Actor Dia Mirza has spoken about coming from a conservative family in Hyderabad, stepping into Bollywood with the 2001 dream debut Rehnaa Hai Terre Dil Mein, and then hitting multiple speed bumps in her career. In a recent interview, Dia recalled one such challenge — shooting the song ‘Mujhe Tumse Mohabbat Hai’, in which she had to ‘strip bare’ in front of almost ‘100 men’. The actor also admitted that while she was initially not confident in her body, the challenge shaped her artistic journey ahead.

During a conversation with Bollywood Bubble, she recalled filming the passionate love track with Emraan Hashmi, in their movie Tumsa Nahin Dekha (2004). “It kind of liberated me in ways that I would have never imagined. And the confidence with which I was able to perform the song came from, of course, the fact that Vaibhavi Merchant, who is the choreographer of the song. And everyone working on it made me feel so safe. But it was possibly one of the most difficult things that I’ve ever done as a girl. Because I had to strip bare, almost down to underwear and a bra, in front of hundreds of men on set,” she shared.

Dia continued, “And it could have felt like a very… how do I explain it? It felt, but it didn’t, because by then, by the time we shot the song, I had become so aware of how important it is to find an actor’s character truth and what you are conveying through a character, that it didn’t matter to me whether there were 500 people or 1,000 people in the room.” The film was based on love and the family pressure between a rich boy (Emraan) and a bar dancer (Dia). It was inspired by the Hollywood classic – Pretty Woman.

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The actor expressed that the experience refined her craft and more such challenges made her what she is today. “And I feel like there are lots of things like that that are connected to earlier parts of my career that have informed the artist that I have become today. And if I’m able to bring nuance and texture, or like a lived truth, to a moment, it comes because of the things that I have been able to overcome within myself over this journey of 25 years. And I think it’s also a continuous process, right? Hopefully, I will keep learning, and I will keep getting better,” she shared.

Bold scenes Then Vs Now

When asked about performing bold roles or scenes then vs now, Dia Mirza replied, “Waise characters utne likhe nahi jaate the, especially mainstream format mein. Of course, maine aisi films mein bhi kaam kiya hai jahan par… Lete? (Such characters aren’t written anymore in the mainstream format) Tumsa Nahi Dekha, which was inspired by Pretty Woman, was very interestingly done. It was a very interesting film for me to work on. Because I always actually think back to that film, and I think of how liberating it was as an experience.”

She further added, “Because there were lots of, you know, preconceived concepts aur ideas that I shed when I worked on that film. I was a girl who came from Hyderabad. I came from a very conservative background. And, I was very, I wasn’t so confident in my body. That film made me really confident in my body, because there is that one song, ‘Mujhe Tumse Mohabbat Hai.’ That really unshackled me.”

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On the work front, Dia Mirza was recently seen in the Netflix series, Operation Safed Sagar. The show was based on the Indian Air Force’s (IAF) aerial mission during the 1999 Kargil War. It featured an ensemble cast, including Jimmy Shergill and Siddharth.