Broke down while filming Kaafir: Dia Mirza

Actress Dia Mirza, who plays a Pakistani woman in the web series Kaafir, says her role was so intense in that she still carries the hangover of the character in her mind. 

Directed by Sonam Nair and written by Bhavani Iyer, the story of Kaafir is set in Kashmir. It is about a Pakistani woman and her child who are held as prisoners and how a journalist tries to get justice for them. Dia plays the prisoner named Kainaaz Akhtar.

“There were times during the shooting when the shot was over, the camera was off and I was still in the character and broke down crying. My director would come, hug me and we would cry together. At times, Mohit (co-actor Mohit Raina) would look at me and say  ‘Don’t get into the character so much, you won’t be able to come out.’ I think I had no choice…this character was pulling me to go deeper,” shares Dia.

At the show’s launch recently, Dia was also asked about her opinion on Pakistani artistes being barred from working in India by the All India Cine Workers Association (AICWA) after an attack in Pulwama, Jammu and Kashmir, in February in which 40 CRPF personnel were killed.

She says, “Art always suffers at the hands of fear... but art is also reunited and refuelled because of fear. I believe that these prejudices that have been imposed on us, not just take us away from our neighbours, it takes us away from ourselves. And when we deny ourselves the opportunity to communicate and exchange... we are only expressing to the world how fearful we are.”