Dia Mirza recently talked about sexism in Bollywood. The 'Thappad' star also acknowledged that her 2001 debut movie 'Rehnaa Hai Terre Dil Mein' had sexist elements.
Dia spoke about living in a patriarchal society and the prevalence of 'rampant sexism' in an industry that is 'largely led by men'. She said that she worked with people who were a part of the sexist cinema.
"People were writing, thinking and making sexist cinema and I was a part of these stories. 'Rehnaa Hai Terre Dil Mein' has sexism in it. I was acting with these people. I was working with these people. It is crazy. I will give you small examples. A makeup artist could only be a man and it could not be a woman. A hairdresser only had to be a woman. When I started working in films, there were at best about four or five women on any given crew with a unit strength of over 120, sometimes 180 people," she shared.
Mirza added, "We live in a patriarchal society and it is an industry largely led by men. So there is rampant sexism. And I think for a large part it is not even conscious sexism because there are so many men who are writers, directors and actors who are not even aware of their sexist thinking."
The Bollywood actor is known for her career in acting as well as winning the 'Miss Asia Pacific' crown in 2000. She acted in several movies such as 'Sanju', 'Parineeta', 'Honeymoon Travels Pvt Ltd' and 'Love Breakups Zindagi'. Recently, she was seen along with Nagarjuna Akkineni and Saiyami Kher in 'Wild Dog'.