Dia Mirza admits: “Rehnaa Hai Terre Dil Mein has sexism in it”

Bollywood actress Dia Mirza has opened up about her debut film Rehnaa Hai Terre Dil Mein and admitted that the film has sexist elements.

The 2001 film starred R Madhavan alongside Dia, and while the film had failed to perform at the box office, it was highly loved by the audiences later and still remains a cult favourite. 

Recently, while speaking to Brut India, Dia Mirza talked about sexism in the Hindi film industry and said that she worked in such films too. She shares that she was only 19 years old during RHTDM and did not have a mentor to guide her. She said:

"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's crazy. I will give you small examples. A makeup artist could only be a man, 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.”

Dia talks about living in a patriarchal society and the prevalence of 'rampant sexism' in an industry that is 'largely led by men'. She adds:

“And I think for a large part it is not even conscious sexism because there are so many men who are writers, who are directors, who are actors, who are not even aware of their sexist thinking.”

Dia Mirza had recently opened up about her eco friendly wedding. She tied the knot to Vaibhav Rekhi earlier this year, and the couple is also expecting their first baby together.