Dia Mirza Admits Rehnaa Hai Terre Dil Mein Had Sexism In It, Blames Patriarchal Bollywood For The Problem

Dia Mirza recently got talking about sexism in Bollywood and while doing so admitted she’s been a part of such movies earlier on in her career. The actress went so far as to admit that even her career-defining debut Rehnaa Hai Tere Dil Mein also had sexism.

Addressing the issues of ‘rampant sexism’ in Bollywood the actress told Brut India in an interview, "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.”

Rehnaa Hai Tere Dil Mein (2001) starred R Madhavan who played Maddy, a guy who impersonates another guy to win Reena’s (Dia Mirza) affections.

The Sanju actress further said that since the industry is largely dominated by men it might just be that these people never realized that they were sexist. “We live in a patriarchal society and it is an industry largely led by men. So there is a rampant sexism. 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," she added.

Dia went on to star in films like Tumko Na Bhool Paayenge, Tumsa Nahin Dekha, Parineeta, Lage Raho Munna Bhai, Thappad and Sanju among others.