Dia Mirza glides between rooms in director Rajkumar Hirani’s office with her summery mint green dress billowing behind her – an image of poise and elegance. But halfway through our interview, she suddenly squishes her face and whispers, “My cheeks hurt from smiling.” Despite no cameras being pointed at her for now, the actor laughs and says, “I can’t help but smile!” before giving her face a quick and final massage and returning to the questions at hand.
Back to homeground
Mirza doesn’t contain her excitement about her return to the big screen with Hirani’s Sanju . It’s after the Indo-Iranian co-production Salaam Mumbai (2016), which created new records at the Iranian box office. But the last the actor was seen in a Bollywood film was in Love Breakups Zindagi (2011), and Mirza is honest about how the interim was not always easy.
“I was beginning to get very restless and afraid,” she shares. “It was frightening because I wasn’t getting great film offers and I was saying no to all the other stuff that was coming my way. At one point I [wondered], is this the end? As women, especially in our industry, we are [conditioned] to believe we have a shelf life.” Mirza pauses before she adds, “[But] if you consciously want to make better choices, it takes time to arrive at that place.”
Passion projects
The actor has instead immersed herself in social and environmental activism and being named Wildlife Trust of India’s brand ambassador, as well as the UN Environment’s Goodwill Ambassador for India are some of the feathers in her cap.
Mirza even turned producer and founded Born Free Entertainment with husband Sahil Sangha. The duo went on to produce Love Breakups Zindagi and the Vidya Balan-starrer Bobby Jasoos (2014), but the actor says that she was relieved when Hirani called her with Sanju , a biopic on Sanjay Dutt, and lifted the hiatus in her acting career.
“I was very intrigued about what he would do with [ Sanju’s script], and how he would structure the narrative,” says the actor who essays the role of Sanjay’s wife Maanayata. Mirza has worked with Sanjay Dutt on numerous occasions including action thriller Dus and romantic drama Parineeta in 2005, to hit comedy Lage Raho Munna Bhai . “There was a lot going on,” she says, referring to Dutt’s court hearings for possessing illegal arms. “As somebody who was, in some way, connected to his life, it was surreal to now suddenly play his wife,” she adds.
As we discuss her uncanny resemblance to Maanayata, Mirza is quick to deflect compliments by pointing out the team effort poured into it, “It’s really a combination of the costume and make-up departments.”
Real to reel
The actor is also careful not to spill too much about her role, offering a shrug and a smile when asked if Maanayata’s own cinematic endeavours will be explored in Sanju . But she does share a glimpse into the couple’s unique dynamic. Despite Sanjay being older than his wife by 20 years, he calls her maa . “She’s very maternal and nurturing,” explains Mirza. “[Interestingly] none of what you would perceive to be the obvious actually is within [their] relationship,” she says. Pointing to the scene in the trailer when Maanayata unflinchingly hears Sanjay talk about the numerous women he has slept with, Mirza says, “She is nonchalant about it. What would her reaction be – shock? There is this rootedness and understanding [between them].”
Before wrapping up, the topic of the Miss America Organisation scrapping its bikini round comes up. “Good for them!” says Mirza, a former titleholder who was crowned Miss Asia Pacific in 2000 as an 18-year-old. “If we are talking about the need to stop objectifying women, we need to also understand and study the way we position and promote the concept of these pageants. Because from my understanding of beauty, beauty is what beauty does,” she firmly states with a smile.
