Dia Mirza

Dia Mirza Sangha (born Dia Handrich on 9 December 1981) is an Indian model, actress and producer, who won the Miss Asia Pacific 2000 title. Mirza has primarily worked in Bollywood and is known in media for her social work. She co-owns a production house Born Free Entertainment with Sahil Sangha.Their first film, Love Breakups Zindagi, made under the banner was released on 7 October 2011.

Personal life and education

Mirza was born in India. Her father, Frank Handrich, was a German Christian graphic and industrial fair designer, architect, artist and interior designer from Munich. Her mother, Deepa, is a Bengali Hindu who is an interior designer, landscaper and currently does social work as a volunteer to help alcoholics and addicts. They separated when Dia was four and a half years old and both remarried. Her father died when she was nine and her mother after their divorce had married Ahmed Mirza, a Hyderabadi Muslim, who himself died in 2003.
When living in Khairatabad, Hyderabad city, she attended Vidyaranya High School for Boys and Girls, a school partly based on the teachings of Jiddu Krishnamurti, and later Nasr School, in Khairtabad. She attended Stanley Junior College and completed her graduation in Bachelor of Arts from Ambedkar Open University, Hyderabad.
In April 2014, she got engaged to her longtime business partner Sahil Sangha. Mirza and Sangha got married on 18 October 2014 at New Delhi's Chattarpur farm.

Biography

Dia Mirza worked while in college as a marketing executive for a media firm, Neeraj's Multi-media Studio[citation needed]. At the same time she modeled for print and TV commercials for brands like Lipton, Wall's ice cream, Emami and many more. She won Miss Asia Pacific in 2000.
Mirza wanted to complete her graduation in Arts by correspondenn the Miss Asia Pacific competition, modelling assignments, travelling and training. She could not complete her graduation due to being busy at work. She studied at NYU[citation needed].
She debuted through Rehnaa Hai Terre Dil Mein which could not do well at the box office. Then she appeared in movies like Dum, Deewanapan, Tumko Na Bhool Paayenge, Tumsa Nahin Dekha – A Love Story, Parineeta, Dus, Lage Raho Munnabhai.
She has garnered a lot of praise for her social work[citation needed]. She got an IIFA 2012 Green Award for her contribution towards green environment. She has done awareness campaigns on prevention of female foeticide, HIV awareness, the Cancer Patients Aid Association, PETA, ADAPT, CRY. She publicly supported the Naramada Bachao Andolan. She has written articles for Hindustan Times and other publications.

Film career

Mirza made her cinematic debut with Rehnaa Hai Terre Dil Mein opposite R. Madhavan. Later, she appeared in Parineeta, a Vidhu Vinod Chopra production.
In 2012, Mirza tried her luck into regional cinema with Bengali filmmaker Pratim Dasgupta's Paanch Adhyay. The movie turned out to be a success and was selected by film festivals in India and across the world.
She appeared in the films Dus and Fight Club. She was the only female actor among the six key characters Acid Factory, in which she played a gangster femme fatale, but the film was a failure. Mirza will next be featuring in Johny Mastana, Bits and Pieces, Kayanat, Bidhaatar Lekha and Familywala.

Titles

Mirza was a second runner up at Femina Miss India 2000 and was subsequently sent to Miss Asia Pacific 2000, where she won. She also won Miss Beautiful Smile, Miss Avon and Miss Close-Up Smile in Miss India. When she won the Miss Asia Pacific title on 3 December 2000 in Manila, Philippines, she became the first Indian to win this title in 29 years. She completed the hat-trick of India winning international pageants in the year 2000; Lara Dutta won the Miss Universe title and Priyanka Chopra won the Miss World title in the same year.

Community services and activism

Mirza has been involved with Cancer Patients Aid Association, Spastics Society of India, and has worked extensively with government of Andhra Pradesh to spread HIV awareness, prevention of female foeticide, PETA, CRY and most recently the NDTV Greenathon – an effort to find tangible solutions against pollution and book, "Deke Dheko" by Radio Mirchi (a campaign initiated to collect books for underprivileged children). Her other hobbies include writing, reading, painting, pottery, horse riding and theatre. She has written several articles for the Hindustan Times and other publications as a guest writer. She is on the board of the Coca Cola foundation that works towards development in rural India. She is associated with campaigns such as Sanctuary Asia's Leave Me Alone and Female Foeticide.
She recently[when?] adopted two cheetah cubs at the Prince of Wales zoological park in Lucknow.
Mirza, along with Aamir Khan publicly expressed support for the Narmada Bachao Andolan, a group protesting the building of a dam. This aroused the ire of political activists from the Bharatiya Janata Party, who led a protest march against the actress. Dia won the Green Award at IIFA 2012 for spreading awareness about environment-related issues.
Along with these, Mirza has endorsed for The Body Shop for their stand on the ban on animal testing and propagation of recycled packaging and natural products.She is the Eco Ambassador for Panasonic.
Mirza has been felicitated at award functions for her active involvement in social and environmental issues.[citation needed]
She has been named the ambassador for the Swachh Bharat Mission's youth-based 'Swachh Saathi' programme. As an ambassador, the actress would interact with school and college students from across the country through awareness sessions, community cleaning activities and motivational videos.