Dia Mirza stepped into the glamorous world of Bollywood with Gautam Menon's Rehnaa Hai Terre Dil Mein (costarring Madhavan).
The film bombed.
Neither did her next releases Deewanapan (Arjun Rampal, Vinod Khanna), Tumko Na Bhool Payenge (Salman Khan, Sushmita Sen) and the recent Dum (Vivek Oberoi) appeal to the box office.
Success may have eluded Dia, but the 21-year-old Saggitarian is hopeful her performance in Sanjay Jha's Praan Jaye Par Shaan Na Jaye (Raveena Tandon, Namrata Shirodkar, Shweta Menon, Rinke Khanna, Divya Dutta) will do the trick.
Dia talks to Vickey Lalwani in her plush new Pali Hill apartment about her future in Bollywood:
Why have you started spelling your name differently?
No superstition. Dia is the way my name was originally spelt. When I was applying for my passport for the Femina Miss India Contest, someone spelt my name as Diya. Since it was on my passport, I couldn't do much about it.
When I bought this new house and registered it, I used Dia. I wanted to revert back to the original spelling.
Are you happy with the way your career is moving?
Touch wood, things are looking up for me. Hopefully, better times lie ahead.
Every role I have in my kitty is different. None of them resemble the roles I have played in my earlier films.
Any actress of my age would yearn for these kind of roles at some stage in her career. These are roles that really satisfy the soul. I am lucky I managed to bag these projects so early in my career. Remember, I am just 21 (smiles).
Tell us about your next release, Praan Jaye Par Shaan Na Jaye.
In PJPSNJ, I play a nervous girl who believes she is not good-looking. Her speech and body language are extremely awkward.
[Director] Sanjay Jha called me up and said he wanted me to play an ugly duckling in PJPSNJ. To say I was shocked would be an understatement. But I immediately realised here is a visual message to tell people what we beauty queens [Dia was Miss Asia Pacific 2000] have been conveying on stage. Beauty is not about good skin, features and figure, but about your nature and habits.
I play a girl who is shunned by most people because of her looks. Her parents never allow her to voice her opinion and are adamant about getting her married. Most lower-middle class families put their girls through this ordeal: gender discrimination, imposing marriage on them, etc.
It is a small role. My final scene, where I lash out at my parents, will remain etched in memory.
How did you bag Mahesh Manjrekar's Padmashree Laloo Prasad Yadav?
Manjrekar, who is producing PJPSNJ, was impressed with my work. He promised to cast me in one of his forthcoming ventures. In Padmashree Laloo... I play the title role of Padmashree. It is a wonderfully woven slapstick comedy.
You are also working with Khalid Mohammed in Tehzeeb.
In Tehzeeb, I am playing a 20-year-old girl with a mind of a 6-year-old.
[Director] Khalid Mohammed said only Sridevi has played something like this in Sadma [Kamal Haasan, Silk Smitha]. He also told me Tabu was very keen to do this role, but he wanted someone younger.
I asked him to narrate the story and told him I would extremely forthright if I felt I would not be able to do justice to the role. After I had heard him out, I told him, "Sir, I can do it. You have to trust my opinion."
Shabana Azmi plays my mother and Urmila Matondkar, my elder sister.
What other films are you working on?
I am doing Amol Shetge's film. It is a women-oriented subject. I play the main protagonist. Om Puri is my co-star and the story revolves around the two of us. The film is tentatively titled Sambhav.
I am in Deepak Ramsay's Koi Mere Dil Mein Hain, where I am a modern girl who wears bold outfits. She makes heads turn wherever she goes. She is not a brat. She nurses this false belief that she can get any man she wants.
One man refuses to be bowled over by her charms and she starts chasing him. Down the line, she realises what is true love and turns over a new leaf.
Deepak earlier had Celina Jaitley in mind, but Feroz Khan's Jaanasheen had tied her up. He approached me hesitantly because he was not sure whether I would dress up so boldly. I told him if the role demanded it, then why not? He replied, "If you wear swimwear, it will be because you are either in a swimming pool or on a beach, not because I want to see you in one."
I am also doing Pankaj Parashar's next with Jackie Shroff.
Why did you refuse Pankaj Parashar's Inteqam with Manoj Bajpai?
I had date problems. Pankaj wanted to start his film at a time when I was tied up with the climax of Dum.
After you walked out of Vashu Bhagnani's camp, all his films have flopped miserably...
[Interrupting] All I can say is If he sits back and thinks about all the people he has worked with, I will be the first person to come in his head as simple, honest, non-demanding and obedient. I worked like a slave in his films [RHDTDM, Deewanapan].
Unfortunately, a problem arose during Om Jai Jagadish [Anil Kapoor, Fardeen Khan, Abhishek Bachchan, Waheeda Rehman, Urmila Matondkar, Mahima Chaudhry, Tara Sharma]. I was unable to do a particular stint as I was indisposed. He gave me an option, 'If you can do it fine, else...'. I replied, 'If all I have done so far cannot be respected, I need to move on.'
You have been open about your love life, haven't you?
Absolutely (giggles).
Ever since I met Bunty Sachdev at a restaurant via a common friend, I have never hidden him. If there is an important person in your life, he should be given his due. It saves a lot of rubbish and muck.
Apparently, Bunty was feeling jittery because Vivek Oberoi was getting possessive about you.
This is just gossip doing the rounds. I am involved with a very simple man who never asks me questions. He trusts me. I will never break his trust. He knows I get along more with men than with women.
Did Bunty refused to shake hands with Vivek on a flight?
Do you know I was on that flight as well? How come nobody is talking about that? Nothing of that sort happened. Vivek and Bunty have always been good friends and there has never been any misunderstanding between them. Even
Priyanshu [Tum Bin, Dil Ka Rishta] is quite close to Bunty.
Is Salman Khan still a friend?
He is. Salman has an uncanny ability of springing up when you need him. But I can't call him my best friend.
Did he humiliate you at Bharat Shah's niece's wedding at Antwerp?
No such thing happened. Good you asked me this question. The real story is: I was asked to perform. Salman and I were supposed to do a wedding song medley and I was supposed to do a solo act comprising all my songs so far.
That made two entries for me. I started rehearsing for my solo act and, when I was through, I asked if Salman would be coming to rehearse. I was told Salman would not perform with any girl. They clubbed me with Saif Ali Khan. Later, I was told Salman had agreed to perform.
He rehearsed with me, the show went off smoothly. I came back home to read that I was traumatised by him. There are some idle, hyperactive minds sitting in the media.
Do you believe Salman called Vivek up 41 times on his mobile and threatened him?
It's a battle between two men. It would be unfair to comment. I wasn't there when it happened. Only the two of them know what the truth is.
Did you and Kareena Kapoor have problems?
It happened at an event organised by the Sahara group in Lucknow. Kareena Kapoor, Urmila Matondkar, Namrata Shirodkar and I were there. We were supposed to wear cotton salwaar-kameezes with the national flag.
Kareena wanted to a wear ghagra choli with heavy jewellery that she had got specially made for herself. Above all, she was not wearing the national flag. Namrata [Shirodkar] was quite upset seeing Kareena was not abiding with the required uniformity. I told Namrata to pick up her outfit and walk out, so that we could sort it out privately.
Suddenly, something struck Kareena. She started screaming at me at the top of her voice, 'Who the hell are you? Who are you to advise Namrata?' I was flabbergasted and very upset. I left the room, without retorting.
Half-an-hour later, her secretary Jatin [who also happens to be Dia's secretary] knocked at my room to say Kareena wanted to know whether I was ready. A few minutes later, she was talkng to me as if nothing had happened.
I have come to the conclusion that Kareena is a girl who does not realise when she is irrational, unfair and loud.
