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Actor Dia Mirza, who made her debut with the 2001 film Rehnaa Hai Terre Dil Mein, has opened up about the film’s perceived glorification of stalking. The actor said that if she was offered the film today, she would question ‘certain aspects’ of it, and added that she is strongly against stalking. RHTDM marked the debut of both Dia and her co-star R Madhavan.
In an interview with Outlook, Dia was asked, “Would such a film get an audience if it was made today?” The actor replied, “I can’t speak about whether that film can be made or not, because all kinds of films are going around. But if I was offered that film, I would question certain aspects of the film and hope that the writers would change it. I internalised some aspects of that film and realised that had to do with the right propagation of love. I am strongly against stalking. I think it is a terrible thing to do.”
In RHTDM, Madhavan (Maddy) falls in love with Dia (Reena) and pretends to be her fiancé. After following her around and deceiving her, he tries to win her over.
Talking about the glorification of stalking in the film, Dia said, “Not only does Maddy’s character stalk Reena, but he also lies to her. Of course, she breaks off the relationship with him once she discovers the truth, only to then realise that he is remorseful and genuinely loves and cares for her. But there is no justification in this world for stalking, lying is bad, and stalking is worse.” She added, “I guess as a society, we don’t perceive stalking as a bad thing. I feel our films are responsible for spreading that sense of falsehood as the right thing.”
RHTDM was written and directed by Gautham Menon. The film was a remake of the Tamil film Minnel.
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