From Sharing a Home With Lara Dutta to Finding a Sense of Security in Sushmita Sen: Dia Mirza on Female Friendships

2000 was a big year for Dia Mirza as she bagged the prestigious Miss Asia Pacific title in the Philippines after being crowned Miss India Asia Pacific in the same year. Among her were two other queens, Priyanka Chopra Jonas and Lara Dutta Bhupati. Recently, Dia Mirza took a trip down memory lane to her training days of winning the Miss India title, talked about sharing a home with Lara Dutta after moving to Bombay, and how she also found a sense of security in Sushmita Sen, the first Indian woman to win the Miss Universe pageant in 1994.

“When I started out even before my training to be a Miss India, I hit it off really well with a lot of my fellow contestants,” says Dia Mirza and continues, “Lara Dutta just took me under her wing. I lived with her when I moved to Bombay. She was generous not just with her time and her attention, but also with her home. Sushmita Sen was another senior who was just really kind and gave me a lot of love and a sense of security.”

Further, Mirza also opened up about female friendships, revealing that she is inspired and drawn to women who are “really grounded in reality, who know what’s happening in the world, who are not living an escapist life, and who are not living in an illusion of their own making because it can happen.”

“You can get so caught up in the appearance and in the material that you forget to really interact with reality, and I think that’s essential, and it’s extremely attractive because it defines your authenticity. It helps you know what stories you really want to tell, and that’s the game changer. That’s what will define the choices you make, the kind of paths you take, or what kind of position you take in life,” she concludes.

From 2000 to today, Dia Mirza has come a long way. She dons the hat of an actor, producer, entrepreneur, investor, UNEP Goodwill Ambassador, UN Secretary-General’s Advocate for the Sustainable Development Goals, Ambassador for the Wildlife Trust of India, Artist Ambassador for Save the Children, Board Member of the Sanctuary Nature Foundation and Global Ambassador for the International Fund for Animal Welfare all that make her an influential personality with a purpose.