Days after Priyanka Chopra’s mother, Madhu Chopra, recalled her daughter’s pageant days, Dia Mirza has added her own insights on the topic. 

FYI: Dia Mirza was crowned Miss Asia Pacific in 2000. In the same year, actress Lara Dutta won the Miss Universe title. Meanwhile, Priyanka was bestowed with the Miss World honour.

Dia Mirza, in a conversation with Zoom, opened up about her bond with Lara Dutta, their financial woes and her admiration for Priyanka Chopra.

She said, “Priyanka still had some support from her parents, but Lara and I didn’t. Lara was already living here because she was modelling and she had opened her heart to me and shared her apartment, which was the size of a matchbox. I remember helping her pack for her Miss Universe and going away.”

Dia Mirza added, “Priyanka was just doing extraordinarily well, almost from the get-go. She had other battles to fight and deal with, and some of those intensified with time. But she was doing really well. I really had awe and respect for it. I remember thinking to myself, ‘My God, if I was half the actress she is, how much further I would be able to go’.”

Speaking about her financial constraints at that time, Dia Mirza revealed, “We (Lara and I) shared Wai Wai noodles because paise nahi the (we had no money). Lara and I modelled and saved that money. Neither of us used any money from our parents to do anything. Even in Priyanka’s situation, she had solid support, and her parents were very involved, but with us, we just had what we had earned and saved.”

The actress added, “There’d be days when savings would run out, and payments would be due. We would be sitting in these expensive gowns coming back from fancy events and choosing Wai Wai because that’s all we could afford. “

Workwise, Dia Mirza was last seen in the Netflix film Nadaaniyan, led by Khushi Kapoor and debutant Ibrahim Ali Khan. Dia played the role of Ibrahim’s mother in the romantic comedy.