Regrets, None | Dolly Thakore in Conversation With Sameera Iyengar

“My life has been an open book. And I have always shared my choices and decisions with my head held high. It feels wonderful that my life has found its way onto the page. It’s taken me eight decades of living, forty years of sifting through memories, and finally Arghya Lahiri, to distill it all into a book.” – Dolly Thakore

Written with wit, humour and candour, Regrets, None, published by HarperCollins Publishers India, is a rare memoir that is unafraid to bare it all. It follows veteran theatre personality Dolly Thakore’s life and career – growing up in Delhi and an assortment of Air Force stations, getting her start in theatre in college, her time in London, involvement with social issues, casting for Gandhi and filming it across India, working in radio, television and advertising while returning always to her first love, theatre.

Dolly Thakore brings alive another era – the glitz, the glamour, the struggles. She speaks candidly about love, sex, infidelity, motherhood, commitment, the ecstasy and the heartbreaks. She emerges as a true-blooded embodiment of what it means to be a strong, empowered, vulnerable, courageous (and sometimes outrageous) woman.

Written as a memoir, Regrets, None showcases an insider’s look at the worlds of glamour, fashion, theatre, film and advertising from the 1960s till today.

Join us for a conversation between author Dolly Thakore and creative producer Sameera Iyengar as they talk about Thakore’s secrets and journey towards the making of her autobiography.

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This is the final programme in Season One of Beyond the Ordinary: Library Series with Asia Society, a curated series of book discussions spotlighting extraordinary literary voices and worlds from across South Asia. Developed in partnership with HarperCollins Publishers India, the first season focuses on extraordinary non-fiction writing from India. It features creative professionals from across sectors that are presenting unique perspectives on the world through memoirs, reportage and analytical study.

Dolly Thakore is a veteran actor, newscaster, columnist and casting director who has worked in advertising, communications and public relations. She is also a staunch social activist, particularly for children and destitute women, and for Citizens for Peace. 

Sameera Iyengar is a creative producer and theatre person. She has been working in the field of theatre/performing arts for over 20 years. Her particular passion lies in mobilising the performing arts as anchors for public discourse, towards the proliferation of critical thinking, ideas and understanding. 

In 2012, she co-founded Junoon to share the richness of the arts with people across India; the organisation ran for 8 years. Her work so far has included creating, curating and running festivals, arts addas, school programmes, carnivals, workshops for children and theatre exhibitions. Sameera has also co-founded the India Theatre Forum and SMART (Strategic Management in the Art of Theatre), towards strengthening the theatre ecosystem in India. She is a co-editor of the book, Our Stage: The Pleasures and Perils of Theatre Practice in India Today. Her tryst with theatre began at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where she majored in Mathematics and minored in Theatre. She went on to get her PhD on theatre from the University of Chicago.

Season One of Beyond the Ordinary is developed in partnership with: