Interview: Dia Mirza
If only looks could kill.
Well, in the upcoming Bollywood action-thriller Acid Factory, that is exactly what Dia Mirza – commonly referred to as Dee – is hoping to accomplish. And in her case, do not let that girl-next-door look fool you, as she is 100% bad-ass fighter and hero. In fact, the Aishwarya Rai look-alike is doing all she can to shed her image as a sweetheart and former beauty queen, as Dee hopes her latest role as Max will add a new crease to her acting career.
“My character … is a daredevil,” Dee said in an interview with the media from India this week, discussing the upcoming release of Acid Factory on October 9th. “She is no less than a man. You can say I play a hero in the movie, not a heroine.”
The distinction is an important one for Dee, 27, who, playing the part of protagonist, performed many of her own stunts for the film’s action sequences. Yet, the former Miss Asia Pacific was quick to point out that her rendition of the character named Max does not mean moviegoers should start looking at her as a tomboy but instead appreciate her ability to do accept more than sweetheart roles – especially if the role is crafted specifically for her, as it was in Acid Factory.
“My look in the film is quite opposite that of real life,” said Dee, who started her Bollywood career in the 2001 cult-classic Rehna Hai Tere Dil Mein. “(She is) feminine as well as very structured and strong. There aren’t many changes because it is a single day’s story, so I wear a full-bodied black suit for the most part.”
Yet, for Dee, wearing the black suit may have been the easiest task to master, especially since she was the only actress on a movie set dominated by male actors. While that may not help deflect away any comments of her being a tomboy, it certainly hurts her case even more when she had to buff up for the role. In fact, since the production team did not provide any stunt double, Dee had to do all of her action sequences on her own, which required her to do months of training in advance in order to handle the rigors of filming.
“I had to undergo five to six months of functional training which strengthens your core; then I trained in action for three weeks,” Dee pointed out. “We all have performed our own stunts without using a double. This film has made me do things which I had never done before.”
As if starring alongside an otherwise all-male cast and doing her own stunts were not enough to chip away at her girl-next-door persona, Dee had fun pushing the limits behind the wheels of a rather fast vehicle while on set – much to the dismay of her fellow co-stars Fardeen Khan, Manoj Bajpai and Danny Dengzongpa.
“I actually started driving the car at break-neck speed,” Dee emphatically stated. “When I finally stopped, I had Fardeen, Manoj and Danny waiting to kill me!”
With all the testosterone, it was only a matter of time before the six male stars of the film started to view Dee as just one of the guys, with the former model telling Press Trust of India Dengzongpa referred to her as “Deepak” (a common Indian male name) during production.
Either way, Dee is just happy to be part of the action-adventure known as Acid Factory, ultimately hoping this film will shed a new light on her range as an actress.
A Bollywood action flick that was mostly shot in Cape Town, South Africa, Dee added, in her interview, that Acid Factory definitely has international flavor and is capable of keeping up with any Hollywood adventure.
Directed by Suparn Verma and also starring Irrfan Khan and Dino Morea, Acid Factory is a criminal-based action-thriller loosely connected to the 2006 Hollywood/Columbian film Unknown, starring James Caviezel.
Acid Factory opens worldwide on October 9th, with Bollywood Buzzine’s review of the film publishing the same day.
Press Trust of India contributed to this article.
