EXCLUSIVE: Dia Mirza says, “Heroes working with younger actresses reduces opportunities for 35+ women”

Dia Mirza also looks back at her two decade old journey in Bollywood in an exclusive interview.

By Keyur Seta -

April 3, 2023 - 5:54 PM IST

Dia Mirza recently received rave reviews for her character of a mother in Anubhav Sinha’s Bheed, which also starred Rajkummar Rao, Bhumi Pednekar and Pankaj Kapur. She will next be seen in Dhak Dhak with Ratna Pathak Shah, Fatima Sana Shaikh and Sanjana Sanghi. The actress is happy with the kind of roles she is receiving these days. In fact, she feels that she is getting better offers now, than she did when she started off.

EXCLUSIVE: Dia Mirza says, “Heroes working with younger actresses reduces opportunities for 35+ women”

In an exclusive conversation with Bollywood Hungama, she said, “As a woman, I don’t think I would have ever thought that I would get some of the best parts to play of my life after I hit 40. That’s what happens. When you are younger, you are made to believe that you have a short life. And there is always this clock ticking.”

During the course of the conversation, Dia also spoke about the trend of elder heroes working with younger actresses. “You can see that the bigger stars or heroes tend to want to work with younger actors,” she said. “You don’t work with actors of your age; very few of them do. It then diminishes the law of averages; it just reduces the opportunities that women post-35 have. But that’s changing now. And I think the big change has come about because of OTT.”

In an earlier interview, Dia had revealed that she called up Rajkumar Hirani once to ask for a role and this is how she got an opportunity to play Manyata Dutt in Sanju. Earlier this year, veteran actor Ashish Vidyarthi appealed to the casting directors to cast him in interesting roles during an interview with Bollywood Hungama.

When asked why known actors are required to do this, Dia said, “It’s a small industry. There are many people who are eyeing for the same job. It’s a common problem with most of the industries in the country. The tendency would then be to go with whoever people believe is the most viable or within their periphery or immediate consciousness.”

Dia added that it is a requirement of the industry to keep promoting yourself constantly. “It requires a lot of persistence and it requires a lot of engagement with casting directors and filmmakers to be seen and heard,” she added. “And not all artistes feel comfortable doing that all the time because it can be hard. I guess once in a while we have to make sure that people around us know that we are willing and hungry for good work.”

Although Dia is only 41 right now, she has had a long career of over 20 years already. Speaking about her journey so far, the actress added, “It's been a roller-coaster ride. I have literally grown up in this industry. I started working when I was 18. I became from a young girl to a woman. I shouldered responsibilities. I became a producer. The one thing that’s clear to me is that I have fallen irreversibly in love with cinema. I really believe in the power of storytelling. I think this is the best phase in my life. All the failure, brickbats, manipulation and rejection I had to face has made me a stronger and passionate artiste.”

Also Read: Dia Mirza on Bheed, “Many generations will revisit the film to remember what happened during COVID-19”