Dia Mirza | Story of a Talented Indian model, actress and social activist

Winner of Miss Asia Pacific 2000, Dia Mirza is an Indian model, actress and producer working in Bollywood since 2000. Her acting debut was with the film Rehnaa hai terre dil mein. Subsequently, she played roles in the movie Lage Raho Munna bhai, Dum, Prineeta, and Thappad.

Early Life

Born on December 9, 1981, Dia Mirza is the daughter of Frank Handrich, a German Catholic and Deepa, a Bengali Hindu. Deepa divorced when Dia was just four-years-old and remarried to Ahmed Mirza. He was a Dakhini Muslim. Dia took her surname from her stepfather. Being the only child of her parents, Dia grew up in a small family in Hyderabad. Her mother, Deepa, is a Bengali interior designer. And also, she helps alcoholics and Drug addicts.

Dia Mirza at first attended Vidyaranya High School, then later completed her schooling at Nasr School, Khairtabad. After that, she joined Ambedkar Open University, Hyderabad, for an undergraduate arts course.

Career

Apart from being a model, Dia Mirza has set up community services, film production and also actively participated in pageantry.

Modelling

From the very beginning, Dia Mirza was totally fond of modelling. She appeared in commercials for brands like Lipton and Emami. While still in college, Dia worked for Neeraj’s Multi-media studio. As a marketing executive, she earned a salary of Rs.5000/.

One of the family friends of Dia Mirza worked at Times of India, Hyderabad. So, Just after Dia graduated, she received a call from him which clicked her about Miss India Contest. Dia sent her portfolio and fortunately selected for the contest.

Pageantry

In the year 2000, Dia Mirza participated in Femina Miss India and became the first Runner up. Following this, she entered for Miss Asia Pacific 2000. And to her fortune, she won the title. The same year, the Miss Universe title was given to Lara Dutta, and Miss World was Priyanka Chopra. As both were already from India, Dia finalised the hattrick of Indian women winning International pageants.
Along with this, Dia mirza gained the titles Miss Beautiful Smile, Miss Avon and Miss Close-Up Smile in Miss India.

Acting

In 2000, Dia Mirza made her first appearance in the music video “Khoya Khoya Chand”. The following year, Dia made her Bollywood debut with the film Rehnaa Hai Terre Dil Mein. It did not go financially well, but Dia Mirza brightened. As a result, she won Zee Cine Awards for Best Debut.

Subsequent appearances she made in the movie Dum (2003), Deewanapan and the romantic drama Tumsa Nahin Dekha – A Love Story.
Following this, In 2006, Dia worked in the comedy-drama Lage Raho Munnabhai. This was a significant commercial as well as financial success. Later in 2018, Dia appeared in the biopic Sanju. She played the role of Sanjay Dutt’s wife, Manyata. The film was super successful and gained critical acclaim. As a result, it ranked as one of the highest-grossing Indian films.

Recently, Dia was in the web series Kaafir. It starred on ZEE5 in the year 2019 with the lead actor Mohit Raina. For this OTT Debut, Dia won Gold awards in 2019 in the category of Best actor OTT female (critics). In the year 2020, she played a supporting role in the drama film Thappad with the lead actress Tapsee Pannu.

Producer

Actress Dia Mirza set up a Production house named Born Free Entertainment. It was in the year 2011 when she inaugurated this venture with his ex-husband Sahil Sangha.
Love Breakup Zindagi, Bobby Jasoos and the web series “Mind the Malhotras” were the productions of her firm.
After eight years of this venture, Dia, in 2019, announced that she would be creating original content. For that, she would open a new production house, “One India Stories”.

Social activities

• Dia Mirza is involved with the Cancer Patients Aid Association and Spastics Society of India to work and help with the treatment.

• She works with the government of Andhra Pradesh. And actively participates in making people aware of HIV and preventing female foeticide.

• She has adopted two cubs of a cheetah. They are at the Prince of Wales zoological park in Lucknow.

• She is the ambassador for Swachh Bharat Mission’s program, ” Swachh Saathi” : a youth based mission.