Academy Award winning actress Halle Berry flew down to Mumbai, India to attend a private event at a suburban hotel. Berry met her Bollywood counterpart Dia Mirza at the event. The two empowered women talked about climate change, pay parity, children and a lot more!
Dia Mirza, who is a big fan of Berry and her work, said that the idea was to bring two women from different parts of the world to discuss common experiences between them. While watching Halle’s famous ‘Monster Ball’, Dia never imagined that she would be sharing a platform with the actress. “She won a beauty pageant, found her way into films and subsequently started producing them. Ditto, so there was this bond of common choices between us, as also a shared love for the environment and nature which was the main topic of discussion. Halle was effusive, warm and wonderfully responsive to the interaction,” stated Dia Mirza.
Dia also revealed that Halle is a fan of Indian cinema and even talked about a few Hindi films that she has watched. The two women also discussed the issue of pay parity and gender inequality in both their worlds. Dia added, “The conversation turned to movies when we were talking about pay parity and gender inequality. With Hollywood actresses bringing up the issue of pay parity, she wanted to know how our film industry functions and what role women play in changing things here. I told her that like women there, we too are learning to say ‘no’ because we know we deserve better. We are also pushing the envelope and going beyond acting to writing, directing and producing.” Confident that Halle will make a second trip to the country soon, Dia concluded, “Halle has fallen in love with India and I am pretty sure she will come back.”
