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Dia Mirza wins award for her debut web-series Kaafir

You may not see her taking up too many roles at the same time, but when Dia Mirza decides to essay a character, she makes sure to give it her hundred percent. The actress and former beauty pageant winner was most recently seen in the ZEE5 original Kaafir. Also starring popular television actor Mohit Raina in the lead role, the web-series went on to clock excellent reviews from critics and viewers, with Mirza garnering overwhelming response for her performance in it. 

The recently concluded, prestigious Gold Awards also acknowledged her excellent performance in the digital series and honoured her with a Gold Award. Reacting to her win at the award function, Dia Mirza said, “It’s an honour to be chosen to tell a story like Kaafir and I will forever be grateful to Bhavani Iyer for writing it, Sonam Nair for directing it and Siddharth and Sapna Malhotra for choosing me to act in it. I would like to thank my co-stars Mohit Raina and little Dishita as well. Winning this award is a wonderful acknowledgment of our collective effort and this humane story.” the actress said.

For the initiated, Dia Mirza plays the role of a Pakistani woman named Kainaaz Akhtar in the web-series. She is wrongly imprisoned in India and separated from her family. How a journalist-turned-lawyer helps her prove her innocence and reach her family across the border forms the crux of the story. 

Kaafir is directed by Sonam Nair and produced by Siddharth Malhotra and Sapna Malhotra for popular OTT platform ZEE5.

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Yash says Ravana in Ramayana must connect with Western viewers as film eyes global audience

Highlights

  • Yash says he humanised Ravana to help global audiences relate to the character.
  • Asura designs in the first glimpse drew criticism for looking too Western-inspired.
  • Producer Namit Malhotra compares the film's tone to Lord of the Rings and Gladiator.
Yash, who plays the demon king Ravana in Nitesh Tiwari's Ramayana, says his portrayal was shaped by one clear goal: making the character relatable beyond Indian audiences.
Speaking at CinemaCon in Las Vegas this week, where the film was presented alongside major Hollywood releases, the actor said he worked to strip away the purely mythological reading of the role.

"I have tried to internalise the whole essence of Ravana and tried to make him as human as possible at times," Yash told Reuters.

"It is important for people to relate to him, and since we have global ambitions, we need to make it familiar to a Western audience as well."

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