- By Sukanya Saha
- Wed, 29 Mar 2023 05:30 PM (IST)
- Source:JND
Dia Mirza recently revealed that after gaining international recognition, by winning Miss Asia Pacific 2000, had to overcome significant challenges to achieve success in Bollywood. Despite captivating audiences with her performance in Rehnaa Hai Terre Dil Mein and earning admiration from male fans, Dia had to endure a prolonged and difficult journey before getting her first film role.
In the Tamil film En Swasa Kaatre, Mirza worked as a background dancer in the song Jumbalakka. In an interview, Dia recalled the experience and explained that she was essentially an "extra" in the song. However, the work paid well and provided her with enough money to shoot her first professional portfolio.
"I played as what they call an extra in a song. It made me enough money to go and shoot my first professional portfolio," Dia told ETimes.
"We shot for the song in Ramoji Rao Film City. I was there with 4-5 friends and we had a great time. Raju Sundaram was dancing, Mink was part of the song, it was a great experience. And we earned good money so that we could go back and do the things that we wanted to do," she added.
Dia Mirza further shared information about her debut music video, which she filmed when she was just 15 years old! The music was created by MM Keeravani, who won an Oscar earlier this month for the song Naatu Naatu from RRR.
"It was composed by MM Keeravani. We shot the video entirely in Hyderabad. I have been looking for the song on YouTube," Dia said.
For the unversed, following her appearance in the video in 1999, Dia secured the third position in the Miss India pageant. Lara Datta was crowned Miss India Universe and Priyanka Chopra won the Miss India World title. It is noteworthy that all three contestants also won their respective international titles that year.
Dia went on to pursue a career in acting and appeared in various movies, including Rehnaa Hai Tere Dil Mein, Deewaanapan, Dum, Lage Raho Munna Bhai, and more. Her most recent film is Anubhav Sinha's Bheed.
In a recent interview with PTI, she had mentioned that she was quite young when she entered the film industry and experienced several setbacks. When her films did not perform well, she faced harsh criticism from the media and the industry. They made it seem like it was her responsibility for the failure of her films.
Dia also shared that these experiences taught her that sometimes it can be challenging to find work, even when you believe you deserve more opportunities. However, she realised that waiting for people to offer her work was not the solution. Instead, she learned to trust her own abilities and to be prepared to meet opportunities as they arise.
