Actor-producer Dia Mirza, who began her career as a producer in 2011 with the slice-of-life film Love Breakups Zindagi, also later produced the Vidya Balan-starrer Bobby Jasoos. During a recent interview, Dia spoke about the unexpected financial setbacks she faced as a women producer, including being compelled to mortgage her house to finance the women-led project dear to her.
Speaking on the podcast channel of She The People, Dia recalled, “We got these dates from an extraordinary artist who I respected and loved — Vidya Balan. The whole team had been put together. And some of Vidya's films had worked at the box office. Suddenly, studios and financers disappeared.”
Looking back at the setback, Dia recalled how she was resolved about making the film. She added, “The team was like, ‘How can we make it? We don't have money.' So, I took a bank loan, and I mortgaged my home, and we made the film. It was to be able to tell the story that I wanted to tell because the film had been written. It's such a beautiful film, and it has one of Vidya's best performances.”
Dia also expressed great pride in sharing that she didn't ask Vidya Balan for a fee reduction, instead choosing to pay one of her career-best salaries, adding, “She was carrying the film. The whole film was centred on her, and I think it's so important to recognise that if a male counterpart were doing the same, we would pay him handsomely. So, why not pay our women handsomely?” Dia also added that she found a friend for life, in Vidya.
Dia Mirza and Vidya Balan had earlier been part of films like Parineeta and Lage Raho Munna Bhai, though they didn’t share any scenes.
Directed by Samar Shaikh, Bobby Jasoos featured Vidya Balan in the lead role of a firebrand woman aspiring to become a detective. After Bobby Jasoos, Dia only produced one major producer — the OTT show Mind the Malhotras (2019).
On the acting front, Dia was recently seen in a special appearance in the Netflix series Operation Safed Sagar.
