Bollywood actor and environmental advocate Dia Mirza has launched a powerful critique against the Indian film industry's entrenched ageism and double standards in casting. Speaking at a prominent forum, she highlighted how women are systematically sidelined as they age, while male actors continue to headline romantic narratives regardless of their age.
Exposing the On-Screen Double Standard
At the We The Women 2025 event, curated by noted journalist Barkha Dutt, Dia Mirza delivered a pointed analysis of persistent casting patterns. The actor, known for her role in 'Sanju' and for her progressive personal choices like having a female priest at her wedding, pointed to a glaring imbalance. She revealed that she is often cast opposite male co-stars who are decades older, with the expectation that they will be perceived as romantic equals.
"I find it interesting that I’m cast opposite actors in their late 50s, 60s, and even 70s, and we’re meant to be seen as romantic equals on screen," Mirza reportedly stated. She then flipped this common scenario to underscore its inherent unfairness, questioning why the reverse is almost never visualized. Mirza argued that it remains unimaginable for a 60 or 70-year-old actress to be cast as the romantic lead opposite a man in his 40s, a routine occurrence when genders are reversed.
The Core Issue: Denying Women's Desirability with Age
Mirza explained that the root of this problem is the industry's perception of desirability. Filmmakers and audiences, she suggested, struggle to see women over a certain age as desirable, relevant, or central to a story. This bias directly results in the erasure of older women from meaningful on-screen roles, particularly in romantic contexts.
"It’s about women being denied the right to age with visibility, dignity, and complexity on screen," she asserted. Her critique is not about men aging gracefully on screen but about the simultaneous marginalization of women. She emphasized that the concern is the systematic way women are pushed aside and made invisible as they grow older, while their male counterparts' careers and romantic portrayals flourish.
Reclaiming the Narrative and Refusing to Disappear
Following her talk, Dia Mirza took to social media to expand on her thoughts, sharing a post from the We The Women 2025 stage. Her message was one of defiance and self-determination. "The power years, truly! Women over 40 know their hearts and minds," she wrote.
She firmly rejected the idea that anyone else can dictate a woman's peak or relevance. "I don’t believe anyone gets to decide when a woman peaks, when she becomes irrelevant, or when her story ends. We decide that for ourselves. Always," Mirza declared. She framed the conversation as part of a larger movement where women are not asking for permission but are actively rewriting expectations and refusing to disappear on a timeline set by societal or industry norms. She concluded by thanking Barkha Dutt for facilitating a discussion that resonated deeply with the audience, acknowledging it was a conversation long overdue.
This is not the first time Dia Mirza has used her platform to champion equality. From her environmental activism to her personal life choices, she consistently advocates for progressive change, now turning her focus to demanding a fundamental shift in how Bollywood perceives and portrays women across the span of their lives.
