Sarah-Jane Dias: My male friends said they loved that I didn’t do an ‘abla naari’ representation

Sarah-Jane Dias

Cathartic - that comes closest to how Sarah-Jane Dias felt when she delivered the now-popular monologue in the second season of Made in Heaven. In the final episode, her character Julie says her marriage vows to herself after calling off the wedding. "I have been an advocate of mental health and self-love. Cathartic is the word that aptly described the experience," grins Dias, proud that writers Zoya Akhtar, Reema Kagti and Alankrita Shrivastava subverted the idea of happily-ever-after. "My male friends said they loved that I didn't do an ‘abla naari' representation, going ‘Poor me, I got left at the altar!' [Instead, my character said], this is hard, but I love myself, he loves me, and I promise that I will love myself, no matter what."

The episode struck a chord with the actor as it represents her personal ideology of self-love. "Whether it's my podcast or my social media interactions, my theme is ‘You aren't alone in this.' There is so much power in that statement," she asserts.

Dias follows up Made in Heaven 2 with the actioner, The Freelancer. Thrilled as she is to have fulfilled her wish of doing an action role, she notes that getting diverse parts is far from easy. "If I am offered only certain kinds of roles, I have only those many things to choose from. I haven't done a single acting job all year because it hasn't come my way. What have come my way are hosting stints and advertisements. So, honestly, a lot depends on what I get."