The former beauty queen Dia Mirza still continues to win millions of hearts with her beautiful smile and elegant persona.
The actress made her Bollywood debut in Rehnaa Hai Terre Dil Mein, co-starring R. Madhavan & Saif Ali Khan.
Directed by Gautham Menon, RHTDM was released in 2001. Although RHTDM initially failed to create a spark at the box office, it became an iconic movie afterward.
Recently, during a candid interview with Brut India, actress Dia Mirza opened up on “rampant sexism” in the industry that is “largely led by men”. Not only that, but she also revealed that her debut movie RHTDM has “sexism in it”.
Talking about it, Dia says, “People were writing, thinking and making sexist cinema and I was a part of these stories… ‘Rehnaa Hai Terre Dil Mein’ has sexism in it… I was acting with these people. I was working with these people. It’s crazy. I will give you small examples. A makeup artist could only be a man, could not be a woman. A hairdresser only had to be a woman… When I started working in films there were at best about four or five women on any given crew with a unit strength of over 120… sometimes 180 people.”
“We live in a patriarchal society and it is an industry largely led by men. So, there is a rampant sexism. And I think for a large part it is not even conscious sexism because there are so many men who are writers, who are directors, who are actors, who are not even aware of their sexist thinking,” she further added.
The story revolves around a young boy Maddy (Madhavan), who impersonates Rajeev (Saif), the person his love interest, Reena (Dia), is about to marry and attempts to woo her. However, he is unprepared for the moment when the truth will be revealed.
Last year, in October, Dia posted a video on Instagram featuring some scenes from this romantic drama as the movie completed 19 years of its release.
Reports have been doing rounds that the romantic musical Rehnaa Hai Terre Dil Mein is all set for a remake, 20 years after its release.