There are 11 cameras that keep track of Dia Mirza during the shoot of her television debut Ganga: The Soul of India , the first episode of which was aired on Sunday. Yet, it’s the first time in her career of 16 years in the entertainment industry that she is being just herself; nothing of what she’s speaking on the show is scripted. “It’s wonderful that the audience is getting to see the way I am off-screen,” she says.
Her debut on television is eveidentluy something she has thought through. “The medium allows you to convey a lot, communicate well,” she says. “The format of this show allows you to discover, explore, meet people and travel. It’s spread across eight weeks with each episode lasting a good 45 minutes. The length was also just right.”
Mirza, who was last seen in her home-production Love Breakups and Zindagi , says, “People presume that I’m not doing anything else when I’m off-camera. I run a film company — Born Free Productions — have scripts to read, and work on the content for websites. It’s humungous! I’m also associated with three wonderful NGOs. I act, travel if and when I feel like. Saying this, I’m still a bread-winner and a working woman, but the nature of my job allows me to explore, enjoy and do things at my will.”
Take on entertainment
Mirza has her own definition of how television entertainment has evolved over the past decade. “Entertainment should make you laugh, feel angry, highlight social and political concerns,” she says. “It needn’t be bereft of depth or intelligence. There are so many layers you can explore in the ambit of a narrative. Filmmakers and television producers are making incredible choices to do so.”
For this particular project, Mirza had to do a lot of homework on the river Ganga and its history before the shooting for the adventure/travel/food documentary. Some learning also happened on the sets, and as she travelled and met people from different backgrounds. “There were so many aspects to explore, the mythological side, the social relevance, the fashion-sense and multiple invasions,” she says. “I could see cultural influences of settlers and what-not!” During her travels, she got to be alone in Gangotri, witnessing the river in its pristine form. There were instances where she cried, like on the banks of the river in Banaras. “The river sustained millions of lives in the past and will continue to do so for another hundred years,” she says. She is also considerably affected by the extent of contamination and reports of the Ganga drying up.
However, she’s thoroughly aware of the other side of the Ganga. “I got to see spots where people even lost their eye-sight as they were bathing in the river. Some of the areas are in abject apathy,” she says. “There are industrial effluents all over; the industries, people and governmental authorities contributing to the scene. Only once you love something, you can protect it and we need to understand the relevance of the river in terms of its cultural significance.”
Future looks bright
She’s happy with the way the young generation is realising the value of environmental conservation and met such a group during this stint. “People were throwing filth in some places, in areas that were being cleaned. I saw a group of youngsters, all in their late teens, leading a cleanliness campaign across the river. They could have watched movies, studied abroad and led a fun life elsewhere, but they were doing their bit for society.”
It was this social aspect that proved critical in bringing her onboard the documentary series. Mirza is a huge fan of David Attenborough’s work with television. It is not surprising then that she couldn’t have ever done the typical naach-gaana Bollywood stuff on TV. She cites examples of Aamir Khan and Amitabh Bachchan, who have managed their cinema and television careers with aplomb. “They were making dreams come true and were valuing human stories.” Perhaps, Ganga: The Soul of India can have a similar impact on viewers too.
Ganga: The Soul of Indiacurrently airs on Living Foodz channel
