Dia Mirza Opens Up About Beauty Pressures in Bollywood: ‘I Felt Disgusted with My Looks’:

Bollywood actress Dia Mirza, who rose to prominence with her debut film Rehnaa Hai Terre Dil Mein in 2001, said she felt ‘disgusted’ with her looks during the first few years of her career.

Mirza's win as Miss Asia Pacific International in 2000 had set new standards of beauty and fame that many young girls aspired to but Dia said in earlier years of her career, she did not find light colored lenses flattering because she was always compared to Aishwarya Rai.

While it did flatter Dia, it also brought an unnecessary burden to a girl who was just 19. “When I started out as an actor, there was a lot of comparison with former beauty queen, especially Aishwarya Rai, which I guess was a big compliment at 19. But it did not help considering I was new to the industry and it was a very dangerous trend,” she explains Zoom in her latest interview.

Dia went on to say that the comparisons made her try to live up to the so-called “beauty standards.’ “Because of that, I was also expected to be as refined as she was and matched her standards of beauty. But, I was able to understand that being beautiful does not mean that you have to be light-eyed or light-skinned. It simply means you can be entirely yourself," she said.

Not entirely my interpretation, but fair skinned Dia stated that the industry has always been harsh focusing on people with fair complections, which she too, fell for.

“So, for the first 3-4 years of my career, I wore light-colored lenses in all my films. It’s pathetic because, in reality, I was trying so hard to impress them. And the strange thing is that after winning an international beauty title, I did not appreciate myself,” she stated.

Dia also reminisced about her experience on the set of Praan Jaye Par Shaan Na Jaye (2003) where the skin darkening makeup was done so well she said, ‘I cringe seeing those shots today,’ is how she describes when they eventually had to make her fairer.

“It was a very unique film. My role was of a girl ‘not beautiful’ according to beauty standards, and I recall that they did dark makeup on me for the role. And my eyes are brown, so they left the color as it is. Then when the transformation took place, the same way a duckling turns into a swan, I had on light grey contact lenses and my skin color changed. I cringe seeing those shots today. I there’s a lot there which was so messed up, and back then, sadly, I didn’t have the maturity or the understanding to see through them,” she said.

Dia Mirza has recently featured in Nadaaniyan alongside Jugal Hansraj, Ibrahim Ali Khan, and Khushi Kapoor.