'People must be allowed to explore the plurality in them'

The actor made her Bollywood debut opposite R Madhavan in Rehnaa Hai Terre Dil Mein, which also featured Saif Ali Khan, in the year 2000 and over the next few years she starred in many projects such as Dum, Parineeta, Dus, Honymoon Travels Pvt Ltd among others. But since the turn of last decade, the 36-year-old former Miss Asia Pacific has appeared in fewer projects.

My intention is to continue acting in films. But I think as we mature in the industry and your exposure to life and work increases, then I think as an individual you become more discerning about the choices you make, Dia said. There is a combination of a couple of things. One is that I set up a production company at the age of 26. I have made and produced two films, she added.

Dia owns the production house, Born Free Entertainment, with husband Sahil Sangha. The banner has given out films Love Breakups Zindagi and Bobby Jasoos. As a female actor in Bollywood, Dia is unfazed about the people's opinion about her and the decisions she has made, and said women must strive to break the stereotypical mindset that tries to bring them down.

I think there are many stereotypes that we as individuals need to break, especially as females in the industry. One of them being that once you get married people don t believe that you are interested in working anymore... For some reasons, men don t have to deal with all of this.

So our choices will continue to break these stereotypes. Yes, I am very much an actor and will remain an actor till the day I die. At the same time, I am a producer as well and will continue to make films. And alongside that do everything else that I feel passionately about, Dia said. She contends that people must be allowed to explore the plurality in them and should not be caged to a particular sphere.

"I think it is important that we recognise the multiplicity in people and let them explore that," she said.