Dia Mirza

Dia Mirza

Beauty pageant titleholder
Mirza at Lakme Fashion Week in 2016
Born	Dia Handrich (1981-12-09) 9 December 1981[1][2] Hyderabad, Telangana, India
Residence	Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
Occupation	Model, actor, film producer
Years active	2000–present
Height	5 ft 6 in (1.68 m)[3]
Title(s)	Miss Asia Pacific 2000 Femina Miss India Asia Pacific 2000
Major competition(s)	Femina Miss India 2000 (Femina Miss India Asia Pacific 2000) (Miss Beautiful Smile) Miss Asia Pacific 2000 (Winner) (Miss Close-Up Smile) (Miss AVON)
Spouse	Sahil Sangha (m. 2014)

Dia Mirza Sangha (born Dia Handrich on 9 December 1981) is an Indian model, actress, producer and beauty queen who won the Miss Asia Pacific 2000 title. Mirza has primarily worked in Bollywood and is known in media for her social work. She co-owns a production house Born Free Entertainment with her husband Sahil Sangha.^[4] Their first film, Love Breakups Zindagi,^[5] was released on 7 October 2011.

Early and personal life

Mirza was born in India. Her father, Frank Handrich, was a German graphic and industrial fair designer, architect, artist and interior designer based in Munich. Her mother, Deepa, is an Indian Bengali who is an interior designer, landscaper and currently does social work as a volunteer to help alcoholics and drug addicts. When Dia was four-and-a-half years old, her parents got divorced.^[6][7] Immediately afterwards, her mother married Ahmed Mirza, a Telugu man from Hyderabad, and Dia (then only a toddler) was given the surname of her step-father. Dia's step-father died in 2003.^[6]

When living in Khairatabad, Hyderabad city, Dia initially attended Vidyaranya High School, a co-ed school. On the insistence of her step-father, Dia was enrolled into Nasr School, a prestigious girls day school also located in Khairtabad. She credits Nasr School for giving her the confidence and to pursue acting. She says it was the Nasr Dramatic Society, an in-school club which boosted her morale. After finishing school, Dia attended Stanley Junior College and completed her graduation in Bachelor of Arts from Ambedkar Open University, Hyderabad.^[8]

In April 2014, she got engaged to her longtime business partner Sahil Sangha. Mirza and Sangha got married on 18 October 2014 at her husband's sprawling farmhouse in Chattarpur on the outskirts of Delhi.^[9]

Biography

Dia Mirza worked while in college as a marketing executive for a media firm, Neeraj's Multi-media Studio . At the same time she modeled for print and TV commercials for brands like Lipton, Wall's ice cream, Emami and many more. She won Miss Asia Pacific in 2000.

Mirza wanted to complete her graduation in Arts by correspondenn the Miss Asia Pacific competition, modelling assignments, travelling and training. She could not complete her graduation due to being busy at work. She studied at NYU .

She debuted through Rehnaa Hai Terre Dil Mein which could not do well at the box office. Then she appeared in movies like Dum, Deewanapan, Tumko Na Bhool Paayenge, Tumsa Nahin Dekha – A Love Story, Parineeta, Dus, Lage Raho Munnabhai, "Salam Mumbai".

She has garnered a lot of praise for her social work . She got an IIFA 2012 Green Award for her contribution towards green environment. She has done awareness campaigns on prevention of female foeticide, HIV awareness, the Cancer Patients Aid Association, PETA, ADAPT, CRY. She publicly supported the Naramada Bachao Andolan. She has written articles for Hindustan Times and other publications.

Film career

Mirza made her cinematic debut with Rehnaa Hai Terre Dil Mein opposite R. Madhavan. Later, she appeared in Parineeta, a Vidhu Vinod Chopra production.

In 2012, Mirza tried her luck into regional cinema with Bengali filmmaker Pratim Dasgupta's Paanch Adhyay.^[10] The movie turned out to be a success and was selected by film festivals in India and across the world.^[11]

She appeared in the films Dus and Fight Club. She was the only female actor among the six key characters Acid Factory, in which she played a gangster femme fatale, but the film was a failure.^[12] Mirza will next be featuring in Johny Mastana, Bits and Pieces, Kayanat, Bidhaatar Lekha and Familywala.

Titles

Dia Mirza at the IIFA Rocks fashion show

Mirza was a second runner up at Femina Miss India 2000 and was subsequently sent to Miss Asia Pacific 2000, where she won. She also won Miss Beautiful Smile, Miss Avon and Miss Close-Up Smile in Miss India. When she won the Miss Asia Pacific title on 3 December 2000 in Manila, Philippines, she became the first Indian since Tara Anne Fonseca to win this title in 27 years.^[13] She completed the hat-trick of India winning international pageants in the year 2000; Lara Dutta won the Miss Universe title and Priyanka Chopra won the Miss World title in the same year.^[14]

Community services and activism

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 theatre. She has written several articles for the Hindustan Times and other publications as a guest writer. She is on the board of the Coca-Cola foundation that works towards development in rural India. She is associated with campaigns such as Sanctuary Asia's Leave Me Alone and Female Foeticide.

She recently adopted two cheetah cubs at the Prince of Wales zoological park in Lucknow.^[15]

Mirza, along with Aamir Khan 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.^[16] Dia won the Green Award at IIFA 2012 for spreading awareness about environment-related issues.

Along with these, Mirza has endorsed for The Body Shop for their stand on the ban on animal testing and propagation of recycled packaging and natural products.^[17] She is the Eco Ambassador for Panasonic.

Mirza has been felicitated at award functions for her active involvement in social and environmental issues.

She has been named the ambassador for the Swachh Bharat Mission's youth-based 'Swachh Saathi' programme. As an ambassador, the actress would interact with school and college students from across the country through awareness sessions, community cleaning activities and motivational videos.^[18]

She joined Save The Children India as their first ever artist ambassador. As an ambassador, she will use the reach of her celebrity status to champion the rights of children in India and around the world.^[19]

On World Environment Day 2017, she was appointed brand ambassador for the Wildlife Trust of India. She has lent her support to WTI's wildlife conservation endeavours for several years now and is a founder-member of the organisation's Club Nature initiative.^[20]

Awards

Dia Mirza receiving award from Chitrangada Singh at IIFA 2012

2002

• Winner, Zee Cine Awards for Best Debut: Rehnaa Hai Terre Dil Mein
• Winner, Bollywood movie award for Best Debut Newcomer: Rehnaa Hai Terre Dil Mein
• Nominated, Screen Awards for Most Promising Female Newcomer: Rehnaa Hai Terre Dil Mein
• Nominated, Screen Awards for Most Promising Female Newcomer: Deewaanapan
• Nominated, Popular Award for the Best Debut (Female): Rehnaa Hai Terre Dil Mein

2005

• Winner, Great women achiever award for Beauty

2011

• Winner, Green Globe Honor for Extraordinary Work by a Public Figure
• Winner, Women's Achievement Award

2012

• Winner, The Jaipur Internatio kisser of the world for Best Actress award: Paanch Adhyay
• Winner, IIFA Green Award for Contribution Towards a Greener Environment

2013

• Winner, The Sixth Geospa Asiaspa India Awards for Eco Crusader of the Year

2016

• Ms Eternal Beauty At The Femina Miss India
• The Woman Of Substance At Rotary Awards

2017

• Green Crusader of the Year Award at IAA - India Chapter Olive Crown Awards
• The 'Valerian Of Environmental Issues by the makers of the film Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets

Filmography

Television

• 2016 Ganga - The Soul of India as herself

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Dia Mirza.

• Official website
• Dia Mirza on IMDb