Direction is Dia Mirza's next plan

New Delhi, Sep 17 After trying her hand at production, former beauty queen and actress Dia Mirza is now exploring other aspects of cinema and wants to don the director's hat in near future.

The former Miss Asia-Pacific walked from the ramp to the arc lights in 2001 for 'Rehna Hai Tere Dil Mein' and after a decade as an actress she moved into production with 'Love Breakups Zindagi'. She has co-produced it with Zayed Khan and Sahil Sangha and is ready to serve it to the audience next month.

'I think today I am at a whole new phase of my life and there is a lot that I have to look forward to. What I do believe in doing right now is doing everything with a lot of conviction and understanding,' Dia, who plays the main lead in her debut production venture with Zayed, told IANS in an exclusive interview.

'There are certain aspects of cinema that I want to explore. I want to get into direction as the next possibility. I will always continue to act. But I want to grow. I want to do more exciting things,' added the 29-year-old who believes in telling 'simple and meaningful stories'.

She already has two stories in mind and says: 'I want them to be engaging. I want to tell the story of heart and a story of resurrection. Resurrection of human spirit. I have two ideas in mind that I am working on. They will be technically sound. I want to make them with very good actors,' she said.

Would Dia act in her directorial venture? Her reply is that 'it would be way too difficult to direct and act in the same film. I have managed producing and acting pretty well, but it would be unreasonable for me to act in my film. My main idea is to explore the mediums of cinema.'

In the last 10 years, Dia had more misses than hits. However, she enjoys acting as she finds it therapeutic.

'Acting is a self-explanatory process that helps you to unravel yourself. It helps you literally dig into your own life and your own past. There are different characters demanding different aspects of emotional baggage that you create along your life journey,' she said.

'I find acting actually very therapeutic,' added the actress known for her work in 'Tumsa Nahin Dekha', 'Deewaanapan', 'Parineeta', 'Dus' and 'Lage Raho Munna Bhai'.

She is excited about 'Love Breakups Zindagi', a slice-of-life film made under her banner, Born Free Entertainment.

She 'identifies' with her character in the film and says 'in most ways, Naina is so me! I identify with her situations and a lot of her traits. She's maternal, independent and finds beauty in other people's happiness. But unlike me, she doesn't believe in confrontations or even bothers to listen to inner voice.'

Dia has completed a decade in the industry but says she never imagined to be the one.

'It's amazing to look back, I was a girl from Hyderabad who set out herself free - but I was not sure about my aspirations. I didn't know what my passions were at that time,' Dia said adding that she never 'imagined I would be an actor'.

'I grew to discover my love for acting. The last 10 years have been a drawing of experience from my strengths and weaknesses and from now on it starts afresh.'

'It's been an interesting journey where I have had an opportunity to play a good daughter, be a support system to my family. And I think that is the greatest meaningful form of true success where you can be of help to people around,' she said.

(Manpreet Kaur can be contacted at [email protected])