1995, and she has often called herself an 'accidental film actress’. She debuted with the film Love You Hamesha starring Akshaye Khanna and Sonali Bendre in 1999. The movie was directed by Kailash Surendranath. After that, she played a supporting character in Bawandar, directed by Jag Mundhra and starring Nandita Das, in 2000. It was based on the story of a rape victim, Bhanwari Devi, from Rajasthan. Her career breakthrough was in 2001 when she essayed the role of Aunty Rose in Shyam Benegal's classic Zubeida and won many hearts and next as Shabana, the mother of the female protagonist Sakeena (played by Amisha Patel) in the movie Gadar: Ek Prem Katha. Her second hit, Monsoon Wedding, came out later in the same year and became yet another milestone in her film career. Divya Unny from Open (Indian magazine) said, She acted in her first film Zubeidaa (2001) at the age of 47 which would have been considered a late start for an actor. Even as an independent actor, Dubey created a niche. She has defied expectations many times on screen. She was the only actress her age who could carry off smoking a cigarette in a shiny blouse and petticoat, with rollers in her hair, in Monsoon Wedding (2001)." The following year, in 2002, she again portrayed the role of one of the lead characters’ mother in the movie Om Jai Jagadish, directed by Anupam Kher. Her on-screen daughter was Urmila Matondkar. She played the role of ‘Shanti Patel’, the wife of Paresh Rawal in Baghban (2003). She played the role of Jaswinder "Jazz" Kapoor in Kal Ho Naa Ho, in 2003. She played Jazz, an older female character that is fierce, unapologetic, and in touch with her sexuality. In 2004 she played the role of Preity Zinta's reel mother in the movie Lakshya. The film was directed by Farhan Akhtar and starred Hrithik Roshan as the male lead. In the same year, she also worked in Anjan Dutt's Bow Barracks Forever, a film that revolved around the troubles faced by the Anglo-Indian people to keep up their lifestyle, in the post-independence era and which won her the Best Actress award at the Madrid International Film Festival. Lillete worked on a long short film ‘Seasons Greetings’ with Celina Jaitley. Her short film works include Sonata & Purana Pyaar. Her other work includes Qubool hai 2 at Zee5 premium where she plays Nilofer, alongside Karan Singh Grover and Surbhi Jyoti.

Nominated Best Supporting Actress - STAR Screen Awards for the film ‘My Brother Nikhil’ in 2005. Won Best Actress for the film, 'Bow Barracks Forever' at the Madrid International Film Festival, 2008. Best Actress for the film “Pankh” at the Dainik Jagran National Film Festival, 2010. Best Actress for her play ‘Adhe Adhure’ at Mahindra Excellence in Theatre awards, 2012. Jury Mention for Best Actress for the film ‘3 Days to Go’ at the Global Indian Film Festival 2019. This movie also received 3 more awards for ‘Best Feature Film’,‘Best Screenplay Feature’ and ‘ Best Editing Feature’. Best Actress for the film ‘3 Days to Go’ at the Simon Mabhunu Sabela Film and Television Awards 2019. Best Actress for ‘Seasons Greetings’ at the Ayodhya Film Festival, 2020.