The on-going Jaipur Literature Festival has organised a session on ‘Climate Emergency’ on Monday, 27 January, where Dia Mirza was invited for a discussion. While having a discussion with fellow panellists over the climate, Mirza suddenly started crying.
In the videos of the event, Mirza can be seeing going emotional suddenly, while speaking about the climate crisis. She stated, “We do not need to shout, we just need to keep doing our work”
Suddenly taking the discussion to her personal life, Mirza stated, “I have low blood pressure. I woke up at 4.30. This metal bottle that I have been carrying for years, has Electral (ORS solution) in it. Children start taking care of us from the moment they are born.”
Crying uncontrollably, the actress then stated that people should not hold back their tears, and they should not be afraid of being an ’empath’. “We should feel the full extent of everything, it is good. It gives us strength, it is us.” Sobbing, the actress then insisted, “It is not a performance”.
Dia then declined to use a tissue paper offered to her and also refused when a fellow panellist offered a handkerchief to wipe her tears.
Dia Mirza had reportedly stated that her day on 26 January had gone ‘really well’ and she had got a message on her phone late at night, at around 3 am about a big NBA player’s tragic death in a helicopter crash in California.
Mirza stated that she has been following the Basketball star (Kobe Bryant) for a few years and was upset to hear about the helicopter crash which killed Bryant, his daughter and several others.
Mirza stated that the news had really upset her. “There are different things that upset us on different days, but we take care of ourselves. I got upset because I had low blood pressure”.
It is not clear whether the actress cried because she had low blood pressure or because she had to get up early. The word ’empath’ is mostly used in science fiction for a person who has supernatural powers to feel the emotions felt by others. It is also not clear whether the actress was crying because she is an ’empath’ and was feeling the collective plight of the earth’s climate.
She later told Hindustan Times on the climate crisis, “It’s not just us, it’s the world. The way we have built our economy, the way we do business and the way have we built our industries. Human beings have made some seriously wrong choices. If we don’t change the way we live, we consume, we are only doing harm to ourselves”
Read: Randeep Hooda schools Dia Mirza for her disparaging remarks against the forest department
Dia’s sudden breakdown during a climate crisis discussion has caused social media users to speculate whether it was her ‘Greta Thunberg’ moment.
https://twitter.com/rose_k01/status/1221988884390694912?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
https://twitter.com/ShefVaidya/status/1221991547261964288?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Some Twitter users also stated that unlike Bollywood stars and fake ‘activists’, there are real heroes who work on ground level without the limelight and make real change possible, like Saalumarada Thimakka.
https://twitter.com/varadadya/status/1222003476319784960?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Some in social media also called her crying as ‘acting’, stating that while claiming she doesn’t use ‘paper’, she uses free water without paying her dues to the authorities, referring to some reports over the former actress’ pending water bills worth lakhs with Hyderabad authorities and her luxurious lifestyle, including the use of fuel-guzzling SUVs.
The actress had earlier clarified that the bills had gone unpaid because she was ‘unaware’ of them. The HMWS&SB authorities had alleged that despite several notices and reminders, the actress has not paid water bills worth 2.26 lakhs, for almost 4 years.
https://twitter.com/archu243/status/1222032743254712320?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Sudden and unexpected tears are no longer a novelty in the recent Indian scenario. Before the general elections, Samajwadi Party leader Firoze Khan was seen weeping near a statue of Mahatma Gandhi, mourning his death on his birth anniversary.
Former AAP leader and now Congress worker Alka Lamba had once shared artistically clicked pictures of herself crying and sobbing over the plight of children in Syria.