It's appalling that I've had female directors only twice in 15 years: Dia Mirza

Actor calls out gender disparity in Bollywood

For actor Dia Mirza, it's a matter of great concern that in a career of over 15 years, she has worked with female directors only twice, reported Business Standard.

"It is appalling that in over 15 years, I did not get enough chances to work with women film-makers... it has been hardly one or two times. I did not intentionally choose not to work with them. Unfortunately, there were hardly any women in the director's chair till a few years ago," Dia said recently.



The starlet has worked in the Reema Kagti-directed Honeymoon Travels Pvt Ltd in 2007. And years after that, she is now under the direction of Sonam Nair in a web series titled Kaafir.

The 38-year-old feels "a lot" has changed for women in the industry in this time. "I am a huge supporter of women claiming their space and backing their voices because I think they have some very important things to say. So, each time I see a woman achieve success on the merits of her thoughts and action, I am happy to cheer the loudest," she added.

Actor Dia Mirza. PHOTO: DESI MARTINI

So after acting and production, is directing the next big thing on Dia’s mind? "I am definitely going to direct one day," she replied. "It's just a matter of being certain about the story that I want to tell. Once that is clear to me, I will most certainly call 'action'."

At the moment, Dia is making a foray into the digital medium as a producer. She and her husband Sahil Sangha have produced the upcoming web show Mind the Malhotras most recently. Before that, the former Miss Asia Pacific served as producer for films like Love Breakups Zindagi and Bobby Jasoos.



"Our experience as producers teaches us only one thing: give the narrative all that it deserves in terms of budget, give your team even more love than they may desire and you will have a happy team with hopefully, a quality product," she said.

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