A champion of gender equality and women empowerment, actor, producer and eco warrior Dia Mirza Rekhi has been frequently vocal about the changing landscape for women actors in Hindi cinema. So, the last few years saw her headlining women-led narratives such as Thappad (2020) and Kaafir (2019). In 2019, she also announced the launch of a new production house named One India Stories through which she aims to back women-centric content. And now, she is headlining a film titled Dhak Dhak, which boasts of an all-woman cast. Co-starring Ratna Pathak Shah, Fatima Sana Shaikh and Sanjana Sanghi, the story revolves around four women, who set out for a road trip to the highest motorable pass in the world on their bikes on a journey of self-discovery. Interestingly, the film is being produced by actor Taapsee Pannu.
In an exclusive chat with News18, Dia lauds Taapsee for foraying into production. Talking about how she is on a path to tell stories that aligns with her sensibilities and values, Dia says, “What she exhibits is a great sense of trust. In Pranjal (Khandhdiya), she has got a fantastic partner running the company. Taapsee’s aware of everything that’s happening. She watched the first cut of the film and sent us messages to all of us. That felt really nice. It’s very interesting that she’s a producer now and is backing some incredible stories like Dhak Dhak.”
Having turned a producer with Born Free Entertainment in her twenties, the 41-year-old shares that though Taapsee and she have had similar journeys as creative artists, they are starkly different from one another as producers. “I became a producer when I was 26 and I used to be on my set every day. I would be there all the time. I’m a very different producer from her. Taapsee came to the set right at the beginning of the shoot. But what she’s essentially driving is stories that empower people. She’s bringing the right people together and seeing that through, which is fantastic,” she points out.
Ask Dia about the best part of working on Dhak Dhak and she remarks, “What a privilege it is to work on subjects that are meaningful and enriching even at a personal level! I’ve had so much fun filming for Dhak Dhak, a story of four women who go off on a motorbike ride. Learning how to ride a bike at 40 was great. It was too much fun.”
And she believes that it also helped make a statement for women across the board. “It was such a powerful reminder. In our 20s and 30s, we’re constantly reminded by a lot of people tell us that as women, there won’t be any interest in us after a certain age and that we’ll be relegated to the oblivion and won’t be able to live the aspirations that we want to. And this is an outcome of ageism and patriarchy. I wanted to learn how to ride a bike all my life but I never got down to doing it. Then this film came along where I sat on the bike and start riding it on day one,” Dia elaborates.
Urging women to follow their passions without getting caught up in the norms set by society, the Sanju and Parineeta (2005) actor shares, “I thought to myself that this is the perfect example of why we should never procrastinate on something that we want to do. We tend to make things bigger and more difficult in our heads than it already is. And when we do it, we tell, ‘Arrey, yeh toh itna mushkil tha hi nahi. Mera dimaag kharaab hai!’ (laughs)”
Dia was recently seen playing a pivotal part in filmmaker Anubhav Sinha’s Bheed. It marks her fourth collaboration with him after Dus (2005), Cash (2007) and Thappad. Commenting on the transition in his style as a director, she says, “I love Anubhav Sinha. I’ve had a very interesting history with him. I’ve worked with him on some of his older films where his approach was totally different. He made very commercial and mainstream films that were meant to be pure entertainers. He had no political, institutional or social comments to make in those narratives (laughs).”
Bheed hit the screens last Friday (March 24) and has been receiving rave reviews for its depiction of the mass migration by daily wage earners to their home towns during the Covid-19 pandemic. Confident that the film will remain etched in the minds of the audience for years to come, Dia states, “Anubhav Sinha 2.0 is so impassioned in his narratives and I love this version of the man. I’m really proud of the film that we’ve made. Bheed is going to be a significant story of modern Indian history.”
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