Dia Mirza
Encyclopedia
Dia Mirza Handrich nicknamed Dee and more popularly known as Dia Mirza, (born on December 9, 1981) is a India
n model
and actress who appears in Bollywood
films. The actress along with her boyfriend Sahil Sangha and good friend Zayed Khan
has started her own production house, Born Free Entertainment, and their the first film Love Breakups Zindagi
made under the banner was released on 7 October 2011.
. Her father, Frank Handrich, was a German graphic and industrial fair designer, architect, artist and interior designer from Munich
and her mother, Deepa is a Bengali
Indian who is an interior designer, landscaper and currently does social work as a volunteer to help alcoholics and addicts. They separated when she was six years old. Her father died when she was nine and her mother remarried Ahmed Mirza, who died in 2004. She adopted her stepfather's surname Mirza and has recently adopted the last name of her birth-father and became Dia Mirza Handrich.
When living in Khairatabad, Hyderabad district, she attended Vidyaranya High School for Boys And Girls, a school based on the teachings of Jiddu Krishnamurti
, and later Nasr School, in Khairtabad. She attended Stanley Junior College and completed her graduation in Bachelors of Arts from Andhra Pradesh Open University
, Hyderabad.
, Bengali
, Hindi
, Urdu
, and English
.
won the Miss Universe title and Priyanka Chopra
won the Miss World title in the same year.
. Although the film was not a box office success, she appeared in Parineeta
, a Vidhu Vinod Chopra
production. She also starred in the music video, Kajara Mohabbat Wala alongside Sonu Nigam
from his album Kajara Nite. The album contained multiple remixes, but was mainly advertised with the title song, sung by Sonu Nigam
and Alisha Chinai
.
She also appeared in the films Dus and Fight Club. She was the only female actor among the six key characters in the film, Acid Factory
in which she played a femme fatale who is also a gangster.
and various other publications as a guest writer. She is on the board of the Coca Cola foundation that works towards development in rural India. She recently adopted 2 cheetah cubs at the Prince of Wales zoological park in Lucknow
.
publicly expressed support for the Narmada Bachao Andolan
, a group protesting the building of a dam. This aroused the ire of political activists from the Bharatiya Janata Party
, who led a protest march against the actress.
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
n model
Model (person)
A model , sometimes called a mannequin, is a person who is employed to display, advertise and promote commercial products or to serve as a subject of works of art....
and actress who appears in Bollywood
Bollywood
Bollywood is the informal term popularly used for the Hindi-language film industry based in Mumbai , Maharashtra, India. The term is often incorrectly used to refer to the whole of Indian cinema; it is only a part of the total Indian film industry, which includes other production centers producing...
films. The actress along with her boyfriend Sahil Sangha and good friend Zayed Khan
Zayed Khan
-Early life:Khan's parents are former Bollywood actor Sanjay Khan and interior designer Zarine Khan. Khan is the youngest of four children. His older sisters are Simone Khan , Sussanne Roshan , and Farah Khan Ali...
has started her own production house, Born Free Entertainment, and their the first film Love Breakups Zindagi
Love Breakups Zindagi
Love Breakups Zindagi is an Hindi romantic film, written and directed by Sahil Sangha and produced by Dia Mirza, Zayed Khan and Sahil Sangha under the banner of Sahara Motion Pictures and Born Free Entertainment. It stars Zayed Khan and Dia Mirza in the lead roles. The music is composed by the...
made under the banner was released on 7 October 2011.
Personal life and education
Dia Mirza was born in Hyderabad, Andhra PradeshAndhra Pradesh
Andhra Pradesh , is one of the 28 states of India, situated on the southeastern coast of India. It is India's fourth largest state by area and fifth largest by population. Its capital and largest city by population is Hyderabad.The total GDP of Andhra Pradesh is $100 billion and is ranked third...
. Her father, Frank Handrich, was a German graphic and industrial fair designer, architect, artist and interior designer from Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
and her mother, Deepa is a Bengali
Bengali people
The Bengali people are an ethnic community native to the historic region of Bengal in South Asia. They speak Bengali , which is an Indo-Aryan language of the eastern Indian subcontinent, evolved from the Magadhi Prakrit and Sanskrit languages. In their native language, they are referred to as বাঙালী...
Indian who is an interior designer, landscaper and currently does social work as a volunteer to help alcoholics and addicts. They separated when she was six years old. Her father died when she was nine and her mother remarried Ahmed Mirza, who died in 2004. She adopted her stepfather's surname Mirza and has recently adopted the last name of her birth-father and became Dia Mirza Handrich.
When living in Khairatabad, Hyderabad district, she attended Vidyaranya High School for Boys And Girls, a school based on the teachings of Jiddu Krishnamurti
Jiddu Krishnamurti
Jiddu Krishnamurti or J. Krishnamurti or , was a renowned writer and speaker on philosophical and spiritual subjects. His subject matter included: psychological revolution, the nature of the mind, meditation, human relationships, and bringing about positive change in society...
, and later Nasr School, in Khairtabad. She attended Stanley Junior College and completed her graduation in Bachelors of Arts from Andhra Pradesh Open University
Andhra Pradesh Open University
Andhra Pradesh Open University, also known as Dr. B. R. Ambedkar Open University, is a public university in the city of Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India.-History:...
, Hyderabad.
Career
Mirza started working at the age of 16 years while continuing her college education. She worked as a marketing executive in a multi-media firm called Dr. Neeraj’s Multi media studio. She simultaneously modeled for the print and television advertisement campaigns of various brands such as Walls, Lipton, Emami etc. Mirza wanted to complete her graduation in Arts by correspondence, but decided to postpone it as it was becoming difficult to juggle between the Miss Asia Pacific competition, modeling assignments, traveling and training. She is proficient in TeluguTelugu language
Telugu is a Central Dravidian language primarily spoken in the state of Andhra Pradesh, India, where it is an official language. It is also spoken in the neighbouring states of Chattisgarh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Orissa and Tamil Nadu...
, Bengali
Bengali language
Bengali or Bangla is an eastern Indo-Aryan language. It is native to the region of eastern South Asia known as Bengal, which comprises present day Bangladesh, the Indian state of West Bengal, and parts of the Indian states of Tripura and Assam. It is written with the Bengali script...
, Hindi
Hindi
Standard Hindi, or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi, also known as Manak Hindi , High Hindi, Nagari Hindi, and Literary Hindi, is a standardized and sanskritized register of the Hindustani language derived from the Khariboli dialect of Delhi...
, Urdu
Urdu
Urdu is a register of the Hindustani language that is identified with Muslims in South Asia. It belongs to the Indo-European family. Urdu is the national language and lingua franca of Pakistan. It is also widely spoken in some regions of India, where it is one of the 22 scheduled languages and an...
, and English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
.
Miss Asia Pacific
Mirza was a second runner up at Femina Miss India, 2000 and was subsequently sent to Miss Asia Pacific, where she won. When she won the Miss Asia Pacific title on 3 December 2000 in Manila, Philippines, she became the first Indian contestant to win this title in 29 years. She completed the hat-trick of India winning international pageants in the year 2000; Lara DuttaLara Dutta
Lara Dutta Bhupathi is an Indian actress, UNFPA Goodwill Ambassador, and former Miss Universe.-Early life:Dutta was born in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh to a Punjabi father and an Anglo-Indian mother. Her father is Wing Commander L.K. Dutta and her mother is Jennifer Dutta...
won the Miss Universe title and Priyanka Chopra
Priyanka Chopra
Priyanka Chopra is an Indian actress and former Miss World. Before starting her acting career, she worked as a model and gained fame after winning the Miss World title in 2000. She is often referred to by the nickname "Piggy Chops", which was given to her by co-stars on the set of the film...
won the Miss World title in the same year.
Film career
Mirza made her cinematic debut with Rehnaa Hai Terre Dil Mein opposite R. MadhavanR. Madhavan
R. Madhavan is an Indian actor, writer, film producer and television host. Madhavan has received a Filmfare Award, an award from the Tamil Nadu State Film Awards alongside recognition and nominations from other organisations...
. Although the film was not a box office success, she appeared in Parineeta
Parineeta (2005 film)
Parineeta is a Bollywood musical film adaptation of the 1914 Bengali novella, Parineeta by Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay. Directed by debutant Pradeep Sarkar, the film was based upon a screenplay by the film's producer, Vidhu Vinod Chopra. The film featured Vidya Balan, Saif Ali Khan and Sanjay Dutt...
, a Vidhu Vinod Chopra
Vidhu Vinod Chopra
Vidhu Vinod Chopra is an Indian director and producer. Chopra is the head of his own company, Vinod Chopra Productions, and is particularly known for producing the Munna Bhai films and 3 Idiots.-Early life:Born in a Punjabi family of Kashmir,...
production. She also starred in the music video, Kajara Mohabbat Wala alongside Sonu Nigam
Sonu Nigam
Sonu Nigam is an Indian playback singer whose songs have been featured in numerous Hindi movies, as well as films in Assamese, Punjabi, Bengali, Marathi and Kannada language. He has also released numerous Indi-pop albums and acted in a few Hindi feature films...
from his album Kajara Nite. The album contained multiple remixes, but was mainly advertised with the title song, sung by Sonu Nigam
Sonu Nigam
Sonu Nigam is an Indian playback singer whose songs have been featured in numerous Hindi movies, as well as films in Assamese, Punjabi, Bengali, Marathi and Kannada language. He has also released numerous Indi-pop albums and acted in a few Hindi feature films...
and Alisha Chinai
Alisha Chinai
Alisha Chinai in Gujarati family and an Indian pop singer known for her several albums as well as playback singing in Hindi cinema.-Career:...
.
She also appeared in the films Dus and Fight Club. She was the only female actor among the six key characters in the film, Acid Factory
Acid Factory
Acid Factory is a paranoid thriller directed by Suparn Verma under the banner of White Feather Films. The film released on 9 October 2009.-Plot:...
in which she played a femme fatale who is also a gangster.
Community Services
Mirza has been involved with Cancer Patients Aid Association, Spastics Society of India, and has worked extensively with government of Andhra Pradesh to spread HIV awareness, prevention of female foeticide, PETA, CRY and most recently the NDTV Greenathon – an effort to find tangible solutions against pollution and book, "Deke Dheko" by Radio Mirchi (a campaign initiated to collect books for underprivileged children). Her other hobbies include writing, reading, painting, pottery, horse riding and theater. She has written several articles for The Hindustan TimesHindustan Times
Hindustan Times is an Indian English-language daily newspaper founded in 1924 with roots in the Indian independence movement of the period ....
and various other publications as a guest writer. She is on the board of the Coca Cola foundation that works towards development in rural India. She recently adopted 2 cheetah cubs at the Prince of Wales zoological park in Lucknow
Lucknow
Lucknow is the capital city of Uttar Pradesh in India. Lucknow is the administrative headquarters of Lucknow District and Lucknow Division....
.
Controversies
Mirza and fellow-actor Aamir KhanAamir Khan
Aamir Hussain Khan is an Indian film actor, director and producer who has established himself as one of the leading actors of Hindi cinema....
publicly expressed support for the Narmada Bachao Andolan
Narmada Bachao Andolan
Narmada Bachao Andolan is social movement consisting of tribal people, adivasis, farmers, environmentalists and human rights activists against the Sardar Sarovar Dam being built across the Narmada river, Gujarat, India....
, a group protesting the building of a dam. This aroused the ire of political activists from the Bharatiya Janata Party
Bharatiya Janata Party
The Bharatiya Janata Party ,; translation: Indian People's Party) is one of the two major political parties in India, the other being the Indian National Congress. Established in 1980, it is India's second largest political party in terms of representation in the parliament...
, who led a protest march against the actress.